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Deposit of Faith Series
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Vocational Discernment:

Gift Given, Gift Returned

Excursus 001

Your vocation

makes you the advance guard

of mankind on the march:

in your prayers

and in your work,

in your joy

and in your suffering,

in your successes

and in your trials,

mankind must be able to find

the model and the future

of what it, too,

is called to be,

in spite of its own burdens

and its own compromises[1]

Introductory Prayer

General Introduction

            Among the many questions that pertain to moral theology, vocational discernment is among the most noble and challenging. To ask oneself what one is going to do with one’s life, especially in the light of Jesus Christ, is the most important question one can ask himself, and a question that should pervade all of the other dimensions of one’s life.

State of the question

            The specific questions we need to answer seem to be these:

1. What is a vocation?

2. How do we know that man has a vocation?

3. Is the vocation particular to him, or general to the whole human race?

4. What are the causes of a vocation?

5. How does the vocation relate to living one’s Catholic faith in general?

6. What are some of the qualities of a vocation?

Further discussion would be appropriate in discriminating what things help and hinder not only the discernment of a vocation but the faithful and fruitful living out of the vocation.

Many attempt to appeal to the popular thought of our day concerning vocations. There are many books that appeal to the discernment of one’s vocation from the psychological or humanistic point of view. But as God himself is the agent of the vocation, the one who calls, as we shall see below, we need to put aside discourses that are alien to the Rule of Faith. If it is a supernatural reality, the only logical place to begin any discourse on the vocation is beginning with the principles of faith and divine revelation, namely, the content of sacred scripture and sacred tradition as the Magisterium of the Church and the writings of the Saints have passed it on to us.

Sometimes vocation is a phenomenon even outside of the Catholic sphere, for example, where we have “vocational schools,” where “vocation” is used in a context and with a meaning only remotely analogous to the Catholic vocation.

Context

            This is a question of moral theology, since it contemplates and discerns free human action. It is not a matter of dogmatic theology, such as Christology or Ecclesiology, as the object of the “science of vocation,” or vocatology, if we can permit ourselves, is precisely God’s call to man, and man’s corresponding response.

Definitions

            To proceed clearly in any discussion it is important to understand the most crucial key terms.

            Vocation. “The calling or destiny we have in this life and hereafter. God has created the human person to love and serve him; the fulfillment of this vocation is eternal happiness (1, 358, 1700). Christ calls the faithful to the perfection of holiness (825). The vocation of the laity consists in seeking the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will (898). Priestly and religious vocations are dedicated to the service of the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation (cf. 873; 931).”[2]

Lecture

            All things that exist can be studied or described in many ways, including the vocation. To describe a thing in only one way without being comprehensive runs risks. Aristotle presents us with the fact that we can define the same thing in different ways, when considering a house. He says,

Thus the essence of a house is assigned in such a formula as 'a shelter against destruction by wind, rain, and heat'; the physicist would describe it as 'stones, bricks, and timbers'; but there is a third possible description which would say that it was that form in that material with that purpose or end.[3]

In light of the possible errors that could arise by failing to define a thing adequately, he then proceeds to define what the soul is.

            All things exist because of causes. There are four causes, material (of what a thing is made), formal (what a thing is), efficient (what made a thing come into being), and final (what purpose a thing has).

            Let us apply this simple truth, that of causality, to our topic, “vocation,” as a working outline. We shall answer this under four headings. The different vocations we discover in the Church; the nature of the vocation; the origin of the vocation; and the purpose of the vocation.

The different vocations in the Church

            A story was circulated saying that someone asked Cardinal Ratzinger, “How many vocations are there in the Church?” The Cardinal replied, “As many as there are men on the face of the earth.” It is true that the vocation is so personal, that the vocation of one could never be identical to the vocation of another.

            But we can observe that there are certain fundamental states of life, to which we apply the name vocation. These are basically four, the single life, the married life, the religious life and the priestly life.

            The single life is the vocation of the person who is fulfilling his mission in the Church independent of any consecration, such as a religious, priestly or marital consecration. A person might be single because they haven’t discerned their vocation, or maybe they want to marry, for example, but haven’t yet found the right person for a spouse. Or a person might be single, because that’s the best way they can fulfill their mission in life, such as in fields of research, service, missionary work, and so forth. To discern that one wishes to be single just to avoid the responsibility of another state of life is to discern very poorly and egotistically.

            The married life is that to which most men on earth, male or female, are called. It is the life that one gives away to another person in order to serve that person, make that person happy, and give that person a family. When marriage is entered into for selfish reasons, there is vocational immaturity that places ones entire marriage in peril, and opens the doors to many sins both within and outside of the strict limits of that marriage.

