Day 56. What is a Vocation?
Considered in the perspective of the person’s eternal existence, marriage is only a tentative solution of the problem of a union of persons through love. It is also a fact that most people opt for this solution.
St.
John Paul II
We have arrived, at last, at the matter of vocation. What is a vocation? Doctors are said to have a vocation to medicine. Mechanics and carpenters may graduate from vocational schools. Career is often confused with vocation and described in similar terms. Some claim a vocation to being single. Are you confused?
Vocation comes from the Latin, vocare which means “to call.” The Catholic Dictionary defines vocation as “a call from God to a distinctive state of life, in which the person can reach holiness” [1]. Accordingly, a vocation is a call from God that invites a total response. The invitation is addressed to me. God invites me to give my whole person. When it’s a vocation to a particular life-state, married or celibate, that gift is personal in another way as well: made to another person. The response to God’s invitation, the choice, is mine. I take full responsibility for my free choice – one that bears significant consequences.
This self-gift to which I am called can take different forms, but there are certain essential characteristics – many of which we have already observed.
A vocation to a life-state invites a response that is:
interpersonal it’s a relationship between persons
transcendent directed toward someone who is “other,” different in kind (e.g. male/female or divine/human) from me
exclusive allowing for only one partner
reciprocal the relationship is fully accepted and embraced by both
total no part of my person is withheld, I’m “all-in”
permanent life-long
binding vows are made or promises exchanged
recognized by legitimate church and/or civil authority
public witnessed by others
Who is called in this way? Everyone. All are called by God to give of themselves, ordinarily in marriage.
There are immediate questions that come to mind: What about those who cannot marry? What about those who choose not to be married? It is true that some people are prevented from marriage because of lack of desire, lack of opportunity, illness, human limitations or emotional disability. Many in my experience simply haven’t found the right one. Still, some feel called to remain unmarried though there is nothing to keep them from doing so. Can we speak, therefore, of the vocation to remain single? If it’s a question of singleness as a life-state (apart from consecrated life) there is no such vocation recognized by the Church. There is, however, the universal vocation to holiness that some people pursue very fruitfully while being single [2].
From the beginning we have held that a vocation to a life-state is interpersonal, permanent and exclusive. Being single doesn’t fit these criteria. This is neither a put-down nor a relegation to second-class status. Singleness, by its very nature, allows a person considerable personal autonomy. Single persons are unattached, relatively independent. This they can use very selflessly (I can think of many friends who do just that). But being single is not a permanent state. By its nature, it leaves one available.
This highlights an important aspect of vocation. Vocation involves a “calling out of.” When God intervenes in the life of a person, when his voice is heard, there results a summons that draws one away from his or her current state into a new state, a new identity, a new role and a new relationship with God.
Sometimes, it must be said, God’s call is not heard. Other times it is heard and ignored or resisted or put off indefinitely. “No thanks,” one may say, “I have other plans.” Some hear God and wish to respond but are prevented by internal or external circumstances. Nevertheless, all are called. All are invited to give themselves wholly.
Ordinarily the call of God is to marriage. In fact, from a natural perspective we can say that this call is part of creation itself. In keeping with the patterns of nature, male and female are drawn together for mutual cooperation in survival and procreation. Human marriage greatly elevates and perfects this natural pattern because of the uniquely interpersonal character of matrimony. Person gives to person, self to self. Human couples unite by choice as free persons, not under the compulsion of mere instinct as is the case with animals. “Because they are persons, they take part consciously in the work of creation…. It is, therefore, impossible to compare their marital life with the sexual life of animals, which is governed completely by instinct” [3].
We turn now to another point of confusion: Can’t we speak of someone having a vocation to a particular cause or to a career? Not in the same way. Certainly God calls us to fulfill important roles in society and in the Church. But vocation is more fundamental than work – no matter how important the work may be. Again, the difference is the one to whom my self-gift is given. A self-gift offered to another self (a “who”) is always greater than a comparable self-gift given to a thing (a “what”). A vocation invites a gift of person to person. Because of the dignity and value of persons, no dedication to a cause, a project or a career is comparable.
Marriage is a school of transcendence. In it we learn to appreciate and affirm the other. We stretch out across the boundaries of the familiar into the mysterious and delightful strangeness of someone other. We learn to collaborate in the service of natural and supernatural life. Marriage is the ordinary setting in which humans strive to reach salvation; the usual way to ascend the mountain of holiness. Now as in the beginning God knows that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). What a marvelous gift is marriage! Why, then, would anybody voluntarily give it up?
We speak of marriage as a calling to leave behind the single life. Can we speak of a vocation that is a further call to leave behind marriage? There can be only one reason for a young woman or a young man to leave behind the excellence of marriage: the invitation to something better.
