Excerpts from Edward Hahnenberg. 2010. “Through Others…” in confuse who God made me to be with who I want me to be.

I want me to be. And our

Awakening Vocation: A Theology of Christian Call. Collegeville, choices suffer.
Minnesota: Liturgical Press. 159-192. Discernment, then, depends on conversion. It demands an
ongoing process of personal transformation that frees us from our
I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into? attachments to a false sense of ourselves, our needs, and our plans. The
— J. R. R. Tolkien great spiritual traditions have spoken of this conversion as the
realization of an inner freedom, and have named it in a variety of
Fortunately for us, we don’t have to figure out life on our own. ways—poverty of spirit, indifference, loving surrender, the purgative
We have help on the path of vocational discernment. To say that way. In this chapter, I argue that a particular kind of conversion is
vocation is neither a distant plan (chap. 3) nor a generic invitation demanded today, namely, the conversion that comes through openness
(chap. 4) is not to reduce it to a solitary search. As we saw in the last to “the other.” This openness, so widely assumed in postmodern
chapter, Ignatius of Loyola rests his Spiritual Exercises on the deeply discourse, is actually one of the great challenges of our present
personal relationship between the individual and God. But he never moment. Spending some time reflecting on it sheds light on our
lost sight of the ecclesial dimension of call. The very existence of the questions surrounding vocation, helping us to see that it is precisely
Exercises—written not as a book of personal devotion but as a guide through openness to the other that we learn to hear more clearly the
for guides— reveals Ignatius’s profound intuition that each one of us call of God.
comes to our calling through the help of another. Permeating Ignatius’s Here we discover that one of postmodernity’s most important
spirituality, and the Catholic tradition more broadly, is a sacramental contributions to ecclesiology is its call to respect the other, its demand
sensibility suggesting that the vocation that comes from God is always that we hold our narratives open to the narratives of others. Taking
mediated. God calls me through others. with us this insight, we turn in the second half of the chapter to
This insight into the call of God that comes to us through consider how the Christian narrative is embodied in the Christian
others helps to introduce us to the necessary prerequisite to community, the church. In the end, what the chapter articulates is an
discernment, namely, conversion. Drawing on Karl Rahner, I argued ecclesiology of vocation—a vision of an “open church” in which the
above that discernment is the search for resonance between a particular faithful are continually trained to be open to others, so that, slowly, we
choice and one’s fundamental spiritual identity. In other words, I hear might grow more and more open to the Other: the God who calls.
my vocation in the harmony between the path that is before me and the
mystery that is me. But even as we underscore the centrality of “me” Narrative and Vocation
within the dynamics of discernment, we have to acknowledge that this By emphasizing “the other,” I mean to situate the modern focus
“me” often messes things up. We do not always have that honest sense on the human person within a more postmodern appreciation for the
of ourselves before God that the process outlined by Rahner (and contextual nature of human existence. In constructing a contemporary
before him, by Ignatius) demands. Discernment requires of us an ever theology of call, the problem is not emphasizing the individual. The
more clear recognition of our true selves, an acceptance and problem is isolating her—forgetting the many ways in which each of
understanding of the unique child of God that each of us was us interacts with the people, cultures, institutions, traditions, and
graciously created to be. We cannot hope for harmony if our basic stories that constitute the context of our lives. The human subject will
sense of ourselves is skewed—which is so often the case. Too often I always remain at the center of vocational discernment. But our
postmodern consciousness looks with suspicion on the Enlightenment
ideal of the detached subject, who hovers free from influence and all independently. This approach was a far cry from the ancient tradition
authority, constructing meaning from a neutral point of pure of the virtues, which, by definition, cannot be so easily
rationality. compartmentalized. MacIntyre argued that virtues (like justice or
Instead, today we are more aware of the many ways that we are prudence), if they are to have any meaning, cannot apply to just one
shaped and socialized by our surroundings. There is no observation part of life; they have to apply to the whole of life. They offer an
deck, no tabula rasa or purely objective point of view to engage the ethical approach based on a richer vision of the human person, one in
question of vocation, or any question for that matter. We always come which life is conceived and evaluated as a whole, and not merely as
to the question within the context of overlapping communities and the sum of its parts. In order to return to the virtues, and so articulate a
commitments. I see things a certain way because I was born male more holistic moral framework, MacIntyre turned to narrative.
