Tell me, what is it you plan to do
        with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver, “The Summer Day”

Deciding what to do with your life is one of the most difficult things most of us can face. It is a process that may never be fully complete. How do I respond to the expectations of my parents and the needs of my future children? What would I enjoy? What am I really best at? Do I have to make a choice between work that is meaningful and work that pays well?

Many of us spend most of our time avoiding the task, hoping that something great will come to us down the line somehow. Others believe that they need not worry about it: if they get the job that pays the most, the money will prove a more than adequate substitute for the meaning inherent in the work.

The purpose of a liberal arts education is to encourage thoughtfulness and self-reflection, not passivity. And its heart, Jesuit spirituality and education is about encouraging people to sort through possibilities and to always seek the greater good, not settling for less. The purpose of this vocation initiative is to enable just such capabilities of reflection and discernment, without which a Holy Cross education could not be complete.

Read the Lilly Initiative Proposal .pdf
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html)