This week in the Catholic Herald, we’re looking at vocations. We usually print this issue ahead of National Vocation Awareness Week (this year, it’s from November 5 to 11).
This week serves to make people aware of vocations. In many Church settings, the V-word tends to emphasize the priesthood and Religious Life.
Those two vocations are incredibly important, obviously. We need more priests and Religious and we need good priests and Religious.
If God is calling you to one of those — great! If God is calling you to something else — great!
Not to take anything away from the priesthood and Religious Life, but what’s really important is that we know what our calls are and answer them according to what God wills for us.
Are you living out your vocation every minute of every day of every year to your fullest potential? I’m not.
When I’m more focused on how I’m going to get a big work project done, how to train my new employees, when I should plan to get my hair cut, or how crushing it was to see the Wisconsin women’s volleyball team lose to Nebraska than putting in time, care, and attention toward my vocation of marriage, that is an oops.
Every day I wake up vocationed. Two rings on two left hands are signs of that. They are signs of something that was always there, but my beloved and I didn’t know that until many years into our lives.
God was always calling us to it. God was always calling us to our mission, if we chose to accept it.
Every day, we are called to know, love, and serve God and live out our vocation of marriage.
“Be husband” is at the top of my to-do list every day, right? . . . Right? . . . Right?
Dealing with distractions
I once read some time ago that it is prudent to answer and live out one’s vocation first and then worry about things like a job, a home, etc.
Eh. Until someone starts a home for the vocationally stuck or confused, one might have to seek gainful employment in the midst of discernment.
That being said, how often does one’s job or career get in the way of one’s vocation?
Thanks to the actions of our first parents, we do have to work. I’m not arguing against that, but, by golly, do our jobs get in the way.
Many things cloud our minds and impede our bodies when it comes to answering the call, but I think work is one of the worst offenders.
The following is a list of ways a job can be bad for one’s vocation: Not making enough money to live thus creating stress and other challenges, making so much money that one feels attached or tied down to a job that could hinder one’s vocation, a stressful job that affects one’s mental and physical health and creates a strain at home with one’s spouse or makes it difficult to find a spouse, having a job in an area where it’s difficult to “meet” anyone, or having a job that seems so “important” that you place it as a higher priority than being at home.
Again, work is good. We have to work, but it’s one example of how easy it is to let life get in the way of what’s really important — answering our call and fully living out our vocations.
When was the last time you took a good hard look at your job and career and, despite all of your accomplishments and achievements, asked yourself if it allows you to be a good whatever you are: Spouse, future spouse, single, etc.?
What if the answer to that is “no” and God wants you to do something else with your life?
Would you say “no” to God in return? Who knows better what’s better for you?
Living for our vocations
Again, I’m not advocating that we all quit our high-stress, busy, important, yadda-yadda-yadda jobs and do something else, but it’s worth some thought.
We can apply these thoughts to anything that inadvertently leads us to neglect our vocation.
It could be too much time on the phone. It could be too much time watching sports. It could be too much time with friends. It could be too much time wrapped up in our hobbies.
We need to ask ourselves: How do we live “vocation-first” lives? It’s going to be different for everyone so it’s hard for me to articulate an exact formula.
It would be a bit time-consuming to pause before every action and ask “Is this good or helpful for my marriage?” but it’s not a bad subconscious habit to get into.
If you discover a sliver of a thought that seems like whatever you’re about to do would be a slight negative on your marriage, think about why that is. Imagine what your life would be like without whatever it is you’re about to do that you feel one percent unsure about.
What is really important?
The same can apply to anyone who is single or perhaps frustrated with how their vocation is being presented to them. Your question is “Is this helping me be open to what God is asking of me?”
I’m no vocations director, and never will be, but priests and Religious probably pause and ask themselves some of the same questions.
If you don’t feel like you are living out your vocation to God’s liking, ask yourself why.
Is there something you can do to remedy that? Chances are, you know that the answer is “yes” and you know what to do, you just don’t know if you can.
This is where faith comes in. Trust in the Lord to help you through whatever decisions you need to make.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.