rather than female, white rather than black, wealthy rather than poor. MacIntyre began with a concrete example. Imagine looking out
As Sam wisely reminded Frodo, in the Tolkien passage cited the window and seeing your neighbor digging vigorously in the
above, people fall into their stories. They land on paths already laid for backyard. What is he doing? In order to answer that question, and thus
them. A number of contexts—a number of narratives—already inform understand this action, we need a narrative. Such a narrative depends,
and influence the way each one of us looks at the world. And it is first, on the context or setting within which the action occurs. We may
amidst all these stories that we strive to sort out our own story. know, for example, that every year this neighbor plants a garden in this
Vocation is my story amidst other stories, as all of these stories unfold spot in his backyard. He may have also mentioned once how much his
within the story of God. The theology of vocation taking shape in these wife loves freshly cut flowers and ripe tomatoes, or commented on the
pages places great importance on the uniqueness of the individual exercise he gets from working in the yard. All of these contexts are the
human person. But, as we have noted, there is a danger that this different settings for the action itself, and each setting has a history
emphasis on particularity might lead to isolation: I am unique by being (the annual tradition of turning the soil, the years of married life, and
distinct, an individual identified and defined apart from others. This so on). It is only in light of these histories that what you see outside
view of the person is precisely what we want to avoid. “I” am not a your window starts to make sense. But a full understanding of the
discrete dot but a line arcing from the past into the future, stretched action requires a further layer, namely, the intentions of the neighbor.
wide and richly textured, thanks to my connections and my What is he doing? digging? gardening? exercising? pleasing his wife?
commitments. My unique identity takes shape in the depth of my inner He may have one reason for going outside on this day with a shovel;
life, but it also depends on the length of my history and the breadth of he may have more than one reason. The point is that to truly
my relationships. And it is story that holds together these dimensions understand what he is doing, we have to attend to both context and
of my identity. intention. It is precisely narrative that links the two, rendering the
action intelligible.
My Story
In his classic work After Virtue, the philosopher Alasdair Our Story
MacIntyre introduced the category of narrative as a way to reclaim the In chapter 4, we explored the experience of transcendence as
unity of the moral life against what he described as modern moral the touchstone for vocational discernment. In moments of self-
fragmentation. According to MacIntyre, modern moral theory came to awareness, of deep sadness or unexpected joy, we may sense
treat human life “atomistically,” that is, it broke up human actions into “something more”—a boundary or mystery, the limit of ourselves and
discrete entities, unconnected episodes that were then evaluated the possibility of some Other. Such moments stretch across human
history and around the world: they are truly universal experiences. church can learn a lot from the radical plurality that shapes our
However, today we cannot simply assume that these boundary contemporary consciousness. Like the postliberals, the Louvain
experiences will be automatically perceived as experiences of the theologian Lieven Boeve is searching for a theological approach to
divine. We know that not everyone recognizes God’s call. The radical identity that avoids the extremes of fundamentalism or nostalgic
plurality of our postmodern world means that any experience of depth traditionalism, on the one hand, and relativism or uncritical adaptation,
will always be open to multiple interpretations. For as much as we on the other. But unlike them, Boeve discovers identity through a
want to emphasize the personal experience of God, we have to much more deliberate dialogue with postmodern consciousness.
