Malcolm Muggeridge's biography of Mother Theresa, Something Beautiful
             for God, and Graham Green's novel, The Power and the Glory, reveal a great
             deal about the influence of a calling on an individual's choice of
             vocation. Muggeridge reveals Mother Theresa's calling as a powerful,
             innate force that she has never questioned, thus sublimating her needs
             completely to her vocation. In contrast, the whiskey priest in The Power
             and the Glory struggles with his human weaknesses and fear, and yet finds
             himself compelled to remain true to his calling as a priest.
             In today's world, the choice of vocation is often seen as driven by a
             number of factors, such as economic and materialistic concerns, as well as
             personal desires such as hours of work, time spent with family, and
             concerns like prestige and recognition. Others see a vocation as linked to
             a sense of personal identity. Notes Muggeridge, "There is much talk today
             about discovering an identity, as though it were be something to be looked
             for, like a winning number in a lottery; then, once found, hoarded and
             treasured" (16-17). However, it is also true that a vocation can derive
             from something larger than the self, as seen in the life of Mother Theresa
             and the story of the whiskey priest in The Power and the Glory.
             In Something Beautiful for God, Malcolm Muggeridge chronicles the
             life of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mother Theresa. The story is written
             from the point of view of a skeptic (Muggeridge himself) who finds himself
             transformed by Mother Theresa's graciousness and light. Originally
             published in 1971, this book was perhaps the first work that introduced
             Mother Theresa to a North American audience.
             It is difficult for the modern, materialistic, world to make sense of
             Mother Theresa's choice of a vocation that involves living a life of
             poverty, devoted completely to helping the poorest of the poor, and
             ...