Through baptism, every Christian is called to participate in the work of Jesus as “Prophet, Priest and King”. (Reflection from Fr Tshepo) Our hope is to create a resource that will assist to explain what a vocation is, how these fit into our Christian journey and how we are all called to participate in God’s plan for salvation through our baptismal calling. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions, suggestions or comments. (contact email – vocations@bryanstoncatholic.co.za)
THE MEANING OF LIFE!?
Why are we here?
To know God and to love Him
“Of all visible creatures only man is “able to know and love his creator”. He is “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake”, and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity” CCC356
What does that mean? God has created us all for salvation. That means that God wants us to be with him in heaven, to be in complete harmony with Him. To go to heaven we need to strive to be saints. That means doing what God wants us to do and living the way God wants us to live.
“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” St Augustine
How do we know what God wants?
Prayer, Holy Scripture, the Teachings and Traditions of the Church
Prayer – can you be in harmony with someone if you don’t talk to them ALL THE TIME? Can you be in harmony with someone if you don’t LISTEN TO THEM?
We have to talk to God in prayer to know Him.
“Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.” St Teresa of Avila
Holy Scripture – Jesus tells us exactly what he wants us to do –
“Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole mind and with all your strength; and love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5) – the crib notes for sainthood.
We have to read the Bible to know God.
The Church –
- provides us with access to the Sacraments,
- gave us the structure of the Bible,
- interprets scripture to teach us how to live,
- gives us the Pope, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laypeople to guide, mentor and teach us,
- gives us the opportunity to serve,
- provides us with a community within which we can live our shared faith,
- acknowledges those saints who are already in God’s Holy Presence and encourages us to seek their intercession to draw us closer to Him
- provides us with prayers and sacramentals that make it easy for us to be in touch with God,
- defines our role in the life of the Church and in fulfilling God’s plan for us through vocations
We have to know our faith to live it.
GOD WANTS ME??
“What is my job on the planet? What is it that needs doing, that I know something about, that probably won’t happen unless I take responsibility for it?” Buckminster Fuller
At our confirmation we accept our place in the Church, acknowledging that we are precious in the eyes of God and that we have something special to offer.
Through Baptism we are all called to holiness. You could look at our spiritual lives in three stages
- Sainthood – our ultimate goal
- Vocation – our state in life that frames how we live God’s plan for us
- Every-day actions – doing what we are doing now with the ultimate goal in mind
How do I know what to do?
There’s a lot of noise and distraction in life, we can do a lot of things and want to be a lot of things, how do we know that we are on the right path?
“Do not be afraid of not knowing and not being able to do what is rightly required …. Do something. Get moving. Be confident. Risk new things. Stick with it. Get on your knees. Then be ready for big surprises.” St Angela Merici
- Pray – keep communicating with God
- Sacrament of Reconciliation – keep yourself in a state of grace by going for regular confession.
- Do what you have to do every day – get involved
“Start by doing what’s necessary: then do what’s possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” St Francis of Assisi
Where you are now is where you are meant to be – for now. Do the present well and you’ll start to get clues about the future.
If you allow God into your life, He will let you know what He wants you to do. He has chosen you for a specific purpose and He is calling you to a specific state of life – your Vocation.
“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” St Teresa of Kolkota
LOVE IS…
“God calls you to make definitive choices, and he has a plan for each of you: to discover that plan and to respond to your vocation is to move toward personal fulfilment. God calls each of us to be holy, to live His life, but He has a particular path for each one of us.” Pope Francis