recognize that this experience is always an interpreted experience. Whereas in Barth or in Frei, apologetics occurred only in an
Thus, I only recognize such experience as the experience of God occasional, ad hoc manner, for Boeve, it is the heart of his project. His
because I have been shaped within a context in which the concept of numerous essays—part of an ambitious collaborative research
God is meaningful. For me to see my experience as a religious project—always come back to a fundamental question: to what extent
experience means that I must have some prior exposure to religion. I can the Christian faith still offer meaning to people living in a world
only know that the stirrings within my heart come from Christ because marked by such radical plurality? For Boeve, Christian identity is
of some connection I have to Christianity, no matter how weak that found not in some internal grammar, a doctrinal or ritual language that
connection might be. In other words, God’s call requires a context. is described and redescribed. Instead, identity is found and maintained
Vocation needs a narrative. precisely through engagement with the larger contexts within which
This is not to say that God depends on our stories. Grace is the Christian lives. Theology is not redescription but
always at work in the world, even among those innocent of the Gospel “recontextualization.” This methodology recognizes that every
or indifferent to the church. Lives are touched, people are transformed. tradition is embedded in a specific historical and cultural context.
The call is always and everywhere extended. It is not that God needs a When the context shifts, the tradition develops. If it does not, the
narrative—we do. We need narrative precisely in order to recognize tradition dies—fading off into the inaccessible and the implausible.
the experience of transcendence as vocation, to name it and embrace it For Boeve, such a recognition does not mean that the Christian
as a call coming from God. narrative simply adapts itself to its surroundings. “What it does imply
But what kind of a story are we being drawn into? The story of is that every time and context challenges us to give shape to the
Christ is rich and multifaceted. It is less “a” story than it is many message of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ in a contemporary
stories. The four gospels mark just the beginning of a diversity of ways way. If we do not accept this challenge we run the risk of sliding into
this story has been told and retold over the course of centuries. Every inauthenticity.”
era finds a form through which this story can speak; every time All of this carries serious implications for religion. It demands
translates it into language and images that are meaningful for people in brutal honesty about the radical contingency that permeates
that period. What I want to suggest below is that the particular story contemporary consciousness—including Christian consciousness. “In
needed today is that of the open narrative. a situation of plurality and conflict, people learn to consider their own
fundamental life-options and the sources of meaning and identity in
Open Stories their lives—in short: their own narratives—as particular, unique,
Today, narrative needs to be qualified: it must be an open bound to place and time, and limited in perspective.” This radical
narrative. This move implies a different posture toward postmodern contingency is felt by every young person who awakens to the
culture than the approaches described above. It suggests that the realization that she is a Christian largely because of when and where
she was born. There is something unsettlingly accidental about it all. which block out the view, as is the case in various strands of
True, we remain free beings; we know that we can choose. But even if traditionalism. On the contrary, they become windows that allow men
I am someone who came to embrace the Christian faith as a free and women to observe and to live in the colourful multiplicity of
adult—making it truly my own through a deliberate and independent postmodernity.” All of this fosters a renewed appreciation for
act—still, I cannot escape the haunting suspicion that it all would have alterity—for “otherness” as such. To acknowledge difference brings
been very different had I been born in Riyadh or Tianjin instead of with it a demand to let the other stand. We cannot absorb all other
Austin or Evanston. We postmoderns carry that awareness with us; it narratives into our own. To do so is to destroy the other as other, to
is inescapable. make “you” into some version of “me.” Boeve writes, “Recent
This radical pluralism seems to pose a mortal threat to sensitivity towards the otherness of the other has drawn the attention of
traditional Christianity, a decline into relativism—or worse, a significant number of postmodern thinkers, philosophers who point
indifference. And yet, what Boeve finds so remarkable is that people out that a different kind of sensitivity has emerged in the midst of our
continue to tell stories. Not all postmodern Christians see their faith as awareness of irreducible multiplicity. Indeed, this irreducible
simply one option among others. In fact, the postmodern Christian is multiplicity implies otherness as such, irremovable otherness that
more likely to say, there are many options, but not for me. Most of us cannot be reduced to a single narrative nor subsumed within a
Christians recognize that, because of my own particular story (the particular totalising perspective. Whatever we do to encompass
narrative that begins when and where I was born), the Christian otherness within a single narrative, it will always place itself beyond
narrative has a claim on me that no other religious narrative has. I our grasp.” It is precisely the presence of this uncontrollable other and
can’t simply bracket my belonging. I can reject this faith, but it still the disorientation of diversity that have fueled the resurgence of
continues on as part of my story—even if only as what I left behind, fundamentalism and neoexclusivism in almost every sector of our
the page that I turned. “The fact that our narrative is always our postmodern world. But for Boeve, the proper response to relativism
narrative and that we cannot abandon our narrative and withdraw to cannot be a fundamentalist flight to the fiction of a sure and certain
the observer’s post, already implies an important and unavoidable metanarrative. Rather, the appropriate response is the open narrative
distinction between our narrative and other narratives.” People itself.
