The reawakening of Aimara

What does "living life as vocation" mean? And "responding to the Lord through circumstances?" To look at quarantine in light of the provocations in Carrón’s ebook about the pandemic. A letter from Caracas.

When I read Reawakening Our Humanity, I was ready to find elements that would help me see reality as an ally. This point, which surprised me so much in my first steps in the movement, has today become the main instrument for the maturation of my faith. Not taking anything for granted and understanding that the difficulty "is the very place where the fulfillment of our lives is played out" makes me look at reality with different eyes. However, as I proceeded to read the text, what really surprised me was to find myself faced with the theme of vocation. “The greatest contribution we make to the world is our yes to the call of the Mystery, our yes to Christ – our faith - and not primarily what we manage to do.”

At the beginning of quarantine, I had intense conversations about whether or not to work during the circumstances we were experiencing. At first, I saw it as an evasion exercise. A way of keeping out of reality. It bothered me a lot, because those who wanted to escape tried to force me to continue, while I just wanted to stop and be silent, read and pray.

One day, I had the opportunity to talk to a doctor friend who confessed her frustration because she could do nothing but isolate herself, right in the middle of a health emergency. When I understood the strong recall - which I felt - to do something not as an escape mechanism, but as a genuine desire to give my contribution within the circumstances, I realized that my argument was not entirely valid.

There were times when I had the feeling that I did not mind being out of work, because I did not agree at all with the direction it was taking, or because I simply did not agree with going forward. Then I asked myself: why do I not feel the same desire and commitment to work as my friend does? Do I see myself doing another job? Maybe this is not for me? But when I resumed my work I did it with the same gusto and the same will as always.

At this point, I think that the circumstances were not there to test my professional vocation, but to give the right value to my family vocation. I am a working woman, who has always loved working, being efficient in what she does and earning money. Perhaps what I needed to understand was the true value of family in my life.

Talking to my doctor friend, we got to the point of recognizing that vocations, apparently, are not simple by nature, because otherwise we would not be able to give them the right value. If everything were easy there would not be any questions, there would be no decisions, no judgment. I told her how difficult my marriage was and how, however, after seven years, my husband and I are still together and that, at this point, we think that everything we lived had to happen, precisely because we understood that this was our vocation: to be a family.

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When my daughter got sick, it was clear to me that there was nothing more important than her, no matter the time or money, no matter the commitments I had. I was willing to sacrifice everything for her and I even thought about quitting my job if necessary.
Then, with the extension of the quarantine period, and in the face of further complications due to higher prices, scarcity of gasoline, and, therefore, the difficulty of getting around, a solution arose that I would never have thought of in other circumstances: moving to my mother-in-law's house to spend the quarantine together, helping and accompanying each other. "Living life as vocation means tending toward the Mystery in the circumstances through which the Lord has us pass, by responding to them.”

If circumstances had not become so complicated, I am sure that I would not have said this "yes", this "yes" to my vocation to marriage.
My criteria, my demands, my conditions would have prevailed and I would have missed the opportunity to see us surprisingly happy to be together.

I am grateful for this "human companionship" that sustains and helps me, even without knowing it, on my way towards my destiny.

Aimara, Caracas, Venezuela