Together Paper – Virtue and Vocation: Two Sides of the Same Coin

I’ve been writing a lot about vocations recently and if I’ve learned anything it’s this: the more
we grow in virtue the more we lean into our vocation.
I know, I know. It sounds rudimentary.
But the truth of the matter is that the more we attempt to grow in virtue, flex our prayerful
muscles and work towards a genuine relationship with Jesus, the more we come to
understand our unique capacity and our specific call.
The more we pray, the more we dialogue with Christ, the more open we are to what He asks
of us.
Here is a particular idea that you might be familiar with: we become like those we spend the
most time with – our closest friends, or inner circle.
If Jesus isn’t within that inner circle then it will be harder for us to hear His voice. Harder still
to become more like Him, and bring Him to others!
And let’s face it. This world is in desperate need of our virtue and our vocation.


This idea of dialoguing with Christ was front and centre for Virtue Ministry Founder and
Managing Director Stina Constantine recently, when she was invited to represent Christianity
in an inter-faith dialogue on the theme of compassion.
The event, organised by the Potowa Buddhist Prayer Group, brought together 7 panellists
from various faith backgrounds to share different perspectives on compassion, and to take
questions from the audience. The panellists Consisted of representatives from Bahai, a
Buddhist Monk, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Quakers and a Sikh.
The event was hosted at the Wagga Wagga Council Chambers, and attended by a number
of community members, as well as the Federal Member for the Riverina, Michael
McCormack, and Mayor of Wagga Wagga (at the time) Councillor Dallas Tout.
Initially Stina was under the impression that she was going to present a 20-minute talk on
Christ-like compassion. However, the event was a dynamic question and answer session
that had been allocated 90 minutes.
“At that point,” Stina admitted, “I began repeating to myself ‘Alright, Lord, if it’s me you want
to represent you here, then I’m going to stop my own thoughts here. I don’t need to know all
the answers. I don’t need to research all the other religions. All I need to do is to love you
and share the love you have for me and for your people with the community. That is all’.
“Every time I had a moment of starting to fear, I kept repeating the same thing, all I needed
to do to prepare was to spend time with Jesus, to receive God’s love and to trust that the
Spirit would take charge of sharing His love while ever I remain open to it.” she said.
For Stina one of the highlights of the interfaith event was sharing dinner with panellists the
night before their question-and-answer session.

“It was so beautiful to respectfully sit around a room and hear people share prayers and
gratitude for the meal we were about to enjoy together. To serve each other around the table,
it felt very much like what Christ calls his disciples to do. It was a real sense of sharing the
best of us.” she explained.
“There was a real sense of unity among many of us as we recognized Australia is becoming
more and more ‘secular’ and our voices of faith aren’t as widely accepted in society. Even
the moments where it became clear that those of us with Abrahamic roots didn’t agree with
the others, it was still an encounter of accepting our differences with love as we began
building relationships with one another.” she said.


We can all reasonably expect that we will not all be invited to speak with representatives of
other faiths on topics like compassion. But we can expect to be challenged out of our
comfort zone at one time or another.
A life directed towards tending and nurturing virtue will require pruning, and toil.
With Jesus in our inner circle, our closest and dearest friend, then this life will be easier to
bear. We can cheerfully meet the conditions that threaten our growth, as well as confidently
stepping up into the person that He has called us to be.
If there’s one thing we repeat over here at Virtue Ministry it’s this: you are unrepeatable. God
has called you, and if you allow Him to, He can help you unleash your unique capacity on
the world in a time such as this.
This world is in need of your virtue and vocation.

You can find the whole question and answer session featuring Stina on Youtube

VM Writer and Graphic Designer. Wife of one, mother of 8. Tackling growth in virtue one (baby) step at a time.

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