For the Women

“It is always Christ who sends. But whom does He send? You, young people, are the ones He looks upon with love. Christ, who says, “Follow me,” wants you to live your lives with a sense of vocation. The search and discovery of God’s will for you is a deep and fascinating endeavor. Every vocation, every path to which Christ calls us, ultimately leads to fulfillment and happiness, because it leads to God, to sharing in God’s own life.” – Bl. Pope John Paul II

‎Since Paul covered the Man’s aspect of vocations on Wednesday, I am going to continue by writing about the woman’s point of view. Like all human beings, all woman are called to one common vocation; the vocation of love. Along with this vocation of love, we as woman are also called to be Spiritual Mothers for the world, no matter what way we choose to live out that vocation.

The first vocation, (and the most well known.) is the vocation of marriage. Woman called to marriage are called to give up certain freedoms, take on an earthly husband, then have children and raise those children in the faith to further the kingdom of heaven. Woman are called to bring love and tenderness to their families, and out of love, to be submissive to their husband’s authority.

Although our society doesn’t always promote it, another vocation that woman (and men.) may be called to is single life. Just like any other vocation, single life is a beautiful vocation. People who are called to single life do not take an earthly spouse, nor do they identify themselves with a religious order. Because of this they do not have to give up the certain freedoms that married or religious people do, allowing them to minister to God’s kingdom in a totally different way.

The next vocation a woman may be called to is Religious life. Religious life can be one of two things; Religious Sisters, and Nuns. Religious Sisters are the ones that are out in the world as teachers, nurses, etc. Nuns are the ones that are typically cloistered, meaning they stay in their convent their whole lives. This vocation calls woman to give up an earthly spouse and instead be united with a Divine spouse, Jesus Christ. They take vows of Chastity, (To be married to only Christ, and to love all those in the world equally.) Poverty, (To give up worldly desires and pleasures.) and Obedience (To follow Jesus their spouse where ever he may lead them, and to obey the authority of their superiors.)

You may ask, how is a woman who has consecrated her life to Jesus still a mother? Well, that answer is simple, they ‘adopt’ the people in the world as their spiritual children. Just as a Mother prays for her children, the Nuns in the convent devote their life to praying for the people of the world and their intentions. The Religious Sisters out in the world spread a tender motherly love to all they encounter. Religious life is probably the most difficult vocations for a woman to accept, simply because it goes against everything our society tries to tell us will make us ‘happy’.

Figuring out what vocation God may be calling you to is not an easy task. There is no written ‘test’ you can take to determine which vocation you should be in. God has a unique plan for each of us, so it is impossible to compare our lives to anyone else’s and expect to find an answer. Like Paul mentioned in his post, to of the key things to determine your vocation are prayer and patience. If you surrender yourself to God’s plan for your life, and continue to ask him for that plan to be shown to him, when the time is right, you will know what your vocation is.

God Bless you all!
Catherine