continue to tell their stories. But they are more modest stories. Truth is The paradigmatic example of, and the ultimate source for, the
tempered by contingency. We seem to see that my commitments take open Christian narrative is the open narrative of Jesus of Nazareth. At
shape amidst the very different commitments of others. This is the the heart of Jesus’ story are the stories he told: the parables of the reign
complicated space of the Christian faith today. of God. These short stories were and remain open stories—not tight
And so when we tell the Christian story, it too is a more modest definitions or the final word but an invitation, a question, a challenge.
one. A postmodern Christian narrative recognizes that there are other These narratives of seed scattered, landowners and laborers, yeast,
stories; it sees that even “the” Christian story comes in many shapes pearls, kings, and banquets were intended to unsettle and upset the
and sizes, each telling of it shaped by a particular history and a closed narratives of Jesus’ listeners. They were meant to stimulate
concrete context. Today Christianity achieves intelligibility, discipleship, to call for conversion, and to awaken an audience to the
plausibility, and authenticity as an open narrative, not by monopolizing surprising realization that, perhaps, God cannot be so easily contained
the microphone or by ceding the stage but by sharing it. Or, to shift the by our narrow definitions and miserly expectations. In the story of the
metaphor, “traditions that have the capacity to transform themselves prodigal son, for example, we are “suddenly confronted with the
into open narratives in our postmodern world cease to be shutters possibility that another father exists, a father characterised by intense
goodness, incredible compassion and unending solicitude. This is a the kind of freedom with which Jesus himself lived. Coming to such
decisive discovery which Jesus himself had also experienced: God is inner freedom is a process of conversion, mentioned at the beginning
different, God is love (1 Jn 4,8).” of this chapter, which is nothing less than a growing in openness to the
Beyond his words, Jesus’ whole life embodied a critical- will of God. This openness is the necessary condition for authentic
liberative praxis that burst open closed and repressive narratives, vocational discernment. We grow in this openness to God—who is the
transforming them into open narratives directed toward God. The Other—precisely by growing in openness to others.
woman caught in adultery was condemned by the logic of the law. But
Jesus broke open this logic. His conversation with the Samaritan A Community of Call
woman, his encounters with the Pharisees, his cleansing of the temple, Stories are told by people. They take shape in community. If all
his many miracles—these actions broke open oppressive, closed of this talk about narrative begins to sound overly abstract and
narratives, and restored to dignity and communion those whom these disembodied, we should remind ourselves that it is primarily a
narratives had excluded. Sensitive to the complex layering of the conversation about ecclesiology, not epistemology. We are interested
Gospel traditions, Boeve argues that not only did Jesus enact an open in reflecting on how the call of God comes to each of us through the
narrative but also that his earliest followers interpreted him in this mediation of people—the Christian community, a community both
way. Thus the New Testament itself—the foundational text of the called and calling.
