Vocation

VOCATION. - From the Latin vocatio = call. The divine v. implies, on the efficient line, the divine will or election of a human creature for a certain task and, on the formal line — according to the concept of calling — its manifestation: the latter alone creates in the one called the responsibility of the response.

I. SACRED VOCATION

Every moment of human life, in its objective concreteness, stands before the gaze and the will of God, to whom everything is subject, and before the graces proportioned to fulfilling it. So that one may speak, for man, of the vocation of every instant. However, when speaking of divine vocation, or even simply of vocation, one generally means the priestly or religious one. And it is to these alone that the famous passages of Holy Scripture refer: "And no one takes this honor upon himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was" (Hebr. 5:4); "you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit" (Io. 15:16); "not everyone understands this word, but only those to whom it is granted" (Mt. 19:11). The reason for this privileged designation of divine vocation consists in the special divine content of the priestly and religious state, called, precisely for this reason, sacred; which places this state at a level superior to the whole common supernatural human plane. For the religious life this superior level consists in the actualization of the evangelical counsels, a status perfectionis crucifying the most intimate and, in themselves, legitimate human tendencies, for the purpose of facilitating perfect union with God (Sum. Theol. 1a-2ae, q. 108, a. 4; ibid., 2a-2ae, q. 184). For the priesthood it consists in the sublime and operative deformity of the priestly character, powers and mission - official and hierarchical - demanding the interior, proportionate surpassing of the common human plane.

The manifestation of the divine will may be either miraculous or ordinary, according as it occurs through an immediate and infallible intervention of God, as in the case of St. Paul, or through providential but fallible secondary causes. The first case is extremely rare; here reference will always be made to the second.

II. SIGNS OF THE SACRED VOCATION

1. Manifest indications of the divine choice

Before divine Providence, which regulates secondary causes for the manifestation of the sacred election, stands the chosen one, taken not in isolation and abstractly, but within the complete and concrete framework of reality, that is, considered not only in his personal elements, but also in the environment of his origin and of his sacred destination. Only from the favorable maturing of all the elements will the sure indication of the call spring forth. Providence, that is: a) will make favorable (or will cause to be overcome and compensated) the original environment, the family environment, etc., and then the formative one, not excluding material, economic, and other aspects; b) will infuse and nourish in the young man the suitable physical, intellectual, and moral qualities; c) will inspire in his will the desire for the religious or priestly life, causing the above-mentioned elements to be sifted and judged by the spiritual father; d) will enlighten the responsible heads of the religious Institute or of the diocese, making their judgment favorable and inducing them to acceptance. It is important to note in what sense, when it is a question of the priestly vocation, the judgment and acceptance of the bishop has a preeminent value. Not inasmuch as it prescinds from or substitutes for the other elements, but inasmuch as the judgment of the hierarchical head is the only one capable of juridically authenticating its favorable character, conferring on the chosen one the right to ordination: «vocari autem a Deo dicuntur, qui a legitimis Ecclesiae ministris vocantur» (Catech. Rom., part 2, ch. 7; Ench. Cler., n. 104); «no one has ever any right to ordination before the free election of the bishop» (ibid., n. 860). The bishop, however, must judge yet another element, extrinsic in nature to the young man, yet also decisive, concerning the number of priests needed by the diocese and the possibility of inserting the new recruit into the hierarchical ranks of effective priestly work (whereas the number of those called to their own sanctification in the religious life can theoretically be without limit): «Nemo ex saecularibus ordinetur, qui iudicio proprii Episcopi non sit necessarius vel utilis ecclesiis diocesi» (CIC, can. 969 § 1). Or else his employment in another diocese must be foreseen (can. 969 § 2).

2. Signs in the young man

a) Moral suitability: of the three aforementioned personal suitabilities it is the most problematic; 1) it is to be judged naturally in view of the higher level of the sacred vocation. Substantial chastity, for example, being obligatory even for a lay young man, constitutes a necessary sign, but not properly a distinctive one. 2) The priestly vocation is not like an intermediate step and a compromise with respect to the level of the religious vocation, but, while not implying, of itself, the status perfectionis (except for bishops: cf. 2ᵃ-2ᵃᶜ, q. 184, a. 6), it corresponds to a maximum exigency of holiness, though with modalities and titles different from the religious vocation. For religious, the exigent title of holiness, extrinsic but explicit, is the superior status perfectionis embraced for one's own sanctification; for priests the title, intrinsic but implicit, is the sublimity of the character, of the powers, of the mission. 3) The practical necessities of ministry that deprive the secular priest of the precious defense of the religious rule impose on him the most solid deepening of the interior virtues. 4) Suitability must mature progressively; but since sacred service is the exigent title of the special priestly holiness, this must be substantially attained at the moment of sacred Ordination (cf. the exhortation Menti nostrae, n. 100): in which there is another difference from the religious vocation (cf. Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᶜ, q. 189, 1 c.). 5) Although all the virtues are interconnected, the most characteristic sign of the religious vocation is obedience (of the religious type), because chastity and actual poverty are also found in other states; that of the priestly vocation is devotion to the Eucharistic Sacrifice, because power over the real Body of Jesus is the greatest, most demanding and incommunicable greatness of the priest (cf. Menti nostrae, n. 101).

b) Will: it is not necessary that the internal motion of the Holy Spirit have an emotional and still less a mystical character (Ench. Cler., 860), it being sufficient that it invite to the «yes» of right intention (cf. Pius XI, Ad Catholici Sacerdotii [1935]: in Ench. Cler., n. 1387; Menti nostrae, n. 76).