            Religious life is a consecration to God, typically in community and under the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Religious pursue exclusively the spiritual perfection according to the spirituality of their founder and to the life and law of the Catholic Church. It is a life of supreme self sacrifice, abandonment of the world, and following of Christ. As challenging as it is, it has brought millions through the centuries to the most profound spiritual life known to man on earth. The Second Vatican Council has described it as a “pursuit of perfect charity.”[4] Some religious families are contemplative, others are active, many are a mix of both contemplative and active. Each religious order has a mission in the Church, even the most contemplative one.

            The priestly life is for those men who are called by God and the Church to the service of the altar. The principal role of priests is that of offering the sacred sacrifice of the Eucharist and of forgiving men’s sins by sacramental reconciliation. Their purpose in life is to save souls, and thereby increase the external glory of God in the world and in eternity. All the baptized are priests, and “exercise their baptismal priesthood by the witness of holy lives and practical charity”[5]; these priests however possess the “ministerial priesthood,” different from the common priesthood of the faithful both in degree and nature. They participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, they exercise the external office of the priesthood at the service of the whole Church, and they have particular faculties to celebrate certain sacraments and effect certain sacramentals. Some priests may also be religious.

What is a vocation?

            A vocation is a “call from God.” Indeed, the very word “vocation” proceeds etymologically from the Latin word “vocare,” to call. Of course, this implies that there is one who calls, some sort of medium of the call, and a recipient of the call who must decide whether, what and how to answer.

            In the most general terms, all the baptized enjoy a call to beatitude or happiness eternally with God in heaven.

            In more specific terms, each individual baptized person has a specific call to a state in life, a concrete reality by which to develop their life of grace in the soul.

            By our vocation in life, we develop that seed of faith, hope and charity in our life which was planted in our soul at baptism, and we do it in a particular way.

More could be added, but further elaboration is contained already in the other parts of this unit.

In the practical use of the term, the expression “vocations” sometimes means priestly and religious vocations, those ones that are less common yet vital to the life of the Church. Here is an example of that:

There is an urgent need today for a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all the members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations. The Second Vatican Council was quite explicit in declaring that “the duty of fostering vocations belongs to the entire Christian community which should discharge this task principally by living full Christian lives.” Only the basis of the conviction will pastor work on behalf of vocations be able to display its truly ecclesial aspect, develop a harmonious plan of action, and make use of specific agencies and suitable instruments of communion and co-responsibility.[6]

The origin of the vocation

            Where does a vocation come from? How does one get a vocation? And how does one get a specific vocation?

            Our vocation stems from our baptism. For our call has a finality or purpose, that is to serve God, the Church and the world, which we shall discuss below. It is necessary however that we have a relationship with God before we can be called, and baptism is that which establishes us in relationship with God. And the relationship is that of a covenant, the New Covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

            Our vocation’s origin therefore has different roots, depending on how we look at it:

• God is the origin of all things, including our vocation

• Baptism is that sacrament which plants the seed of our vocation

• Christ won for us all spiritual goods by his death on the cross

• Circumstances often present us with the occasions to make us face the vocational question, such as a word from someone, a death of a loved one, an experience that deeply fills or wounds our hearts, etc.

• “The greatest contribution [to fostering vocations] is made by families which are animated by a spirit of faith, charity and piety and which provide, as it were, a first seminary and by parishes in whose abundant life the young people themselves take and active part.”[7]

The purpose of the vocation

            When Jesus Christ came to earth, he did so out of love for fallen man. When we had turned our back on God by sin, the Father did not abandon us to the power of sin, but sent us his only Son to be our savior, who in turn sent us his Spirit.

            The whole mystery of salvation, then, is a mystery of sending. When we are baptized, we begin sharing in the life of the Son of God. In fact, the whole Trinity dwells in our souls, except if we are in a state of mortal sin; but our share in the life of the Son of God is more specific. If the Son God lives in us, and we are members of his mystical body, and if the Son was sent, the only possible conclusion is: we too are sent. We are to continue the mission of Christ in the world, which was a mission of the salvation of souls out of love for the Father.

            Every vocation therefore is to fulfill this mission of Christ. To be Catholic is therefore to be a missionary, and the missionary side of life is essential to the nature and effects of our baptism, and as well an essential component of our vocation.

            This mission is to the whole world, to make them true disciples of Christ as members of the Catholic Church. It is a mission to other members of the Church, to spur them on in persevering in the faith. It is a mission on the way to God, whose greater glory we are to pursue in all things. Therefore following one’s vocation is a service to God, Church and all men.

