Vocation of singleness?

[Nick3886]

A Bishop once told me that the single life is not a vocation by default. The way I always figured it, if I was married my job would be to bring my family closer to God. If I was a priest, my parish or wherever I am at the time. And as a single guy, I’d be faced with the daunting challenge of being in the secular world with my beer drinking buddies, trying to bring them closer to God.

Simplified and silly, I know, but makes me feel that no matter what the vocation is, there’s blessings and challenges along the way.

 

[TiggerS]

A Bishop once told me that the single life is not a vocation by default. The way I always figured it, if I was married my job would be to bring my family closer to God. If I was a priest, my parish or wherever I am at the time. And as a single guy, I’d be faced with the daunting challenge of being in the secular world with my beer drinking buddies, trying to bring them closer to God.

Simplified and silly, I know, but makes me feel that no matter what the vocation is, there’s blessings and challenges along the way.

The vocation to the single celibate lay state is not a default position. It is wisely discerned with spiritual direction and experienced as a call from God to embrace the single celibate lay state as His Call. The default position, I think, is when one does not experience the single celibate lay state as one’s call and vocation, but a transition call only - with a desire to marry, enter religious life or the priesthood as one’s potential life vocation.
Some can find themselves single and therefore celibate in the lay state without any desire to do so at all. This can be very difficult and a suffering and a situation where spiritual direction and on an ongoing basis is the most prudent and wisest of moves. God has made us for Joy and for Peace - for happiness here and hereafter - and if one is not experiencing this state then spiritual direction is the way to travel and on an ongoing basis.

It is quite true that no matter the call and vocation from God, one is going to experience both blessings and challenges along the way.