Vocations
What is a Vocation?
Quite simply, a vocation is how you choose to respond to God's call, using the gifts you have been blessed with in a way that best honors, serves, and pleases our Lord.
A vocation includes: ordained vocations such as the Priesthood and Diaconate,
the consecrated religious life for men and women, marriage, parenthood and the single life — all ways of living our lives in dedication to our Lord.
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Priesthood
“This sacrament configures the recipient to Christ by a special grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he may serve as Christ's instrument for his Church. By ordination one is enabled to act as a representative of Christ, Head of the Church, in his triple office of priest, prophet, and king.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
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Permanent Deaconate
"The principal function of the deacon, therefore, is to collaborate with the bishop and the priests in exercise of a ministry which is not of their own wisdom but of the Word of God, calling all to conversion and holiness."
Congregation for the Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons, no. 23
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Religious Life
“Already dedicated to him through Baptism, the person who surrenders himself to the God he loves above all else thereby consecrates himself more intimately to God’s service and to the good of the Church… ‘since members of institutes of consecrated life dedicate themselves through their consecration to the service of the Church they are obliged in a special manner to engage in missionary work, in accord with the character of the institute.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
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Marriage
“The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2012.
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Single Life
The vocation to the chaste single life liberates the heart in a unique way, “so as to make it burn with greater love for God and all humanity.” With one’s heart freed in love, the person committed to chaste single life “bears witness that the Kingdom of God and His justice is that pearl of great price which is preferred to every other value no matter how great”.
Familiaris Consortio, 16
“The discernment of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do with God's call”. — Pope Benedict XVI
Have questions discerning your vocation?
Contact: Fr. Jim Riehle, jriehle@saint-max.org
Prayer for Vocations
Almighty Father, You have created for us some definite purpose. Grant us the grace to know the path You have planned for us in this life and to respond with a generous “Yes.” Make our archdiocese, parishes, homes and hearts fruitful ground for Your gift of vocations. May our young people respond to Your call with courage and zeal. Stir among our men a desire and the strength to be good and holy priests. Bless us with consecrated religious and those called to a chaste single life, permanent deacons, and faithful husbands and wives, who are a sign of Christ’s love for His Church. We commend our prayer for vocations to You, Father, through the intercession of Mary our Mother, in the Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord.
Amen.