Here is the theory expressed clearly by the following schema: divine goodness the proportionate graces and will become a "called one" to that state.

3. Loss of vocation

Just as, by resisting Grace, anyone can reject the general vocation to eternal salvation and lose himself, so the chosen one, to restrict the observation to his responsibilities, can reject the interior invitations of Grace to say yes, or, after having embraced the priesthood, can reject the graces to live it worthily. In both cases he then becomes one no longer willed by God: it is the lost vocation.

4. Scarcity of vocations

The divine, but not miraculous, conception of the sacred vocation does not confuse trust in Divine Providence, which cannot fail to provide the necessary priests, with neglect of the nonetheless necessary initiatives for their recruitment (cf. the epistle Officiorum omnium of Pius XI, 1 Aug. 1922; Ench. Cler., 1152; Menti nostrae, n. 74-77).

5. Freedom and responsibility

Supposing the vocation certain, the question arises whether there is an obligation under sin to correspond to it. Weighty are the arguments of the affirmative, "obligationist" sentence: a) Ascetical tradition inclines toward it: b) supposing the pure invitation, in rejecting it there would indeed be lacking direct sin, but there would be the indirect sin of the offense brought by the refusal to the divine inviter; c) such a refusal would conflict with the obligation of charity to love God supremely; d) it would constitute a culpable waste of the conjoined precious graces; e) it would violate the precept of charity toward oneself by unreasonably renouncing one's own "better," concretely proposed by God; f) by placing the soul outside the divine program and the preordained graces, it could compromise its eternal salvation; g) in the case of the priesthood it would constitute the betrayal of its social mission; h) it would imply sin, at least per accidens, deriving from the culpable motives of the refusal; i) finally, excluding the obligation, the greatness and responsibility of the vocation would be devalued. Nevertheless the negative, "libertarian" sentence seems more convincing, for these reasons: a) although it is not absurd that God should impose under sin on a man to live stably in a plan superior to the normal supernatural level of his nature, this is not presumable; b) given the supreme importance of the sacred vocation, the supposed sinfulness of the refusal would have to be grave: which, besides creating enormous anxieties of conscience, conflicts with the most common opinion even of the "obligationists"; c) the liturgy of Ordination, while it shows itself anxious about the suitability and freedom of the Ordinands, omits any reference to the eventual fault - grave or light - of one who rejected the divine call. Pius XII too, in the closing discourse of the General Congress of Religious, on 8 Dec. 1950, while he inculcated the duty of counselors not to obstruct the vocation of the called, omitted any mention of the reciprocal obligation of the called to follow it; d) in any case, in practice, sin is certainly to be excluded by the authority of the "libertarians," which renders the obligation at least doubtful and therefore juridically and morally nonexistent.

III. PARTICULAR QUESTIONS

1. Doubtful vocation

Excluded is the miraculous manifestation. God can permit that secondary causes fail. The phrase: "if God calls, all difficulties will fall away" confuses the absolute and miraculous power of God with His ordered and ordinary power. There may be the case of a lack of clarity, and therefore of a doubtful vocation. One must then regulate oneself - especially for the priesthood - as if it were absent. Since it is in fact a question of such an arduous state of exception, the presumption must stand, with prudent tuziorism, for the no. One must not demonstrate that the vocation is not there, but, with moral certainty, that it is there (cf. CIC, can. 973 § 3; Ad Cath. Sac.; Ench. Cler., 1388). This would also hold if the doubt arose after the first two major Orders (Istruz. S. C. Sacr., 27 Dec. 1930; Ench. Cler., 1224-95).

2. Error

There will also be the case of irreparable error. What matters is that it not depend culpably on the young man. Post factum, in the state erroneously but inculpably embraced by him, he will nonetheless be able to expect from the

