Vocation is a call to availability. The availability is to do whatever is wanted, whatever one's job - for me it meant breaking away from the usual parish assignment, to work with labouring gangs in industry. For those of us who are ordained, the calling is simply to availability, not to a particular status. We all have to do whatever is wanted by God. ...

The bright young lass in the Dunfermline fish shop at which we were customers, when we served Rosyth, took the chance, when there was no queue, to say to me, 'It must be great to have a job like yours - doing good all day, every day.' I replied, 'Your cheerful service all day and every day to people who come into this shop may count for a lot more than anything I ever did in my life.' She was mystified and, at the same time, a bit encouraged.