Religious vocation

“ Many parents have by fervent, humble, and persevering prayer obtained for their sons the grace of being called to the sublime dignity of the priesthood.
Q. When a young man ascertains that he is called to the priesthood, is his vocation fully decided? ”

“ To know whether God will have a person become a religious it is not to be expected that God Himself should speak, or send an angel from heaven to signify His will. It is not necessary that ten or twelve confessors should examine whether the vocation is to be followed. ”

“ A. Matrimony, virginity, the religious state, and the priesthood.
Q. Has every person a vocation?
A. Yes; God gives a special vocation to each person.
Q. How is this doctrine proved?
A. St. Paul says: "Every one hath his proper gift from God; one after this manner, and another after that. . . . As the Lord hath distributed to every one, as God hath called every one, so let him walk." [*]
[*] The references are given in the larger catechism entitled "Questions on Vocations."
Q. Is it not beneath God's notice to give a particular vocation to each person? ”

“ We have all, thank God, the vocation to be Christians and the call to be saints, but we have, moreover, our own special calling, suitable to our character and disposition; and our common Christian vocation, and in a great measure our eternal salvation, depends on our fulfilling worthily the particular vocation in which we are called. ”

“ And this complete and comfortable appropriateness of vocation no doubt helped her large, balanced, virile mind to feel, with the Church, that such a vocation is but one amongst the numberless forms of even heroic devotedness, a devotedness of which the essence is interior and is capable of being exercised, and which requires to be represented in every honest circumstance and calling of God’s great, many-coloured world. ”

“ Brethren, has it ever occurred to you that each one of us has a vocation in this life? I refer not to our Christian vocation, which we all have in common, but to the particular state of life to which each one of us has been called. It is not an uncommon error for people to think that priests and nuns are the only privileged mortals who are called by God to some special work, and that to their vocation alone God has attached peculiar and extraordinary graces. ”

“ The three states mentioned above, life in the world, or matrimony, the priesthood, or the religious life, are the only vocations, properly so called; certainly doctors, lawyers, tutors, tradesmen, artisans, farmers, and so on, apparently represent so many different vocations, to make use of an expression commonly in vogue. ”

“ The position we profess to occupy as a religious body, is a subject for profound reflection. We testify to having received a knowledge, through the revelations of heaven, concerning the restoration of the ancient Gospel and holy Priesthood, whereby we have been authorized to preach by inspiration, and administer to the world the principles of life and salvation. ”

“ The fathers of the Church," he says, " have always been of opinion that, to be enlightened on vocation, we must never seek advice from men of the world. Dazzled by the false glitter of earthly things, they do not know the worth of invisible goods. In their eyes voluntary poverty is a wretched state, they look on chastity as an effect of a sour temper, and they hold obedience to be a mere slavery. A simple and coarse dress is for them contemptible, a convent is a prison, and all the exercises of a religious life pass for a silly occupation. ”

“ Those vocations do not exclude religion; but demand it, for their own perfection. They may be religious laborers whether in field or factory; religious physicians, lawyers, sculptors, poets, painters, and musicians. They may be religious in all the toils and in all the amusements of life. Their life may be a religion; the broad earth its altar ”

“ It seems that you are right in thinking that for the present at any rate you have no vocation to Holy Religion. Well, then, the question is as to what is your Vocation, for Our Lord never leaves any man without a Vocation of some kind. ”

“ The meaning, need and the helpfulness of worship may be taught through actual participation in services of worship suited to the pupil’s age and the manner of his natural expression of religious impulses and aspirations. ”

“ The higher graces and ways of the spiritual life of man are treated in works of ascetical and mystical theology, and we shall confine ourselves here to two subjects: (a) the duties of men as members of the Church, that is, the general duties of the faithful and the special duties of clerics and religious ”

“ Under the head of Worship may be gathered all those facts which, either through distinct religious service or work or thought tend to bring men into closer and dearer relation to spiritual life, to teach men larger, sweeter truths of existence and of God, and leave them better fitted to take up the duties of every-day business. ”

“ Finally, