V o c a t i o n s

Who is the Lord calling you to be?

"He said to them, 'Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed Him."

- Matthew 4: 19-20


The Calling

Through all things Jesus Christ is calling humanity into greater perfection in himself. This is the universal call to holiness that every person is bound by. With this is mind, Jesus calls us to himself in different ways in this life so as to reach our life to come. In this way, the Church affirms three essential states in life that bring about sanctification: ministerial priesthood (Holy Orders),  religious life, and married life. In each state the Holy Spirit inspires and guides the soul to fulfillment and completeness as made possible through the grace of God: for, as St. Pauls writes in his Letter to the Romans, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (8: 28).

The Priesthood

The whole Church is a priestly people. Through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ. This participation is called the "common priesthood of the faithful." Based on this common priesthood and ordered to its service, there exists another participation in the mission of Christ: the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, where the task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ the Head in the midst of the community. The ministerial priesthood differs in essence from the common priesthood of the faithful because it confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. the ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum) and pastoral governance (munus regendi). CCC 1591-92



The Religious Life

Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. the perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God. The religious state is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come. CCC 915-16


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