Late vocation

Last week I saw my spiritual father prior to being ordained deacon next week. That conversation of course remains between him, God and me.

One thing is shareable. I am now the wrong side of 60. At age 15, I thought I had a vocation as a priest in the Church of England. It did not happen. At age 30, I thought I had a vocation to be a monk with the Roman Catholics. After two years they asked me to leave before I took vows. Only now, a generation (and marriage and two adult children later) am I going to be ordained.

Looking back, the way I read this is that God wanted me to develop a full Christian identity and maturity (Ephesians 4.13) ‘naked’, that is without hiding behind priestly vestments or a monk’s habit.