The Meaning of Vocation
/CARISSA PLUTA
A recording of this blog post was featured on our podcast.
Catholics talk a lot about vocations–about how to find it and then, how to live it. But what does it actually mean to have a vocation?
PHOTOGRAPHY: KATHLEEN STRAUB
As a young Catholic, the word “vocation” probably conjures up images of that smiling happy couple and their gaggle of adorable (and well-dressed) children coming to mass each Sunday, or perhaps of a habited nun spending her days joyfully praying in front of the Eucharist.
Maybe the thought of it frustrates you because you’re desperately waiting for the right guy to come along, or fretting what happens if he doesn’t.
Maybe you are worried that you’ll miss your true calling and spend the rest of your earthly life in misery.
I remember in college spending a lot of time in the chapel panicking over what God was calling me to, and sometimes even feeling like my life could not truly start until He revealed it to me. (Maybe you can relate?)
But our vocation is not the cheese at the center of the proverbial maze, rather a path to our true destination. Finding it is not your sole purpose for existing, instead it is meant to help you understand more deeply why you are here.
Related: Am I Called to Marriage? How to Discern Your Vocation
Pope Saint John Paul II says this about vocations:
Vocation is a dialogue, ongoing and open; it is not the end of the story.
God calls, and continues to call, each one of us by name to invite us into a relationship with Him. He asks us to walk with Him and to allow Him to walk with us. Our vocation is the way in which we are to follow.
Every human heart was made to know, love, and serve God and spend eternity in perfect communion with Him.
Your vocation is a personal and particular way of responding, freely and without reserve, to the universal call to holiness given to us at Baptism.
Read more: Kat’s Vocation Story
Simply finding your Vocation–to marriage, to religious life, or to singlehood–is not what will make you a saint. Sainthood lies in following His voice and the movements of the Spirit wherever you are along the path laid out for you.
Whether you have been married for a decade or you’re still discerning what the next step is, your vocation is to respond wholeheartedly to His outstretched hand and His call to Come, follow me.