Christian narrative—is an open narrative. The fulcrum on which the Vocational discernment—discovering my particular and unique
entire open narrative of Jesus bends is its climax, the resurrection. way of loving my neighbor—requires openness to God. But as Ignatius
There God shatters “the hegemonic narrative of rejection and death,” knew so well, this openness to God follows on conversion, which he
revealing a God who interrupts death on behalf of life and who described as a purification of the affections and a transformation of
confronts sin with the promise of salvation, a God who will not allow consciousness that comes by stepping into the story of Christ. Today,
the narrative of Jesus to close. the narrative we step into is the open narrative of Christ, a narrative
Boeve links the liberating praxis of Jesus to his fundamental that demands a particular kind of conversion. It is a conversion
contemplative attitude, “an openness towards the Other who is understood as a turning outward, an opening up to “the other,” a
revealed in moments of interruption.” Boeve follows Schillebeeckx in willingness to be interrupted by those who exist on the edges of our
associating this attitude with Jesus’ “Abba-experience,” which was not dominant narratives. In the paragraphs below, we explore the ways in
only an experience of profound intimacy with God, but at the same which God interrupts us—and thus calls to us—through the experience
time, an awareness of the obligation to “do God’s will.” This linkage of alterity.
of praxis, openness, and attention to God’s will offers rich soil for This experience, in turn, invites reflection on an ecclesiology of
cultivating a contemporary theology of vocation. Drawing together the open church. An open church is a community that calls its
these themes will be the task of the final chapter of this book. At this members to open themselves up to self-criticism, to new insight, to
point, we can only signal where that task will lead. different ideas and different people—particularly those who are
As “paradigm” of the open narrative, Jesus challenges all those marginalized, ignored, or even oppressed by the stories we so often tell
who wish to follow him to abandon their closed narratives and enter ourselves. All of this is intended to offer a vision of church that fosters
into the praxis of the open narrative. Through this praxis, we come to an appreciation for vocation in this postmodern world. In short, an
accept and cultivate within ourselves that “fundamental contemplative open church is a church that trains us in openness, which is the sine
attitude” that guided Jesus’ own actions. We become free to live with qua non of vocational discernment. By learning to be open to “the
other” in our midst, we grow more and more open to the Other, the protected from the swirling winds of the postmodern world? Is this the
God of Jesus Christ who interrupts our lives and our plans with that way that religious tradition needs to meet the individual? I think not.
loving gift that comes to us as a vocation. Indeed, more often than not, the church community has a
responsibility to critique those spiritualities that end in the confidence
God’s Interruption of tight boundaries or the comfort of self-assurance. A more authentic
When we speak about the experience of grace, we all too often experience of grace today comes not through identity but through
assume that we are talking about a spiritual “high.” We associate it alterity—the experience of “otherness” as such. “These are
with some deeply moving event, a “mountaintop experience” or a experiences in which the ego senses itself to be approached by the
moment of peace, that alerts us to the loving presence of God in our other, experiences of being called away from the acquired certitudes of
lives, which ordinarily exists only on the edge of our awareness. The one’s own narrative, experiences of a breakthrough, interrupting the
church can even come to see its role as enabling such experiences, ongoing security of one’s personal narrative.”
seeking ways to provide opportunities for people to get in touch with Boeve uses the language of interruption to name this encounter
God. These moments are important. These moments are real. But these with “the other.” He recognizes that “the other” meets a narrative
moments are always in danger of being subsumed within a larger already unfolding—and often comes uninvited. I do not choose to
framework of psychological need, and thus falling alongside all those think about the innocents killed in war or the children abused by
other intense experiences we look for in life. Lieven Boeve talks about priests or the atmosphere polluted by carbon. I do not choose to think
the culture of “the kick,” a phrase he borrows to name moments of about them; they confront me. They interrupt the narratives that mark
intense emotional and psychological stimulation, moments of exciting my life. They burst into the stories I tell myself about the virtue of my
thrill or deep catharsis that so many people today seek out in order to country, the holiness of my church, or the level of my consumption.
