The Nature of Vocations

by Editor · May 3, 2006

A vocation, as Pope Benedict said earlier this year, is akin to works of charity. The person in the consecrated life and the lay person engaged in work for the Church is not in it for material reward or public acclamation (though the latter might deservedly follow), but in service to others.

At a Sunday blessing on January 29, Pope Benedict said that only supernatural charity, like that which flows continually from the heart of Christ, can explain the exceptional flowering down through the centuries of male and female religious orders and institutes, and other forms of consecrated life.

When we think of and pray for vocations, we tend to think of those interested in becoming priests or religious, hoping that more may enter the consecrated life. Such prayers are commendable and indispensable, especially at a time when the world offers many alternative lifestyles to the religious life, leading to a decreasing number of priests in key areas.

There are no restrictions to Christian vocations, however. The religious life is not a suitable option for everybody. There are many ways in which lay people can serve God and the People of God in lay ministries.

Of course, ministry in the Church can even be informal. Every Catholic has a way of providing a service to others.

That service may assume many forms. It may be to evangelise those who have not heard the Good News and lead those who have along the path to the Kingdom of God.

Missionaries, typically priests and religious, have tended to leave the comfort zone of their homes to exercise such ministries, often suffering privations. Today, when there are many social influences that undermine the preservation of religious faith, modern missionaries can be found parochially, for example those who stage Alpha courses.

Other ministries may involve practical service to Gods people, especially the poor and marginalised and those stumbling in their faith.

Such service can be high profile one may think here of, say, Pope Benedict or the late Mother Teresa and it can be humble, unappreciated and even unnoticed.

Even the kind soul who sweeps our churches after Sunday Mass is providing a crucial service; after all, how many people would want to worship in a squalid church?

As we observe the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on May 7, let us pray that young people who hear Gods call may fill our seminaries and novitiates, and that those who are not called to the consecrated life may find a ministry in which to serve the People of God.