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By Damian Torres-Botello, SJ

What  are  the  differences  between  a  job,  a  career,  and  a  vocation?

I recently asked this question to a room full of freshmen honors business students at Loyola University Chicago. On this particular day I found myself in a course designed to acclimate first-year students to the academic and social life of college. As I was preparing this talk, filling it with a fancy PowerPoint presentation and witty one-liners, I had a moment of reflection. No, actually, I would say it was a moment of recollection. I thought to myself, “I have had so many jobs, one career, but never a vocation . . . until now.”

This past August–August 9 at 9:00 am to be exact–I pronounced vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the Society of Jesus. Leading up to this moment was nothing less than a challenge, nothing more than divine, and everything like excitement and joy. And inside all that, something I have come to understand in my 36 years of breathing—that moment, that very moment, I was dedicating my life to something that moved my heart and sets it ablaze: the people of God.

An exercise during this University 101 class involved writing down what you understood to be written on your heart, that is to say, things that are more than just something you like to do but rather the root as to why you like to do them. This was an exercise I did during the Spiritual Exercises to begin contemplating the question: What has Christ written on your heart? For these new college students it could be anything from caring for their health, playing on a sports team, and even why they chose the major they desire to study.

Messages of Encouragement received for Damian Torres-Botello, SJ, in response to his “A Heart on Fire” email sent to Jesuit Partners in July 2014. “Your passion and love for being that Servant Leader we all strive for gives others a glimpse into the cross and Jesus’ way. Please continue your way and pray for all of us. God Bless.” — Timothy Dwyer “Hello, to all of you in formation. Just wanted to give you some words of encouragement, as a “late vocation” to the Adrian Dominican Sisters. I applaud you for having the courage to listen to God speaking in your hearts and to obey that call. I pray that God will continue to gift you with a generous, listening heart—and will give you the gift of perseverance to follow wherever you are called. The world is in great need of men like you who love God and care about humanity. May God continue to bless you in the years ahead.” — Sr. Barbara Kelley, OP “I really like your life story and what what your calling is and how you found out about it. A good, late friend of mine, Fr. Will Prospero, SJ, always stated that the heart, heart of Jesus, is what counts and gives us the means to follow, understand and help.” — James J. Blochowiak “While I should be sending a message of encouragement to you, your story was encouraging to me—thank you!” — Robert Newman

For me, in my heart, a little over a year ago on those last days of the Exercises, I recalled writing: A Love of People. The things I chose to do in my life, to fill my days, to wake me up in the morning, whether it was a job or my career, all centered on people. Getting to know people, serving with people, working for people . . . people, people, people.

Two years prior to taking vows I had a flourishing career as a playwright and sometimes actor/director in Kansas City and Chicago. I had worked countless jobs to supplement my meager artist’s income— as an administrative assistant at a couple of universities, a one-time pre-school teacher, a brief stint as a waiter, and finally an event planner. All offered okay money for bits of my time, but they all involved working with people and serving people in one way or another. And on August 9 I found myself awake and aware, on my knees, vowing my life to the church, to Jesus, and the Society that bears his name, taking what has been written on my heart and making it real.

Explaining to the students in class, I say: “A job gives you money in exchange for your time, a career gives you money in exchange for your time doing something you love to do, but a vocation is something that fits you perfectly because it fulfills all those things written on your heart.”

And that is what I am discovering more and more deeply, each day, these past few weeks, as a vowed man in the Society of Jesus. As a first-year Scholastic, I am among the people, taking on the mission of studying and serving. I am accompanying students and fellow Scholastics, walking with them through subjects that are loved and subjects that are . . . less than loved. I am right where they are as a student myself. And I am being filled, and I am falling in love and staying in love, as Pedro Arrupe advises, and I see nothing but smiles from God and feel nothing but warmth in my heart.

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Mr. Damian Torres-Botello, SJ, is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. He earned a BA in theater from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas, and is an accomplished playwright and monologist who has worked with theater companies from Detroit to Georgia. Damian entered the Jesuits in 2012 and last August he professed First Vows after completing two years of study at the Jesuit Novitiate in the Twin Cities. He is currently in First Studies at Loyola University Chicago.