This is also strengthened by the critique of the aforementioned obligationist arguments: a) ascetical tradition often speaks of obligation, duty, obedience, commitment, responsibility, etc., in a generic sense, without entering into the analysis of whether it is under sin or not; b) the classic distinction of the divine will into grave precepts, light precepts and desires would have no meaning except insofar as desires exclude even the indirect sin of refusal: otherwise all the omissions of the minimal little sacrifices desired by God would also prove sinful, and ordinary souls would be equated with the great saints who made the vow of the "more perfect," whose consequence is precisely to make obligatory what is not obligatory; c) supreme charity toward God can be actuated in three ways: substantially by the flight at any cost from grave sin, perfectly by the flight also from every venial sin, more perfectly and generously by adherence to the divine desires: the refusal of the vocation, if it conflicts with charity only as regards the third way, does not imply sin (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᶜ, q. 184, a. 3 c.; q. 124, a. 3 ad 1); d) the refusal of the divine graces, as aids from God for the fulfillment of His will, cannot but correspond, as regards sinfulness or not, to the nature of the respective divine will and therefore excludes sin in the case of a non-preceptive will; e) the renunciation of the "better" of the vocation, although constituting an enormous harm, as a diminution of paradise, may not be so as a stain deserving of purgatory or hell, when the specifying end of the action is not the refusal of that greater good, in itself (which would imply its culpable contempt), but the good of the good ordinary state; f) with the election of the common good state the soul, having left the divine program of exception, will be able to enter into the ordinary one and, in place of the preordained graces of exception, have those necessary for ordinary sanctification. In this way salvation could even sometimes be easier, because graces are like weapons of combat (Eph. 6, 11-17), which, while giving the capacity for victory, do not thereby give the ease of it and do not dispense from the labor of their employment, that is, of correspondence, which with more precious weapons, proportionate to a higher state and hard combat, can also be more difficult to accomplish, all the more so in the secular priestly state, deprived of the defensive and sanctifying organization of religious life; g) the apostolic social function of the priesthood does not eliminate the characteristic of free enlistment, regulated by divine Providence; h) the problem concerns essentially sin per se; that per accidens, from motives of sloth, etc., can often be there, but not always; since, per se, the repugnance to a greater and exceptional sacrifice, not obligatory, is not sloth; i) by the libertarian sentence the concept of vocation and of the relative responsibility are rather exalted, excluding the obligation, precisely because of the sublimity and exceptionality of the vocation itself, which cannot be lived except with the freedom of generosity and love.

IV. PONTIFICAL WORK OF VOCATION

Established by His Holiness Pius XII by motu proprio with the apostolic letter Cum nobis of 4 Nov. 1941, to safeguard, encourage, and assist priestly vocations. It has its seat at the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, which by rescript of 30 Jan. 1942 issued its statute and norms. By rescript of the same date the Sacred Penitentiary granted the Work numerous indulgences.

To achieve its proposed end, the Pontifical Work: 1) takes care above all to spread exact and clear ideas about the nature, necessity, and excellence of the priesthood; 2) promotes the offering of Holy Masses, Communions, prayers, works of penance and charity to obtain from God many and excellent priestly vocations; 3) fosters the development of the Work, erected in the various dioceses, and takes an interest in having it established where it does not yet exist.

The bodies that can aggregate themselves to the Pontifical Work are many and are distinguished into: a) filial: the diocesan works of priestly vocations; b) adherent: religious houses, general and provincial; institutes, centers of Catholic associations, and the like, which exceed the scope of the individual dioceses. To aggregate a diocesan Work to the Pontifical Center, the application must be signed by the Ordinary.

The Work has as its president the cardinal prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and leaves full autonomy and freedom of action to the diocesan Works, which are organized and function according to their own regulations.

In order to make ever better known and more adequately appreciated the dignity and necessity of the Catholic priesthood, the Work: 1) invites priests to seize every favorable circumstance to treat the subject (e.g.: Lenten preachings, spiritual exercises, novenas, catechisms for adults); 2) urges the faithful to study both the documents issued by the Holy See and what the Fathers of the Church and the most distinguished writers have written about the priesthood; it exhorts them to cultivate in children and adolescents esteem for the priesthood and to nourish in them the desire for Christian perfection.

In order to obtain from the Lord excellent vocations to the ecclesiastical state with the aids necessary for their happy fulfillment, the Work recommends the following practices: 1) the Ember Days, instituted by the Church since the first centuries also to help with prayer and fasting those aspiring to the priesthood; 2) the "priestly day," a more practical [practice] approved by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (12 Apr. 1937) and enriched with special indulgences by the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary (cf. Enchiridion clericorum, p. 861, n. 1534); 3) prayers raised to God in turn by religious families; 4) the "day of suffering," on which a treasure of sufferings is gathered among the sick. For several years this "day" has traditionally been celebrated on Holy Thursday, and radio broadcasts made in various languages for many countries contribute to its success.

The Work furthermore attends to the implementation of various initiatives to interest the various categories of persons in the problem of vocations: parents, teachers, children, the sick and nurses, students, graduates and professionals, workers, peasants, sailors... A "Communion of children" is requested annually of those who receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time.

It provides for the printing of suitable publications in the principal languages: Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German. The Bulletin of communications, published since 1945, maintains relations between the Pontifical Center and the diocesan Works; it promotes meetings and congresses; it supports, and sometimes actively participates in, diocesan, regional, and above all national congresses of priestly vocations; it stirs up the interest and collaboration of Catholic organizations, international and national.

The work is consecrated to Jesus Christ, high and eternal Priest; it is placed under the maternal protection of Mary Most Holy Queen of Apostles and under the patronage of St. Joseph, patron of the universal Church; and it venerates in a special way the princes of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Its principal feast is Holy Thursday, on which falls the anniversary of the institution of the priesthood.