Church teaching on vocation

[JoeB]

Does anyone know where I could find more information on what exactly the Church teaching is on vocation and where it comes from?

I’ve read about 20 cursory articles on the topic so far, which all include some variation on the whole universal/primary/secondary thing as well as something about some Biblical figure or other who was called to this or that, but what I really want to know is what you must believe and why.

I had the (probably heretical) hypothesis that one’s primary vocation could be less of a black and white thing (you’re 100% called to be a priest) and be more of a circumstantial, disposition thing with sliding values based on the individual and their situation. Maybe some guy has a 98% calling to be a priest, but some other guy has a 52% calling to be a priest.

The reason I had this thought is because I know it’s how life tends to work with most other major decisions (probably including secondary vocations). They tend to operate on more of an “adjacent possible” level and I was wondering if that idea could be applied more liberally.

I’m sure this sounds like nonsense to a lot of people, which is fine, but that’s why I’m looking for more concrete information.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

I’m not sure there’s anything more concrete to be found than what you’ve already read. I don’t think we definitively know the answer to your question about someone having a 100% vocation vs a 52% vocation; my feeling is that you’re on the right track, but there’s no way to absolutely “prove” it. The Church hasn’t been so explicit as to say “you must believe” vocations are x, y, and z to the best of my knowledge.

 

[CRM_Brother]

Hello Joe,
There are many church documents which speak about vocation:

Lumen Gentium - Vatican II
Christifideles Laici - John Paul II
Vita Consecrata - John Paul II
Ad Catholici Saserdotii - Pius XI
Redemptionis Donum - John Paul II

The primary ones here I would look at first are Lumen Gentium and Vita Consecrata. They are the big ones. Lumen Gentium is a Dogmatic Constitution of the Second Vatican Council. Vita Consecrata is currently the standard for consecrated life and contains a very good description of vocation.

The big thing we must remember is that vocation is a choice between multiple good avenues of life. God, however, calls us firmly to one of them. It is an all or nothing acceptance or rejection of that vocation. If, however, we decide to reject that call, then God will then try to call us to the next best life if the original call is totally closed to the person. For example, if a man is called to be a priest, but he is expelled from the seminary because he got a woman pregnant, then God will then call the man to the vocation of a father and a husband. It is not the original, intended vocation which most fully fulfills God’s plan in his life but now the repercussions which have stemmed from the former seminarian’s decisions have closed that avenue of vocation to him. He was 100% called to be a priest and rejected it. Then, in light of the new inability to fulfill that vocation, God 100% called him to fatherhood.

There is only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to God’s call. He will direct us to where it can be fully fulfilled, no matter what, and will never call us to something which is impossible to fulfill completely.

God Bless,
Br. Ben, CRM

 

[JoeB]

Thanks for the responses. I’ll check out the documents.

 

[JHFamily]

There are also two books that I recommend, though I don’t remember the authors:

The Theology of Vocation. Roman Catholic Books. Out of print. May be a hard one to find.

Religious Vocation: An Unnecessary Mystery by Richard Butler, O.P. TAN Books. He writes a bit about the history of vocations and discernment that is really interesting.

 

[Hodos]

The best Biblical discussion on the doctrine of vocation that I have seen is seen in the links below.

Hope this helps.