Our universal and particular vocation

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

ON the Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle, celebrated on November 30, we are reminded that Christ can call anyone to be his apostle. In the gospel of the day, (cfr. Mt 4,18-22) we see Christ just passing by and when he saw the brothers, Peter and Andrew, he told them to follow him, and, wonder of wonders, they just did. The same when he saw the brothers, James and John.

It’s clear that Christ can call anyone to follow him, since he is precisely the pattern of our humanity, the one who offers us “the way, the truth and the life” proper to us. In other words, we are all called by Christ to follow him.

Yes, we all have a vocation which is what the call of Christ to us is all about. In short, the vocation to follow Christ, to be like him, to be holy and to be involved in the continuing work of human redemption, is universal. This should be clear in our mind.

As to the particular vocation, we actually are free to choose whether we want to be a priest or nun or religious, or we want to be a layperson. Unless we are given specific signs from God as to what particular vocation to choose, we are quite free to choose all possible and clean ways of life as a vocation from God.

We should not waste time trying to figure out what particular vocation we ought to have. We should just choose one, and once done, let’s stick to it all the way to the end of our life, no matter whatever happens in our life.

Of course, if along the way there are again some clear signs that God is pointing us to a particular vocation, then some changes or adjustments can be made. But all these things should not cause us too much worry or anxiety.

The important thing is that we are truly committed and faithful to any vocation we choose or is meant for us. Let’s avoid falling into the trap of overthinking and overanalyzing things that would lead us to be worried and to hinder us in doing the things that we need to do.

In the worst scenario, if in the end, that is, in the Last Judgment, we would be made to realize that we chose the wrong particular vocation, it’s very likely that Christ would still be understanding, compassionate and merciful with us, since we decided to choose the particular vocation we had in good faith.

Again, what is important is that whatever particular vocation we choose, we be most generous and fruitful in our commitment and fidelity. And this commitment and fidelity can only be lived by us if we are truly seeking God in everything and doing everything out of love for him, and because of him, we can manage to love everybody else.

Let’s also remember that if we are truly driven by love for God and for others, everything that we do and that can happen in our lives will always bring us joy and peace, a deep sense of meaning and purpose. We can cope with any situation in our life. And we would be in a better condition to defend and protect ourselves from our weaknesses, temptations and all forms of evil in this world.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com