Destiny

There is an attraction to those who believe in their personal destiny and follow it. One such person given us through scripture is the prophet, John the Baptist. 

Jesus said of John Among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! (Mt 11:11) Yet in the same breath he then declares, Yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. What does this all mean but that we all have a vocation to fulfill, and finding that destiny brings us to true greatness?

Hans Urs Von Balthasar writes John was aware of his personal vocation as he grew up, and it is out of his awareness of having been called that he discovered his ineluctable symbol--baptizing in the River Jordan...John didn’t just find his vocation, he followed it though it certainly marked him as unusual.

We are all called to some task destined for us, for me, and no one else. John learned his destiny through a life dedicated and directed toward his God. His vocation was unique, but his calling was not. Our very restlessness speaks to this issue, of having a destiny yet unfulfilled. Why are we waiting? Is it fear of the risk? Or perhaps we have yet to believe that discernment requires a willingness to fail.