Answering God's Call

The Meaning of the Word Vocation

Vocation comes from the Latin word "VOCARE" which means "TO CALL"

Who is Calling?

  • God the Father

  • Jesus the Son

  • The Holy Spirit

  • The Church is the place where God’s call becomes visible

  • The Mission is the aim and the reason for the calling

Who is Answering this Call?

  • A particular human being with a name, a family and a set of circumstances around that person

  • A person does not “have” a calling, rather “experiences” a calling, welcomes a calling

  • The call is imbedded from the mother’s womb and becomes the reason for one’s life

  • This calling echoes down deep in a person’s life

  • It is perceived as an inclination

  • It is experienced as a seduction

Often times the person feels unable to follow the call…

  • I don’t know how to speak (Jeremiah 1,6)

  • I do not know a man (Mary [Luke 1,34])

  • Send someone else (Moses [Exodus 4,13])

God is waiting for a gracious response

  • Here I am (Isaiah 6,8)

  • Magnificat (Mary [Luke 1:46–55])

Why is God Calling?

  • To give witness of God’s presence in the world

  • To become an instrument of God’s saving actions

  • To foster communion with God and with one another

  • The beneficiary of the call is not the person being called, but the people to whom that person is being sent to.

  • Much has to do with the circumstances of the people.

  • The background of any vocation is our relationship with God: this is the heart of the Covenant.

How does one hear God's Call?

  • Jesus is the first mediator between God and man

  • The Church appears also as mediator by way of the sacraments

  • God also uses other persons to call: For example Andrew calls Peter and Paul calls Timothy

  • History itself speaks to a person’s heart

  • The needs of the people also speak to a person’s heart

  • In order to fullfil God’s calling we need the example of other disciples to help us discover this voice of God speaking to us

Summary

We will always discover that God is the fountain of all vocations. It is always His initiative, His decision, His choice.

The theology of vocation is not a theory or cheap speculation but a deep reflection upon the saving events that will always have God as their true author.

The theology of vocation is based upon the economy of salvation.