Three contacts with the world of vocation. One bringing real joy at the end of long struggle. Two bringing struggle and pain. I’ve lived inside my own sense of calling for so long that I hardly know how to think of myself as separate from it. Yet one of the constants of a bishop’s life is contact with people for whom vocation is objective reality and driving force – and I thank God for that. They amaze me and humble me. Yet, knowing what I know and having seen what I have seen, it’s all I can do not to say, ‘If you could just squeeze this germ out of your system … just go and get on with your life and forget about this … just be content to be …. you would be so much happier. But there is no point. I didn’t listen either.