Usually, when we hear the word “vocation,” immediately we think of men or women who chose to become deacons, priests, and religious men and women. And we are right to think about them; however, the word “vocation” has a more profound meaning. In order to understand the real meaning of the word “vocation,” let us see the etymology of this word.
The word “vocation” comes from the Latin word vocare, which means “call.” God calls each of us to have a specific vocation: some people are called to become religious people (deacons, priests, monks, and nuns), and other people are called to become doctors, teachers, lawyers, architects, builders, farmers, and so on. All of us have a vocation, a call which is given by God, and all of them are very important. We cannot say that one job is more important than another, such as when St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians says:
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,’ it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’ Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this” (1 Corinthians 12:12-24).
All of us are called by God to serve one another with different talents that He has given us. All of us have two common vocations that God gave us. The first common vocation is life. All of us are alive because God gave us life. It is His desire that all of us live and work for the Kingdom of Heaven. Life is the most supreme value that we have because it is a sacred gift and call from God.
The second common vocation is Sainthood. All of us are called to become Holy. Just as God says in the Old Testament, “For I, the LORD, am your God. You shall make and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44), and our Lord Jesus Christ says the same in the Gospel, be holy, just as your heavenly Father is holy (Matthew 5:48). The Lord God is inviting us to be holy. Hence, we celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st because we recognize all people who are now in heaven and are holy, (saints) in the company of our God. Besides this, All Saints Day is also an encouragement to continue to work for our own holiness. If St. Mary, St, Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony, and all the Saints could go to heaven following each one of the teachings of the Lord, I am also able to do the same.
My dear brothers and sisters… let us live our vocation to holiness with joy, accepting the Lord Jesus in our lives, embracing the cross in our lives, and believing in the reward that is waiting for us in Heaven.
All of us have a vocation… do you realize how you are living yours?
God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
Fr. Jorge Ramirez
