Suffering With Joy

Vocations Are Not…

November 2, 2011

Sometimes when we’re exploring something deeply, we need to not only say what something is, but also say what it is not.  That is, differentiate what is from other, perhaps similar things that could cause confusion in our thinking.  This is especially important when we are looking at something that affects our eternal life.  If we end up making false assumptions about our vocation we will inevitably make mistakes in decisions and judgments that will cause us trouble.

What vocations are not

Carpenter at work

Vocations are not occupations. An occupation is what we do for a living and implies certain times when we engage in it and certain times, like vacations or coming home from work, when we don’t.  A married person doesn’t get a vacation from being married and a priest doesn’t get a vacation from being a priest and so on. It is a state in life proper to an individual.  We can change jobs and occupations, but marriage is until death do us part.  A priest is always a priest and a religious with solemn vows is always a religious.  We don’t get time off from our vocations.

An example:

In speaking with priests who were formed in diocesan seminaries of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, I have heard a number of times that they were trained to think of themselves as social workers and their vocation as an occupation.  The ownership of homes, boats, cabins at nearby lakes and other such worldly things came to be customarily sought after by priests in certain dioceses as a reward for dispensing the sacraments.  Thus, men who were naturally compassionate and caring came to see themselves as a man just like any other man and not one specifically ordained to offer sacrifice and to serve as the alter Christus in a permanent relationship with the Bride of Christ. It became all to easy to justify giving up the sacred priesthood for other pursuits in the same way a married man who starts keeping company with a woman other than his wife justifies divorce.

Michael Rose’s book Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church gives a fair view of the means by which seminaries lost their focus in forming priests.  It’s reasonable to say that St. John Vianney, patron saint of all priests, would not recognize that formation as leading to a faithful living of the vocation of the sacred priesthood.

Donna Steichen’s Ungodly Rage: The Hidden Face of Catholic Feminism tells the sad story of religious women who lost their understanding of the meaning of their vows as does Anne Carey’s Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Communities.

You can read the public records of the civil courts to see case after case of how marriages went wrong, vows were broken, and lives upended because vocations were abandoned.

Sometimes we have to look hard at what goes wrong in following a state in life in order to rediscover the original meaning and purpose of a vocation as opposed to an occupation.

Vocations are not apostolates.

An apostolate is usually associated with a charism – a gift that one uses for the salvation of souls. This is why we can have diocesan priests, religious priests, hermit priests, etc.  Apostolates are exercised under obedience to a superior such as a bishop, religious head such as an abbot or abbess, or director of an institute of apostolic life such as the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.  An individual may be called by God to exercise a particular apostolate while following his vocation.  Judie Brown, by vocation a married woman, founded American Life League which is her apostolate, for example.

In our lives we may, over time, have many different apostolates.  For awhile my apostolate was to educate people concerning the traditional sacred liturgy and seek the restoration of the 1962 liturgical books according to the wishes of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.  Before that I had an apostolate as director of sacred music at a parish while I fulfilled my occupation as a professional photographer living in the married state.  Now my apostolate is this blog.

In our vocations, our occupations, and our apostolates the one thing common to all is doing God’s will, cultivating a solid prayer life, and exercising self denial in imitation of Christ.  We will always have problems to overcome, days of darkness and feelings of despondency, and moments of great joy.  It’s all part of the journey to eternal life.  The one thing we don’t and mustn’t do is put our hands to the plow and then look back (Lk. 9:62).

The next post in this series will probe the process of discernment of one’s vocation.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: Catholic Church, vocations

2 Comments to Vocations Are Not…

1. 

   Great post. I really enjoyed it. I have always been fascinated with the fact that my husband has TWO vocations – marriage and the diaconate.
   Do you think my being a spiritual director could be considered my apostolate? My spiritual director is the one who discerned that I was called to this ministry.
   Colleen recently posted..Thankful for Blessings- Books, Birds & Rainbows
Colleen on November 2nd, 2011
2. 

   Yes, Colleen, I believe your being a spiritual director is definitely an apostolate – and an important one at that.
barb on November 2nd, 2011