Novena Prayer
Jesus says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
Pier Giorgio responds: St. Paul says that “the charity of Christ urges us.” Without this flame, which should burn out our personality little by little and blaze only for other people’s griefs, we would not be Christian, let alone Catholic.
Let us Pray: Blessed Pier Giorgio, teach me by your example of mercy to open my heart more widely to those in need, especially the poor and the sick. Guide me in extending that mercy both to friends and strangers, to those who love me and those who do not. Help me to reflect God’s own mercy, especially in words and deeds of forgiveness.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who is gracious and merciful and just, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need: (in your own words, ask for the Lord to grant you grace in the struggle for purity of mind and body – especially in the area of chastity)
A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter
Make it My Own
Daily Discernment Workbook
EXAMINE MY HEART
1. Called Out
“Just minding my own business,” that’s what many great saints could say if asked what they were doing when they received their calling from God. The Bible has numerous stories of people called out of ordinary jobs and pursuits for a great purpose. The following examples are famous figures who came from humble beginnings. Read the passages to the left and connect each with the profession of the person called by God.
A. Matthew 9:9 1. A temple serving-boy
B. 1 Kings 19:19-21 2. A virgin engaged to be married
C. Exodus 3:1-10 3. A pair of fishermen
D. Mark 1:16-18 4. A businessman collecting taxes
E. 1 Samuel 3:2-10; 19 – 21 5. A shepherd tending his sheep
F. Luke 1:26-38 6. A farmer plowing his field
Re-read 1 Samuel 3:2-10. Is it possible to serve God and still not really know God? How does this apply to my own life?
A QUOTE TO NOTE
2. Marriage is a Great Calling
The vocation of marriage unites man and woman. This union is so profound that God permits husband and wife to see Him in each other in a unique way. Thus the great beauty of marriage is in this encounter of two persons that opens them to God in a new way.
How very significant is the dissatisfaction which marks man’s life in Eden as long as his sole point of reference is the world of plants and animals (cf. Gen 2:20). Only the appearance of the woman, a being who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones (cf. Gen 2:23), and in whom the spirit of God the Creator is also alive, can satisfy the need for interpersonal dialogue, so vital for human existence. In the other, whether man or woman, there is a reflection of God himself, the definitive goal and fulfillment of every person.
St. John Paul II [4]
If someone were to claim that marriage isn’t valued as a vocation in the Church, how would I respond using this quote?
Who is the most inspiring married couple I know? What do I find most appealing about the way they live out their vocation?
3. What can be Greater?
Marriage unites persons who are fundamentally different from each other – male and female. Is there any way this difference can be elevated to a higher level? Can there be, for example, a marriage of human and divine?
‘Every man, every woman is the object of God’s special love and it is a marital love,’ Pope [John Paul II] said….To us Christ says, ‘You are mine!’ ...Our answer to this call is also an answer of love, an answer in the gift of self to God. It is this voluntary gift of one’s total being to Christ himself that draws us into the mystery of spousal union. In other words, my call to religious life is a profound expression of the love of God for me. And my free and full response to this “love of choice” creates a special relationship between Christ and myself. This means that I give my total and undivided devotion to no other person than Christ himself.
Sr. Evelyn Ann Schumacher, O.S.F. [5]
Does it seem possible to me that God could be united to somebody in a vocation as deeply as husband and wife are in marriage? Why or why not? (honesty please!)
Have I ever met a priest, sister or brother who seemed to be so joyful in their vocation that they seemed, so to speak, “happily married”? What traits did I find most appealing in them?
If I have never known a really joyful priest, sister or brother, is it possible that this causes me to doubt that such a vocation can be satisfying? If this is true for me, what can I do about it?
Conclude with
“Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen.”
[0] lead quote - St. John Paul II (Karol Woltyla), Love and Responsibility, tr. by H.T. Willetts, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1981, p. 253
[1] Pocket Catholic Dictionary, abridged from Modern Catholic Dictionary, by John A. Hardon, S.J., Image/Doubleday, New York, p. 454
[2] “…single people…are able to make great contributions toward holiness and apostolic endeavor in the Church.” Lumen Gentium, #41
[3] St. John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla], Love and Responsibility, p. 248
[4] St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, The Gospel of Life, #35, 1995
[5] Sr. Evelyn Ann Schumacher, O.S.F., An Undivided Heart, Pope John Paul II on the Deeper Realities of the Consecrated Life, Institute on Religious Life, 2002, 2013, pg. 23
All Scripture quotes from the New American Bible, unless otherwise specified
Answer key for #1: A4; B6; C5; D3; E1; F2