What is "Vocation"?

The word vocation means "a calling"; it is extremely important to keep this in mind. We are called by the providential arrangement of circumstances, by the realities of life, and also by the grace which we receive. If one is convinced of being singled out by the Lord for some work in this life, how is that work discovered?

First, we quietly discern or observe our potentials and needs and try to fit them into what we can do best. Often in such a process, God leads us by interior inspiration, by an attraction to do this or that work. We will be attracted by a certain kind of work because it fits our capacity and because it opens to us possibilities of security or fulfillment.

The need for inspiration and divine guidance in any vocation cannot be overstressed. The Lord has led many people in mysterious ways. Talking it over with persons whom we admire and trust, perhaps someone already living religious life such as a Sister or a Priest or a Spiritual Director can be most helpful.

As Newman says, "God has created me to do Him some definite service: He has commited some work to me which he has not committed to another. I may never know it in this life, but I shall know it in the next."

Individuals will be aided in a religious life choice through a life of prayer. In the religious life the person is seeking to make visible what is hidden, and touchable that which is unreachable. Prayer, the great power of grace and faith give purpose and meaning to this life.

What gives it its particular identity? It is a very specific consecration,for it is ultimately the Almighty who consecrates and invests a person in a religious life. It is a call to a state of being.

The state of the consecrated life 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.

Through a life of continual prayer and sacrifice, the religious draws down from heaven grace upon grace for the conversion for souls throughout the world.