Vocation
What is a Vocation?
Put simply, “vocation” means a call. Within the Christian tradition, we understand the term to be about who God calls us to be with our lives. This normally happens through the day to day events of life and the people we encounter. The grace of our vocation always comes from God, inviting us to discover the true purpose and meaning of our life.
The New Testament presents us with many vocation stories, each with a clear invitation to follow Jesus as a disciple. For Marists, the Annunciation of Mary (Luke 1:26-39) reflects most clearly, how God breaks into everyday life circumstances, inviting a young woman to take up her vocation. Although Mary is surprised by the dramatic entry of God into her life, she comes to peace because of her intuition of the presence and love of God for her. Without having all the answers to her questioning, she trusts and commits herself to a God who inspires trust.
Similarly, Jesus calls his followers, "Come follow me" (Matthew 4:19). Despite their hesitations and feelings of being unworthy, Jesus reassures them, "Do not be afraid" (Matthew 5:10).
Like Mary and the first disciples, our response to that invitation is always a risk, but nevertheless, a deep act of trust and confidence in knowing that God has given us the strength and courage with which to respond generously.
Through the Sacrament of Baptism, each person is not only anointed into the Christian community of faith but called by God to know, love and serve God. Individually, we do this in different ways, by choosing to live your discipleship in a deliberate way, whether in a particular profession and in distinctive relationships.
God gave you the gift of your life. Your invitation is to freely choose how best you can live your one life. Your vocation is the key to finding true joy and purpose in your life.
Discovering and ultimately following your vocation gives the greatest glory and praise to our Creator. It is what we were meant to do.
How can I come to know my Vocation?
There are two helpful indicators that might suggest a vocation to a particular way of living the gospel:
Your relationship with God makes you curious to live or express your life in a particular way. This makes sense because God is with you in the everyday experiences of your life. You may feel relaxed or energised in the company of other like-minded people, or have a sense that something is stirring within you to go further and seek more information.
You feel fearful or unworthy with the idea of living this vocation. Sometimes you may have a sense of feeling uncomfortable or unworthy about living this vocation. That’s ok - you’re in good company, like so many people in the Bible (Moses, Peter, Paul, etc). God always calls us to “be more” and "do more" with our lives than we could ever have imagined. God’s dreams are bigger than our own. We need God’s grace to realise that we can’t do this by ourselves. As you are challenged and stretched, you will need to rely on both human and spiritual strength to live your vocation.
With prayer, reflection, and dialogue with others we trust, we learn from our journey over time.