If it is true that God is unity and simplicity, it is just as true that we are division and complication. 

The parts of which we are made (the material and the spiritual) instead of working together towards a common purpose as God meant them to when he created us, now pull apart. The weakened, shortsighted matter that we have inherited works against the spirit, and attempts to dislodge it from the ultimate purpose God has made it for. 

If after the fall God said to Adam, "You shall earn your bread by the sweat of your brow," in the spiritual realm it is no less true that life is preserved and developed only at the cost of much effort. The unity of our lives can only be regained by effort - the cross gives life. 

It should not then surprise us that, as we feel on the one hand and agree with all that God tells us in Sacred Scripture about our life and his calling, we should also, on the other hand, sense a very real resistance to God's operation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, Christ says with great empathy and insight. Thanks, but no thanks, is what we feel like saying. 

Mother Theresa mentioned a suffering patient of hers whom she was trying to encourage by saying: suffering is the kiss of Jesus. From her sick bed that woman looked up at her and pleaded with disarming simplicity, "Please tell Jesus to stop kissing me!" We can understand her. In a way we are her. She sums up our feelings. We admire the diver but dare not walk out on the platform ourselves. 

So after considering some of what Scripture has to say about the calling, let us have a closer look at some of the reasons that we never have to look for against a vocation. These and others knock on our door before we even have time to send an invitation.