How do I know what my vocation in life is

            This reflection upon the nature of the Christian vocation leads us per force to the path of discovering one’s vocation in life. From what we have said, we can conclude that we need to pose ourselves a series of questions. The questions follow logically from the nature of what the Christian vocation is:

1. How am I going to attain love in this life?

2. Do I think that, in the deep interior of my soul, that God would be more greatly glorified, that his Love would be best served, if I were to follow one path in life instead of another?

3. How am I going to live out the commitments I took upon myself when I was baptized?

4. What would be the most effective way for me to cultivate a relationship with God?

5. By tending towards one state in life or another, am I simply trying to avoid the cross, and therefore not imitate the Lord Jesus?

6. What do the circumstances of my life tell me? Have there been persons, things,  events or spiritual experiences that have shown me lots of light about what my vocation might be?

7. What are the needs of the Church, and how can I address them by the vocation in life that I am considering taking up?

In none of these questions do we find the foolishness of those who say that the vocation is a personality type or inclination of character, as if it were just a career option. Indeed, our personality, inclinations or character may fall into the question regarding circumstances and occasions that have gotten us to think about the vocation, but they do not define a vocation.

No matter what your personality type, what character you have, what your defects are or what your good qualities might be, God can call you to whatever state of life he wants; and, since he is all powerful and all loving, he can make you happy in any state of life.

The discernment of spirits

We are often moved to do one thing or another, or dissuaded from doing one thing or another. We need in these moments to stop and discern which spirits are moving us, so we can act with peace, trusting that we are following the will of God.

St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises discusses the role of consolation and desolation in discerning the motions deep within one’s soul. The nature of the consolation is not just “feeling good,” and that of desolation as “feeling bad.” In a nutshell, consolation is that which brings spiritual light, interior peace and joy, in a word, love. Consolation is that which brings discontentment and rejection before what is good and true, and leads us away from God.[8]

St. John in his letters in the New Testament has these criteria for discerning spirits:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”[9]

A great deal can and should be said about discerning spirits. Let this suffice as an introduction, and as an encouragement to read solid books on these matters.[10]

Tips about discerning one’s vocation

            This section deals with some practical points to help each one of us know each day what God’s will over our lives is.

1. Don’t wait for the Archangel Gabriel to appear to you. Let me spoil the surprise: he probably won’t.

2. A vocation takes two free people. God calls, and a person responds. When God calls, he sometimes makes known his will with great detail to specific individuals. This is the case of the apostles, and some saints to whom he or other saints appeared in visions, dreams or locutions. It seems to me that, since a vocation is for the service of the salvation of souls, God intervenes in this way because of his great Wisdom and Providence, in which such special vocations require this special action.
               But the normal path for the billions of us others is the normal situation of human existence: God has left man in the hands of his own judgment.
               There’s a terrible amount of freedom in the call. In some cases where God has offered a personal revelation, and not in the rest. That means we are to use our intellects to discern the truth of what is good, good for me, and good for those with whom I will be in contact throughout the rest of my life.
               What this means is that no one else can make that decision except you. We see this happen, for example, when a man and a woman decide to marry. It is totally their decision, and yet totally God’s call. This is a mystery much like the incarnation, where Jesus Christ was true God and true Man, not some 50/50 mix. So too the vocational call is truly human and truly divine, not half of either but all of both.
               Therefore one should avoid the pitfall of being a “perpetual discerner.” Decide, and follow your heart! Done in love, you can’t go wrong, because God is love. And if he has other plans for you, he will guide you along them.
               When the Second Vatican Council speaks to religious, the Fathers say, “We would like to encourage you to proceed with greater sureness and with more joyful confidence along the way that you have chosen.”[11] Notice that the Council Fathers specify that it is a way that they have chosen, showing that God’s call does not hamper human freedom, but sets us free to love.

3. It is essential in the spiritual discernment of a vocation to take time to pray. Without periods of prayer, there is no way you will ever find out the answer to your question. An effective way to pray, while discerning one’s vocation, is to pray in the presence of the Eucharist, who is Jesus, who is God. Entrust one’s vocational search not to the prowess of one’s own reason, but to the loving hands of Mary.

4. Furthermore, it is essential to have silence. One needs to concentrate, reflect, think and examine one’s heart. This can take the form of prayer, or of just reflecting. Turn off distractions such as music, radio, television, cable and the internet. At first it will be hard. But when the unpleasantness of silence wears off, you will be left with a relish for silence and in it you will find great peace, light, and consolation.

5. The thing that most blinds the intellect is sin. One of the principle effects of intellect is to drag down our soul, and therefore to cloud the exercise of the faculties; the intellect is darker, the will is less inclined to what is good. When the sin in question is mortal, the intellect is simply blind and the will can’t really love what is good, until we repent. You will never know God’s will with mortal sin on your soul; and you will never want to do his will with sin turning you away from what is good.