“feel alive.” Though he cites a range of such “highs,” it is bungee They burst in and upset, forcing me to rethink things. “This basic
jumping that emerges as Boeve’s example par excellence. The kick, he attitude expresses itself in our capacity to be open to strangeness,
believes, is one response to the emptiness of contemporary culture. It otherness, the unexpected. It implies that we are attentive to boundary
is “an effort to hold on to one’s own identity in the midst of fractured experiences, interruptive events, marginality, experiences that reveal
multiplicity. . . a here-and-now endeavour to obtain assurance amidst that our particular narrative is not all inclusive. It likewise implies that
insecurity and stability in the midst of instability.” As such, the kick is we must learn to open our eyes to discontinuities, to what is going on
an experience of fulfillment and confirmation, a moment of ego at the boundaries of our particular narratives, serving to interrupt them.
affirmation (“I exist! I am alive!”) that—in a deep irony—does not It calls for an attitude of trusting submission, as it were, which runs
last. Thus the kick needs to be repeated, always at greater and greater counter to our absolute desire to secure and insure ourselves against
levels of intensity. the unexpected.”
Not everyone jumps off a bridge in order to feel alive. The For Boeve, an interruption is not a random array or a radical
extent of the culture of the kick can be questioned. But in a world in rupture. It is not a breakdown. It is a break-in—a breaking in to
which identity is no longer guaranteed by community or clan, many of something. Life constantly confronts us with the other; it constantly
us hunger for experiences of self-affirmation and self-assurance. Is the invites us to be open to interruption. This happens at the global level. It
role of the church to facilitate such experiences? Is it supposed to also happens at the personal level. A life story is interrupted when a
promote spiritual moments in order to shore up religious belonging? child becomes terminally ill, when a spouse proves unfaithful, when a
Are our churches to become enclaves of identity, stable and safe places friend takes her own life. How do we respond when our fundamental
confidence in life is so fundamentally shaken? Do we see God calling and not the enjoyment of the product, that lies at the heart of consumer
us through these experiences? culture. Once we get something, we are pushed to get something else. I
We all sense that there is something inauthentic in a quick and buy my groceries, and immediately I am handed a stack of coupons
overly confident response to such interruptions. To go on as if nothing prompting me to buy again. The dynamism of desire fueled by the
had happened, to fold this interruption into our story in a way that imperative of economic growth and the urgency of advertising focuses
leaves that story unaffected, strikes most people as unhealthy. We us on the instant of consumption. This focus on the act of consumption
close ourselves off to the experience itself when we force it to fit is what wears down any effort at sustained commitment—spilling over
within our previous narrative. What makes the experience of “the from our economic lives to our spiritual lives. “Advertising encourages
other” so powerful—what makes it a moment of grace—is precisely us to choose and to purchase, but not to keep and to use. Likewise,
our inability to tame it. It confronts us to change. It challenges us to spiritually we are trained to seek, search, and choose but not to follow
grow. It asks us to open ourselves to what is beyond ourselves. Alterity through and to commit.” If vocational discernment demands
evokes an irreducible otherness, an “other” that cannot be reduced to conversion as its prerequisite, if it demands a commitment to
my story but that calls me to open up my story to new insight and new continued transformation, then we have to be honest about how
relationship. difficult this really is. What Miller argues is that the difficulty comes
not only from the fact that conversion and personal transformation is
Open to Interruption hard, which has always been the case. The difficulty also comes from
We have come to understand vocational discernment not as the the fact that consumer culture offers us very little practice at the kind
discovery of some secret plan hidden in the mind of God but as a of patience needed for personal transformation. All of this is not to say
search for harmony between a particular decision and one’s that the individual seeker cannot make his way, coming to hear and
fundamental self-awareness before God. Thus for discernment to work respond to the call of God. It is simply to highlight the challenges that
depends on an honest sense of ourselves, a kind of inner freedom that our present context poses for the kind of stained commitment to the
only comes through an ongoing process of conversion and personal life of discipleship that is the necessary condition for vocational
transformation that makes significant demands on the individual. discernment. What is the alternative to a commodified religiosity? In
Vocational discernment cannot be reduced to the moment of choice. It recent decades, a broad cross-section of theologians—mostly pastoral
