Vocations: What Are They, and What Is Mine?

Hello everybody! I know that some of my readers come from different faith backgrounds or none at all, and that is wonderful! I welcome you and am glad that you are taking the time to read this! I am a person who loves to talk about her faith and why we believe what we do as Catholics. This is a topic that I have been wanting to write about for some time because I think that this is a very important and interesting topic to discuss.

To put it simply, our vocation is the way we devote our lives to God and to his church. The beauty of the Catholic Church is that there is no one way that everyone must do. There are many different types of vocations and each person is called to live out their own vocation. Finding one’s vocation takes a lot of prayer, discernment (that’s another blog topic itself!) and patience. Sometimes I wish it were as easy as getting a phone call from God saying “This is what I’m calling you to!”, but it’s about learning to trust God in the process. Anyway, let’s explore some different types of vocations!

1. Priesthood

The priesthood is just what it sounds like, the call for men to serve as parish priests. Men called to the priesthood start of by entering what’s called the seminary. Going into the seminary doesn‘t mean that becoming a priest is final. In fact, the seminary is a place where men considering this vocation discern whether it is right for them and get a deeper formation in spirituality. Men who become priests vow to live a chaste life dedicated to the parish they serve. The reason that priests don’t get married is because they are “married to the church” as Christ was and by taking these vows they commit their lives to tending God’s people. Priests, as well as bishops and the Pope all take the same role that Peter and the apostles did in the Acts of the Apostles.

2. Marriage

Marriage is a holy covenant made between a man and woman who make vows of fidelity, love, and faith to one another. Married couples love and serve the Lord by loving each other and their family. God‘s intention for marriage is to bring two together as one to help each other grow in virtue and holiness. Holy marriages are just as important as vocations in the priesthood and religious life because all faith formation begins in the family.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Mt 19:5-6

3. Religious Life

The religious life is similar to the priesthood, but people who enter into the religious life serve in many different ways. The religious life and priesthood stem from Acts 2:44-47. (See below) Monks (men) and nuns (women) dedicate their lives to serving God in a variety of different ways, depending on the convent or order they are in. Some work in hospitals, schools, foreign missions, soup kitchens, etc. depending on what type they are. Contemplative monks and nuns focus more on spending time in prayer and communal worship where as Active monks and nuns focus more on service duties.

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart,praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

4. Single Life

Some people are called to live a holy, chaste life while serving the church. Now, everybody is single at some point in their life but that doesn’t mean that it is their vocation. Those that are called to marriage but haven’t met their spouse yet live out their baptismal call to holiness in the meantime. However, some people are called to live a single, consecrated life. Both of these are equally amazing! Those who live this vocation have regular jobs and live like normal people, but they dedicate their time to serving God and their local parish. This can include teaching catechism, being a Eucharistic minister at church, serving at homeless shelters, or any way that they can serve God!

Thank you all for reading! I hope you could learn something new! If any of my non-Catholic readers have any questions about anything, I would be happy to answer them as best as I can if you would send me a message!