Michel Quoist
MEET CHRIST AND LIVE!

translated by J. F. BERNARD
GILL AND MACMILLAN

8. Finding my place in the work of creation

Yesterday, I went to a career-guidance centre. I didn't want to go, but my parents insisted and kept after me until I went.
I had talked it over with my friends. One of them had gone to the centre and taken the aptitude tests. He hadn't been very happy with the results. He was advised not to enter certain trades, and then, in very general terms, to think of going to work in such and such an area.
Without really knowing what it was all about, and without having thought much about it, I had already made up my mind that career-guidance was a waste of time.
I spent the morning taking tests and making critical comments to myself about them, ridiculing the idea that, from the way that I underlined words and analyzed geometric patterns, they would be able to tell what kind of work I was cut out for. And, when I was interviewed, I thought the interviewer's questions both too personal and silly. By then, I was in a bad mood, and I answered them curtly.
Last night I went over the whole thing with my discussion group, and I applied to myself, personally, the essentialsls of what we discovered together.

First of all, I've come to realize that I was reacting impulsively, without thinking, and that I allowed myself to be confirmed in my impulsiveness by the equally irrational opinions of my friends. I echoed their reactions without making any effort to arrive at a sound judgment. I merely dismissed the whole idea of career-guidance without having any good reasons for doing so.
This was not the behavior of an intelligent man, let alone that of a son of God. Lord, it was not what you expected of me.
Once more, the fact that I had not made a reasonable judgment led me to behave badly towards others. I was received courteously at the guidance centre. The people there were kind and thoughtful, and my interviewer was obviously doing his best for me. But my own behavior was barely polite.
In other words, Lord, I behaved badly towards you. For it was you who were attempting to guide me, to enlighten me by means of the intelligence, knowledge, experience and words of those who were trying, in spite of me, to help me.
Finally and above all, I realize now that, so far as a career is concerned, I have been led only by self-interest. It never occurred to me that my choice was important to God and to my brother-men. 'What do you want to do?' How often I've been asked that question. And, most often, my reaction was one of irritation-because, to tell the truth, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
My choice, till now, has been based on purely selfish considerations: What would I like to do? How can I earn the most money? And the only obstacles I foresaw were the possibility that I might not have the talent for a particular profession, or that my parents would not be able to afford to pay for my studies.
You see, Lord, that you had no place in my choice; and the question of whether or not I would be able to serve my brothers in any given profession never even entered my mind.
I've approached one of the most important aspects of my life-the choice and preparation of a career - as though your love had not been gently leading me from all eternity. And yet, I should have known that a loving father could not be indifferent to the material future of his child. So, how could you, eternal Father, not care what I did with my life in the world ? - you who have 'blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ' and who, before the world was made, 'chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love' (Eph. 1: 4).
If I hadn't finally stopped and thought about it today, I would have chosen alone. I would have decided, without you, what to do with my life. I might have come to you after having made my choice and asked you to ratify it; but that would have been all. I might even have asked you to help me realize my plan: 'Our Father, who art in heaven . . . my will be done.'
What I was about to do was to reverse our roles. I was acting as though I were God. What I regarded as a praiseworthy effort to enlist your help was nothing more than an absurd and selfish attempt to use your power in order to carry out my own decisions and plans.
I am, of course, free and responsible. You've made me so, Lord. But freedom does not lie in the ability to do whatever I want in any way that I want. Freedom, for someone who loves, is a willing compliance with the legitimate desires of the one who is loved.
You have a certain plan for me, a loving and eternal idea. You want me to take part in the building of your Kingdom. It' s up to me freely to consent to your plan. Then, I will be able to work as hard as I can for mankind. I will be able to use the gifts you have given me, and I will attain the level of development that you intend for me.
Yesterday, Lord, through the intermediary of the career guidance centre, you asked me to discover the plan devised by your infinite love for me. And what did I do? I ran away.
Seen in the light of faith, career guidance consists in the use of certain human techniques to find the place and the work that you want for every man in the competition of your creation by human work. The tests are the means of discovering in detail the gifts that you have given us, the gifts which we must make bear fruit until you ask for an accounting. '. . . A man on his way abroad summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his ability . . .' (Matt. 25: 14-30). The search for a career, or for a new job, is part of the struggle to find a meaningful place in the world according to the just needs of the human community, and also an expression of the will to develop creation harmoniously and to see every man, free and responsible, in his proper place.

In this perspective, everyone can help to carry out your plan for the world:
the sociologists at their desks, when they determine accurately the economic and social needs of mankind;
the psychologists, career-guidance officers and counsellors, when they help men to discover the work they are capable of doing;
the trade unions, politicians, statesmen-all those who help mankind move forward by making it possible for all young people to choose their professions, prepare for them, and work in them.

Father, let them all become aware that they are your willing collaborators in the work of creation.

Lord, today I ask your forgiveness
for the places that will remain empty in your vineyard,
for needs that are created artificially,
for talents that will never be developed
through the fault of man and the society he has created,
for the countless workers, your sons, who will be deprived of the development that you want them to have, for my own lack of fervor in trying to find out what you want of me,
and for my lack of generosity in neglecting to try as
hard as I can to be what you want me to be.

Lord, I thank you
for the talents you've given me,
for the physical and intellectual gifts I've received,
for the education I've received,
for the opportunities I have to choose the profession
that I want.

Lord, let me be like putty in your hands.
Let me accept your guidance through events, so that
conscious of the real needs of my brothers,
I may discover:
where you are waiting for me,
and the part that you want me to play, through my work,
in the completion of your creation.