Vocation, a Choice or a Gift?

In the Archdiocese of Davao, September is dubbed as a vocation month with special emphasis on religious and priestly vocation. It is a month when the representatives of different religious congregations are aggressively campaigning to groups of young people through vocation symposium, forum and informal meetings. The Diocesan priests of Davao, being aware of their crucial role in promoting priestly vocations, also start sending possible candidates to the St. Francis Xavier College Seminary for a 3 day search-in visit in order for these young people to experience and to have a glimpse of what a seminary life is all about and hopefully to awaken in them the desire for religious/priestly life.

What is a vocation? For most of us this term is not something new since we have been hearing this word a hundred of times. As we all know vocation comes from the Latin word “vocatio” which is translated in English as a “call” or “summons”. In other words vocation is a call from God who is the source of every vocation in life. The call may vary depending on the plan of God for each person based on the talents and gifts he has received. Every person needs to discover his vocation in life, may it be marriage, religious or single blessedness. There is no superior and inferior vocation because the best vocation is the one God wants you to have.

What is a religious/priestly vocation? This type of vocation can be traced back as early as the New Testament, when Jesus affirmed that there are people who “made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.” (Matthew 19:12) The call to religious/priestly life is always God’s initiative, i.e., for the sake of the Kingdom of God. That is why Jesus chose his twelve apostles who were his close collaborators in order to continue his mission in spreading the good news of the Kingdom of God. (Matthew 10:1-4/Luke 6:12-16) The initiative always comes from God, hence priestly vocation is a gift from God to the Church and to the world at large.

Where does this seed of religious/priestly vocation begin to grow? The first seminary is the Christian home. It is the place where God’s presence and love are experienced by the child through the generous self-giving and witnessing of the Christian parents. It is the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium #11 which affirms that the family is a “domestic church” and in it the parents as the first educators of the faith, through their words and example should foster religious vocation. In other words the family as the “seedbed of vocation” is the primary locus where God’s call to religious vocation begins to develop.

However, for the seed of vocation to grow to maturity there is a need for a nurturing community which we call seminary whose primary objective is to form the mind and heart of young men for them to become priests according to the likeness of Jesus. The seminary is the place of formation that nourishes the seed of vocation through daily prayers especially the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, regular recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation, and other spiritual activities. The seminarians undergo intellectual training by developing a study habit and a critical thinking through philosophical studies. They are trained to become men for others by instilling in them the love for service through pastoral and manual works. Thereby seminary is a place wherein seminarians must grow to maturity in making a choice in their life through a discernment process within the whole period of seminary formation. Thus priestly life is also a choice to become Alter Christus (other Christ) or a kind of configuration into the person of Christ. (Rev. Fr. Orlando Angelia)