I have met women whose husbands died young and did not have anyone else ask them to be married, who raised children by themselves heroically. But, their vocation as a wife was not fulfilled.
I have met women who have dedicated their lives to the care of old parents, without having the ability to use any talents of science, liberal arts, or other intellectual pursuits, or the pursuit of a career
I have met men whose fathers did not understand that their sons were not given the same talents as they were given, but were fathers who insisted that these sons go into the family business or another career other than the ones to which they were called.
I have met men whose lives were dotted with understandable failures, such as business closing, being downsized, loosing investments, facing financial ruin because of circumstances, which prevented them from using their skills.
I have met men who gave up pursuing a talent they loved in order to become excellent providers for their families in a field not as personally desired. This is sacrifice.
The world is full of those who did not or could not use the gifts God gave them for some reason or another.
This is a great suffering, a great loss and a dying to self. This type of suffering may be used by God to purify one's imagination, ego, desires so that God can use one for the building of His Kingdom.
Failure does not mean spiritual death. Failure in the world may be a sign of a call to holiness.
Some people would say that Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was a failure as he died so young, or that Blessed Titus Brandsma did not maximize his ministry of printing and publishing by not giving in the Nazi propaganda.
Those who have had sorrow and failure are blessed by God to undergo the detachment from things, status, comfort.
Here is a quotation from Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Many modern day Catholics would see Frassati as a failure, dying at 24, accomplishing nothing worldly. And, yet, he is among the blessed.
"In order to be Christian, our lives must be a continual renunciation and sacrifice. However, we know that the difficulties of this world are nothing compared to the eternal happiness that awaits us, where there will be no limit to our joy, no end to our happiness, and we shall enjoy unimaginable peace. And so, young people, learn from our Lord Jesus Christ the meaning of sacrifice."
