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Everyone has a calling from God. The difficult part is figuring out what it is. The term “vocation” is commonly used by Catholics to indicate a call to the priesthood, the religious brotherhood or sisterhood, but in fact we are all gifted with a vocation whether to marriage, priesthood, religious life, the permanent diaconate or single life in the world. Since the vocation to celibacy and service to the Church is unusual, our thoughts turn to priests, brothers, sisters and deacons when we speak of “vocation.”
A brief consideration of the loftiness of this vocation should stir us to invite many young men and women to follow this path of Gospel holiness. As Pope John Paul II described it, the consecrated person not only follows Christ in his commandment of love, but lives the very life that he lived on earth in celibate chastity, the renunciation of material possessions and the offering of his life in obedience to the Father for the salvation of the world. These “evangelical counsels” shape the life of the priest and define the life of the religious.
Daily life for any priest must be formed by the reality of his celibate love for God and neighbor. He is called to a life of Gospel simplicity, and he must obey his bishop in accepting his assignment and fulfilling his duties. He takes the counsels of Our Lord seriously.
Religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are a more radical expression of following the counsels of Christ who was poor, chaste and obedient. There are a variety of religious orders and communities, each with its proper spirituality, but the three vows are common to all forms of religious life.
Often these vows are seen as a “giving up,” or a difficult sacrifice. The vows of the religious are ways of being more attached to Jesus Christ and intimate with him. They are the way to spiritual freedom. Chastity makes it possible for Jesus to become our primary love. We are free to love his people without counting the cost.
Dedicated poverty sets aside the accumulation of material goods as a goal in life. One can use what is needed and freely give everything else away. The vowed religious is a conduit for God’s generosity. The religious depends on the generosity of others and becomes the dispenser of God’s unfailing love.
All action, all apostolates, must flow from this consecration to God and a spirit of service to his Church. And all apostolic work must lead back to God. In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), Pope Benedict XVI insists on the uniqueness of the works of charity accomplished in the name of Christ. Christian service continues the work of Jesus Christ in and through his Church. This is all the more true of the charitable work of men and women religious. The charity of the contemplative cloistered religious is primarily in the witness of his or her life of worship and intercessory prayer for all those in need. The vowed religious lives to bring God to the world and to bring the world to God.
One might say that the service of the religious priest, brother or sister makes faith in God all the more possible. It reveals the reality of a relationship with God.
Dominican Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell is director of the Order’s Catholic Information Service.
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