View from the Old Man of Storr (Isle of Skye). Photograph by Moyan Brenn on Flickr.
What is my path in life? - discerning my vocation.
What is a vocation? First things first: we ALL have one! The word ‘vocation’ comes from the Latin ‘vocare’, which means ‘to call’. Each of us is ‘called’ by the Lord. Each of us was created in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26), and the Good Lord has a loving plan for every one of us – a plan that has existed from the very beginning, even before we were born: “For it was you who formed my inmost being, knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139, v. 15)
A vocation is God’s unique invitation to us, a particular way for us to live our lives to the fullest, to live a life that offers us the opportunity to be who were meant to be. By taking time to discern - to reflect and pray - on God’s call for us, we can fulfil His deepest will, and embark on the path towards holiness and towards union with Him.
Vocation is never only about “me” and my personal fulfilment. Living out one’s vocation is always about entering into a loving relationship with others, in the service of the Gospel, the Church, and the world.
A vocation is a lively movement of call and response. It begins in the realisation of God’s great love for all of creation and within that reality, God’s personal and unconditional love for each one of us. As Scripture tells us, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)
A vocation, then, is always a call to love in truth. It is about “falling in love with God” and trying to live our lives most fully, in doing God’s will for us in the world. The way we love as humans teaches us much about this dynamic. When I hear the words, “I love you” from another person I am faced with a choice. I can either “run in the other direction” so as not to become more deeply involved or I can respond with an “I love you too”! When I respond in love to the other person it immediately involves greater commitment in my relationship with that person. It means being there for that person, listening to him or her, caring and loving unselfishly. It is a joyful commitment. It is fulfilling, but it will involve a “cost” – the cost of loving.
So it is when I hear the Word of God telling me in the depths of my being that I am loved by God. I have a choice to respond freely. When I respond in love to God I am called into a deeper commitment, to a more attentive “listening” to God in prayer. I am called to seek truth in my life guided by Scripture, the realities of the world, and my own person and teachings of the Church. I’m called to live each moment of my life in all its realities for God, to care and love unselfishly in God’s world.
There are various and equally important ways of living out this vocation to be loved and to love in return. Traditionally, men and women have lived out their vocation to love in marriage, in the single life, in the priesthood, or in the religious life (being a vowed member of a religious order).
At the root of all these forms of vocation, however, is the ultimate call from God to be loved and to love. Fr Pedro Arrupe S.J., the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) from 1965 to 1983, described a vocation in the terms of “falling in love”:
A vocation is God’s unique invitation to us, a particular way for us to live our lives to the fullest, to live a life that offers us the opportunity to be who were meant to be. By taking time to discern - to reflect and pray - on God’s call for us, we can fulfil His deepest will, and embark on the path towards holiness and towards union with Him.
Vocation is never only about “me” and my personal fulfilment. Living out one’s vocation is always about entering into a loving relationship with others, in the service of the Gospel, the Church, and the world.
A vocation is a lively movement of call and response. It begins in the realisation of God’s great love for all of creation and within that reality, God’s personal and unconditional love for each one of us. As Scripture tells us, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)
A vocation, then, is always a call to love in truth. It is about “falling in love with God” and trying to live our lives most fully, in doing God’s will for us in the world. The way we love as humans teaches us much about this dynamic. When I hear the words, “I love you” from another person I am faced with a choice. I can either “run in the other direction” so as not to become more deeply involved or I can respond with an “I love you too”! When I respond in love to the other person it immediately involves greater commitment in my relationship with that person. It means being there for that person, listening to him or her, caring and loving unselfishly. It is a joyful commitment. It is fulfilling, but it will involve a “cost” – the cost of loving.
So it is when I hear the Word of God telling me in the depths of my being that I am loved by God. I have a choice to respond freely. When I respond in love to God I am called into a deeper commitment, to a more attentive “listening” to God in prayer. I am called to seek truth in my life guided by Scripture, the realities of the world, and my own person and teachings of the Church. I’m called to live each moment of my life in all its realities for God, to care and love unselfishly in God’s world.
There are various and equally important ways of living out this vocation to be loved and to love in return. Traditionally, men and women have lived out their vocation to love in marriage, in the single life, in the priesthood, or in the religious life (being a vowed member of a religious order).
At the root of all these forms of vocation, however, is the ultimate call from God to be loved and to love. Fr Pedro Arrupe S.J., the Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) from 1965 to 1983, described a vocation in the terms of “falling in love”:
Nothing is more important than finding God,
that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends,
what you read, who you know,
what breaks your heart and what amazes you with gratitude.
Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.
(Source: http://vocations.ca/how_am_i_being_called/personal_vocation/)
RC Diocese of Aberdeen Charitable Trust. A registered Scottish Charity Number SC005122.
