Vocations and Ministry Notes

What is a Vocation?

A) Vocation

      1) A Gift from God (a kind of grace from God)

      2) The Holy Spirit guiding us, and giving focus and purpose to our lives

      3) A call from God to embrace a way of life that enables us to use all our gifts and talents to serve Him and others

      4) The foundational call from God to all of humanity is a “universal call to holiness”

      5) The work we do each and every day as a response to God’s call to be holy

B) Discernment - the process of determining God’s call and how to respond - requires faith, reflection and prayer


Universal Call to Holiness

A) The “Sense” of Vocation:  All of us are called to holiness, to be saints, to live our lives in such a way as to be reunited with God in Heaven - our ultimate destiny  (the Universal Call to Holiness)

B)   The sense of my call - who is my “primary relationship”? 

  1.    Single Life - I become the person I am called to be by God through my relationships with others and serving the people in my life

  2.   Married Life- I become the person I am called to be by God through my relationship with my spouse and my children

3)  Ordained Life - I become the person I am called to be by God through my relationships with my parish and community, in serving their needs

4)   Consecrated Religious Life - I become the person I am called to be by God through my relationship with my Religious community and with those I serve

C) The immediate mission I am called to right now

  1.       What am I called right now to be doing with my life?

  2.       this can change from day to day


How Does God “Make Us Holy”

A) How does this happen?

  1. Grace - God’s help and assistance

  2. Sanctifying Grace - by Baptism and membership in the Church, Christians receive God’s help in living a “holy life”

  3. Actual Grace - the various ways in which God intervenes in our lives to offer support, strength, and help

  4. Sacramental Grace - Graces that flow from reception of the sacraments

  5. Charisms - special gifts of the Holy Spirit that enable people to serve God and others

Is Holiness Possible?

  1. Jesus calls us to be Holy, but most Christians do not believe that it is possible for themselves

  2. Most people doubt their ability to be Holy, and thus will live their Spiritual lives in mediocrity, with a lack of joy and purpose in their lives

  3. The lie that we cannot be holy neutralizes Christians and keeps people on the sideline as spectators, robbing them of their ability to be Disciples

  4. The lie that we cannot be Holy is a debilitating lie that comes from the Devil, but it is so easy to disprove.

  5. Recognizing that holiness is possible opens us up to whole new realities - opens our hearts, minds and souls and enables us to recognize new joys in life.  Each Holy moment creates new joy!

  6. God never denies His grace, but we are sometimes unwilling to cooperate with His grace

  7. "There is no Saint without a past.  There is no sinner without a future."  Regardless of our past, there is still hope for us all.

How Do We Combat This?

A) Holy Moments

  1. Being the person that God has called you to be; doing what God is calling you to do in that moment

  2. All we need is the desire and awareness to grasp each moment for God

3) Examples:

a) Each morning, begin your day thanking God for a new day

 b) Offer up to God your least enjoyable act of the day, and pray for those that are suffering - physically, emotionally or spiritually

c) Control your temper

d) Each hour, take five seconds to offer a short prayer to God

e) If you feel anger at someone, say a prayer for them instead…it is hard to be angry with someone if you are praying for them!!

What Does Scripture Have to Say About Our Universal Call?

The Final Command of Jesus (Matthew 28: 16-20)

A) The message of Jesus that he commissioned the disciples to teach was what got Jesus killed

       1) The real reason that Jesus was crucified was because his radical message of universal love and respect for all people (including Gentiles, Samaritans, Romans, etc) was just too hard to follow

       2) It was easier to kill the messenger than it was to live the message

       3) Now the disciples are being asked to share that same message - which got all but one of the original Apostles martyred as well

B) This challenge to the disciples is our challenge as well - there is no difference between them and us - that is, if we claim to be believers in Christ

C) The presence of the Holy Spirit (Acts Chap 2) was the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise made in Matthew, that he would be with them always

D) Until this experience of Pentecost, the disciples had not ventured out to preach the message of Jesus

E) Immediately, with the Holy Spirit, they began their public ministry

F) That same Holy Spirit is with us today to aid us in our Christian call to spread Jesus’ message