Vocation is not a sprint. Like a marathon, it requires time, preparation, patience, and guidance. A reflection on the pace of vocational ministry and the importance of respecting personal processes to discover God’s call.
Every discipline has its own pace. No one prepares for a marathon like someone running a 100-meter dash. In Christian life, too, there are processes that require different timelines. Some sacraments are prepared for in a few months; others need years to mature. Vocational ministry belongs to the latter. Not because it is more important than the others, but because it accompanies one of the slowest and most decisive processes: discovering the mission God has entrusted to each person.
Time Is Not an Enemy
Learning experts often state that achieving true mastery and becoming a specialist in a profession requires thousands of hours of practice. Popularly, it’s said to be about 10,000 hours, roughly equivalent to five years of constant dedication. Even in the industrial sector, something similar occurs. The development of a new car requires years of research, testing, corrections, and improvements before reaching the market. Haste rarely produces solid work. In Europe, the estimated time is three years.
Why, then, are we surprised that vocation needs time?
We live in a culture accustomed to immediacy. We want quick answers, visible results, and brief processes. However, God seems to operate on a different calendar. The call is not usually imposed suddenly; it matures slowly, like a friendship or a growing tree. Perhaps one of the primary tasks of vocational ministry is precisely to teach us to wait. Because not everything valuable happens quickly.
“God seems to operate on a different calendar. The call is not usually imposed suddenly; it matures slowly, like a friendship or a growing tree.”
Not All Races Are the Same Distance
Athletics offers us a suggestive image. Each event requires different preparation, and it would be absurd to train for a marathon with the strategy of a sprinter.
The 100 meters remind us of those specific moments that require an immediate response. This happens, for example, with preparation for the sacrament of reconciliation or the anointing of the sick. These are concrete encounters with God’s grace that respond to a specific need in life.
The 800 meters represent somewhat longer processes, such as preparation for baptism when received in adulthood or some intensive catechetical itineraries. They require perseverance, but their temporal horizon is still relatively near.
The 1,500 meters, known as the queen event of middle-distance running, could symbolize Christian initiation. Preparation for First Communion or Confirmation needs sufficient time to understand the faith, celebrate it, and begin to live it. It’s not enough to learn some content; a journey must begin.
The 10,000 meters already demand endurance, strategy, and patience. Here we can place preparation for Christian marriage. It is not just about organizing a celebration, but about learning to build a lifelong covenant. Also, those preparing for ordained ministry or consecrated life begin a discernment journey here that cannot be improvised.
And finally, there’s the marathon. Not because vocational ministry ends up being longer than the others, but because it accompanies a process that spans one’s entire existence. Discovering God’s call is not usually resolved in a few months. It requires self-knowledge, growth, allowing oneself to be accompanied, learning to listen to the Lord, and verifying, again and again, that the path traveled is still the place where He awaits us.
“Discovering God’s call is not usually resolved in a few months. It requires self-knowledge, growth, allowing oneself to be accompanied, learning to listen to the Lord.”
A Race Never Run Alone
There is another important difference between a sports competition and Christian life. In athletics, each runner tries to finish before the others. In vocation, however, no one competes.
Augustinian Recollect spirituality reminds us that every call matures in community. We discover who we are because others walk with us. There are catechists who awaken faith, families who sustain it, communities who nourish it, and companions who help discern. No one finds their vocation completely alone.
Therefore, speaking of vocational ministry only when a young person considers becoming a religious, a priest, or starting a family is insufficient. Discernment begins much earlier. It begins when someone learns to pray, when they discover the joy of serving, when they experience fraternity, or when they understand that God is not an idea, but a presence that accompanies one throughout life.
Jesus himself respected this rhythm. He did not call his disciples to send them immediately. He walked with them for years, shared meals, answered their doubts, corrected their fears, and strengthened their friendship. Only then did he send them on mission: “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (Jn 15:16).
Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons for vocational ministry in our time. We are not called to accelerate processes, but to accompany them. It’s not about getting there first, but about getting there well.
Because vocation is not a race to discover how fast we can run. It is the path by which God, with infinite patience, shapes our lives until we discover the place from which we can best love and serve. And that, like all great races, always deserves the time it needs.
“We are not called to accelerate processes, but to accompany them. It’s not about getting there first, but about getting there well.”