Vocation is a unique call of God to each person. Vocation is never only about “me” and my personal fulfillment. Living out one’s vocation is always about loving relationship with others, in the service of the Gospel, Church and world.
As a call from God, vocation is a lively movement of call and response. It begins in the realization of God’s great love for all of creation and within that reality, God’s personal and unconditional love for each one of us. As Scripture tells us, “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4: 19)
Vocation then is always a call to love in truth. It is about “falling in love with God” and trying to live my life most fully in doing God’s will for me in the world. The way we love as humans teaches us much about this dynamic. When I hear the words, “I love you” from another person I am faced with a choice. I can either “run in the other direction” so as not to become more deeply involved or I can respond with an “I love you too”! When I respond in love to the other person it immediately involves greater commitment in my relationship with that person. It means being for that person, listening to him or her, caring and loving unselfishly. It is a joyful commitment. It is fulfilling but it will involve a “cost” of loving.
So it is when I hear the Word of God telling me in the depths of my being that I am loved by God. I have a choice to respond freely. When I respond in love to God I am called into a deeper commitment, to a more attentive “listening” to God in prayer. I am called to seek truth in my life guided by Scripture, the realities of the world and my own person and teachings of the Church. I’m called to live each moment of my life in all its realities for God, to care and love unselfishly in God’s world. There are various and equally important ways of living out this vocation to be loved and to love in return. Traditionally, in the Church women and men have lived out their vocation to love in marriage, in the single life, in priesthood or in religious life (being a vowed member of a religious order). At the root of all these forms of vocation, however, is the ultimate call from God to be loved and to love.
(Referenced with permission from vocations.ca)