Question 47 – Does God have a plan for everyone? 

Par Educate Magis
Fév 28th, 2021

Continuing with the exploration and reflection through a series of articles written in a conversational language about Catholicism, about God, about Jesus, about the Church and many other faith related topics. Here we present:

Question 47 – Does God have a plan for everyone? 

Christians believe that God* calls each person in a unique way. That calling* is about how you can best shape your life. Not that God has a compelling master plan for everyone. There is room for a personal, creative interpretation of that invitation. Like everything else in a person’s life, that vocation and the answer to it can develop further during life.

If you listen attentively to your heart, you can track down your vocation. By learning to discern what gives you deepest joy. For Christians believe that God created them for joy. That is why coming closer to God is usually accompanied by feelings of peace and confidence, usually not in a spectacular way, but strong enough to withstand inner storms. For even when you have found your vocation, these will still appear now and then.

You can ask whether a person is still free when God calls them in this way. Christians believe that learning to accept that divine invitation is the culmination of freedom. After all, it means that you hold less and less on to things that do not belong to the core of life. You learn to leave those wrong tracks behind you to choose a life in which you as a human being really develop yourself.

Does this only apply to Christians? No, God loves all people equally, whether they are Christians or not, but Christians do have a great advantage. Their faith allows them to be inspired over and over again by Jesus*, the one of whom they believe that he is such a perfect person that he is God at the same time.

– Do you believe that you have a vocation of your own?
– If so, how did you find out?


Watch this space! Coming up: 
Question 48 – Why are there such great differences between individual Christians? 

Follow these links to go back to previous questions

If you wish to learn more about this resource follow this link  “52 Questions and Answers about faith

 

About the author:

Nikolaas Sintobin, SJ, joined the Society of Jesus in 1989, following a short career as a lawyer. He was trained as a Jesuit in Brussels, Paris, and Santiago de Chile. Today he is a spiritual director who is keenly interested in online ministry and discovering new ways to help people find God.

This text is republished with the permission of Messenger Publications, Ireland. To buy a hard copy of the book click here.