The English word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin word ‘vocāre’, which means ‘to call’.
It’s a word you’ve probably heard a lot, especially if you’re discerning, or living, a religious vocation. But why is this word important for us as Christians? Because at its most basic level, vocation can be understood as a calling from God. This understanding, says Pope Francis, “situates our whole life in relation to the God who loves us.”
“The first and most important vocation,” continues Francis, “is the vocation we have received in baptism.” Through baptism, we are called to salvation. We are called to enter the Kingdom and into union with Christ. We are called to a life of holiness and to participate in the Church’s mission of evangelising the world.
Further, Saint John Paul II says that “Christian revelation recognises two specific ways of realising the vocation of the human person in its entirety, to love: marriage and virginity or celibacy.” Through marriage, “husbands and wives find their proper vocation in being witnesses of the faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children.” Through celibacy, in the priesthood, men are “called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to the affairs of the Lord,” giving themselves “entirely to God and to [humankind].” Through religious life, men and women profess the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, consecrating themselves to a life of prayer and apostolic activity.
Common to each vocation is chastity, be it conjugal chastity in marriage, celibate chastity in religious life, or continence chastity for those who are neither married nor religious.
Also common to each vocation is service.
In response to an argument between the Apostles, regarding which of them would be the greatest, Jesus said, “if anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” “Vocation in the strict sense,” says Francis is a “call to missionary service to others,” where “our life on earth reaches its full stature when it becomes an offering.”
This may sound like exciting stuff but in reality, living our vocation, or simply discerning it, can be difficult. It can be confusing or frustrating. It can leave us wondering whether God is even calling at all.
Something that helps me immensely when I start to wobble is remembering my life on Earth is temporary. My life will soon come to an end. However, for God’s faithful people, death is not the final say. Heaven awaits, where life is changed, and not ended.
But what is Heaven? Heaven is not a physical place, up in the clouds, or beyond our galaxy. It is an immaterial state of existence. It is a living and personal relationship with the Trinity. It is communion with our Mother Mary, the Angels and the Saints. “Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.”
Therefore, live out, or discern, your vocation with Heaven in mind.
This duty, of seeking Heavenly things, does not diminish our vocation but enhances it. It inspires us to work with others to build a better world and to introduce people to the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who by his death and resurrection, opened Heaven for us.
If you have discovered your vocation, very good. If not, then don’t worry. Because “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”