requires an inner openness to the will of God that takes some time to theologians, systematic theologians, and ethicists, many of them
learn. And, like any extended process, it requires commitment. drawing on the narrative theology inspired by Barth and the
Commitment is a struggle in our contemporary consumer culture. But, philosophical framework offered by MacIntyre—have turned to the
as Miller admits, the fault does not lie with choice itself. “Just as the category of practice to talk about religious identity and continuity in
freedom to choose a life partner does not automatically result in an increasingly fragmented and commodified world. A keen observer
infidelity, choice in itself is not a sufficient cause for our broader lack of this trend, Robert Wuthnow embraces it, suggesting that a “practice-
of commitment.” The issue is more complicated. oriented spirituality” serves today as a rich alternative to the dwelling-
For Miller, the problem is not that we choose; the problem is oriented and seeking-oriented spiritualities that have so dominated the
that we are constantly encouraged to choose. Consumer culture fuels a recent American religious landscape. For both practitioners and
form of never-ending desire. We are trained always to be looking for theorists, it seems that directing our attention to concrete practices,
“the next thing.” In our culture of consumer choice, it is not about such as private prayer and corporate worship, social service and active
“having” but about “getting.” It is the actual process of the purchase,
charity, offers the key toward that personal and social transformation The church—the whole Christian community—facilitates this kind of
made so difficult by consumer culture. growth when it fosters practices that draw its members into the
practices that defined Jesus’ life.
Conclusion In the end, it is the narrative of Jesus Christ that guides the
We human beings are perennially prone to self-deception. And Christian narrative and the narratives of Christians. In his story, we
one of the most costly mistakes of discernment is to set off in search of find an alternative to that ever-present temptation amidst the shifting
decision without conversion. Without conversion and ongoing sands of postmodernity to close off and shut in, to seek security in
transformation, it is all too easy to confuse who God wants me to be certitude, to build walls around the truth rather than bridges toward it.
with who I want me to be. Ignatius’s trust in the affections would be Tempering our individual and corporate triumphalism helps us to hear.
misguided without the purgative turning of the First Week of the It schools us in receptivity to what others have to say, to what God is
Exercises. Rahner’s search for harmony between “who I am” and saying through others. Boeve concludes his volume God Interrupts
“what I will do” would become a distracting echo chamber if one’s History with the reminder that even Jesus was forced to recognize the
fundamental life orientation remained skewed. Rahner recognized this. inadequacy of all closed narratives. When confronted by the
Ignatius recognized this. Over the centuries, the Christian tradition has Syrophoenician woman’s plea for help, Jesus sends her away, saying
called for conversion in a number of different ways. But how do we “it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”
describe this conversion today? The present chapter has argued that the (Mark 7:24-30; see Matt 15:21-28). But when the woman, desperate
conversion called for at this present moment is the transformation that for her daughter, shouts back that even the dogs eat the children’s
comes through an openness to the interruption of “the other.” In order scraps,
to hear the call of God, what we need most—as a church and as Jesus is stopped short. His narrative about God is interrupted, broken
individuals—is to become open. For through openness to the other, we open. And he learns to see God’s love extending beyond the borders of
grow more and more open to the Other, the God who calls. The church Israel. In the faith of this woman—a non-Jew—God speaks. Through
community can foster a “culture of vocation” today by being a place this other, God calls.
that schools its participants in receptivity to the other. Such receptivity
is more difficult than our broader culture likes to pretend. Too often
we confuse openness with tolerance, or fall into a lazy inclusivity that
keeps the other safely at a distance. Through our participation in the
Christian community, we ought to be invited into something deeper.
We ought to be drawn into the narrative of Jesus Christ—an open
narrative that challenges us to move from acceptance to welcome,
from acknowledgment to embrace, from coexistence to a level of
engagement that leads us from individual presence to a more collective
challenge of all the closed narratives that continue to oppress and
exclude. In other words, to grow in discipleship of Jesus is not an
exercise in ego enhancement or a shoring up of the boundaries of
identity. Growing in discipleship is an opening to alterity, an imitation
of Christ’s slow and patient work of creating space for the neighbor.