Possible "missed vocation" because of life circumstances?

[_Gemma]

So I was reading that a person can have a ‘missed vocation’ and it was an article on a Catholic website specifically about unconsecrated singles and how they have a missed vocation.

I know there is a fair bit of debate on these forums as to whether the single life is a vocation, and of course officially it’s not.

For myself, I wasn’t raised as a Catholic, I have divorced parents and live now as a single woman in my early twenties with my single mother. I feel it’s my duty to stay with her and care for her.
I have no desire to get married although I do get lonely at times. I honestly believe I will never marry, not that I reject anyone, there isn’t anyone to marry and I don’t believe it’s for me.
I’m a recent convert and don’t know many other Catholics.
If I was from a Catholic family and my parents were still together I would have been a nun but because of the broken family this is not possible. I feel this could be a ‘missed vocation’ because of my family and I now have to just remain single in the world, praying and serving God however I can.
I don’t want people to think I have to marry, just because I can’t enter a convent. I am open to marriage, so it’s not a choice completely to be single but I am pretty convinced I will stay single until I die.

What do you think? missed vocation?

 

[Cloisters]

We all have a vocation, and yes, the single vocation is just that–being single in the world.

The Lord wants your heart to be a cloister. Formulate a Personal Prayer Rule, and see if you can retain a spiritual director.

How dependent is your mum on you?

Blessings,
Cloisters

 

[lakotak]

So I was reading that a person can have a ‘missed vocation’ and it was an article on a Catholic website specifically about unconsecrated singles and how they have a missed vocation.

I know there is a fair bit of debate on these forums as to whether the single life is a vocation, and of course officially it’s not.

For myself, I wasn’t raised as a Catholic, I have divorced parents and live now as a single woman in my early twenties with my single mother. I feel it’s my duty to stay with her and care for her.
I have no desire to get married although I do get lonely at times. I honestly believe I will never marry, not that I reject anyone, there isn’t anyone to marry and I don’t believe it’s for me.
I’m a recent convert and don’t know many other Catholics.
If I was from a Catholic family and my parents were still together I would have been a nun but because of the broken family this is not possible. I feel this could be a ‘missed vocation’ because of my family and I now have to just remain single in the world, praying and serving God however I can.
I don’t want people to think I have to marry, just because I can’t enter a convent. I am open to marriage, so it’s not a choice completely to be single but I am pretty convinced I will stay single until I die.

What do you think? missed vocation?

I have lived a single life and I will be 65 in a few months. I knew very early in life that I would never marry. I too had to take care of my mother all her life. I know that she would never be able to financially support herself without my help. I took care of her, providing her with everything I could until she died. I think my vocation was to take care of her as long as she lived. Now, I am free to follow God as he wishes now. I will be retiring from work in the secular world in February in order to follow Him more closely. I strongly feel that this is what he wishes now. In my younger years, I really had no desire for marriage, mom would not have been a problem. I just firmly believe that God never intended for me to marry. It was not in His plan.

 

[agnes_therese]

If I was from a Catholic family and my parents were still together I would have been a nun but because of the broken family this is not possible. I feel this could be a ‘missed vocation’ because of my family and I now have to just remain single in the world, praying and serving God however I can.

What do you think? missed vocation?

No, it looks as though to “remain single in the world, praying and serving God however I can” IS your vocation.

My spiritual director once told me that God speaks to us through the circumstances of our lives. Perhaps He has used to circumstances of your life to give you this vocation.

 

[Beryllos]

I am convinced that “life circumstances” are one of the ways God calls us to our true vocation. One may always regret missed opportunities, but as they say, as one door closes, another opens. I think it is too soon to say whether you are called to be single. It sounds like you are listening for God’s call, open to the possibilities, and that is a wonderful attitude to have. God bless you!