6. Practice mortification. By renouncing those things that please our pride, sensuality and greed, we will be ready for the renunciations that each state of life brings with it. And each state of life brings great crosses with it for sure.

7. Only date if you are considering marriage as your vocation. Dating is a preparation for marriage, as is engagement in a much stronger degree. It is not that whenever you ask a member of the opposite gender out on a date you are in fact proposing marriage to them. Dating has a place to discern if marriage is one’s vocation, and if it’s with this person or that. Some lucky souls date only that one person whom they will marry, but many others realize, after getting to know someone, that this is not the right person for marriage.
               If you are contemplating religious life or the priesthood, don’t date. Dating is the novitiate to marriage, the seminary to marriage. Wouldn’t it be odd if a man preparing himself for a celibate life as a monk were dating women during his novitiate? Or that  a seminarian date? Or that a religious sister, before her final vows, engage in romantic and loving contact with other men? Just as one cannot cultivate celibacy through intimate relationships with members of the opposite sex, so too one cannot cultivate married life by being a religious and seminarian.

8. Have a spiritual director, or a confessor, or a wise priest or religious who is educated in the matters of faith and morals, and is furthermore faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, to guide you as you go on your way. This person can be a sounding board for ideas; and sometimes just formulating our ideas and telling others helps us distinguish, in the act, whether the idea is noble, foolish, ambiguous, etc.

A Priest's Responsibility in Promoting Vocations by Example

    Here I wish to simply quote this article in full:

The Personal Example of the Parish Priest is What Attracts Vocations


VATICAN CITY, AUG. 30, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Each parish priest, according to his own style and method, is responsible for inspiring others to follow the vocational path, said Father Stuart Bate, a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Father Bate, a professor of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at St. Augustine College of South Africa, participated in a teleconference on the topic of vocations to the priesthood organized by the Congregation for the Clergy.

Here is the text of the conference given by Father Bate.

***

God continually calls people in Christ to participate in the realization of his great plan for the salvation of the world (See Ephesians 1, 1 Corinthians 15). A special call is the vocation to priestly life and service. We usually hear God's call in the example of those around us, who challenge and inspire us by the witness of their own lives. This is particularly true with priestly vocation where the example of a zealous and holy priest is the way that many young men are challenged to examine the choices for their own future.

Most find this example in their parish and so the witness of the parish priest is an essential site of God's call to others to enter priestly life and ministry. This witness can be inspired by different kinds of priestly gifts and talents. Some parish priests excel in preparing and leading prayerful and dignified celebrations of the sacraments. Some manifest God's presence in their special ministry to the sick and dying. Yet others have special gift of preaching as they mediate Gods' word to the hearts of people. Some show a special commitment to the poor and suffering of the parish. There is no one recipe but what is common in all is the example of men who have met the Lord, who know it and who live their relationship with Jesus in service to the people they have been called to lead.

Inspired by such an example, young men (and sometimes older people) begin to contemplate the value and indeed the immeasurable necessity of the life of a Priest. And in this frame of mind they are more open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who may be gently challenging them to come and see more about this life for themselves (See John 1:39). Understanding the meaning of such promptings requires discernment. Here too the parish priest can play an important role in helping others explore the possibilities of this lifestyle. This may include encouraging them to greater involvement in the parish. Spiritual direction and other forms of mentoring are also important. The parish priest is often the first to recognise the seeds of priestly vocation in a young man. This is because he has been along this road himself in articulating his own call before entering the seminary.

Priests, however, must be careful not to project their own views and desires onto others. Their role is not to control but rather to trust God by helping such men explore their own vocation, following wherever it may lead. This implies neither the imposition of ones own will nor the mere passive provision of a spiritual space. Rather it requires an active involvement through accompaniment and encouragement of those who feel the Lord may be calling them to priestly ministry.

This task of vocational guidance is not just a task for a few specialists or those who are 'good with young people'. It is the responsibility of every parish priest. Each will do it in his own way using his own gifts and his own style. It must be true that almost all priests have inspired at least one person to follow in their footsteps. Sometimes we may have failed to nourish that inspiration. Like Peter we may think that we have had a poor catch. It is Jesus who shows us how to cast our nets to achieve a great haul.

Source: ZE04083022

Apologetics

            At this point, it is appropriate for us to field questions and discuss problems. We will proceed in this manner, this evening:

1. In small groups, we will discuss the six questions at the beginning of this unit.

2. The results of the small groups will be contributed in a plenary discussion.

3. Further questions and comments will be fielded.

Concluding prayer.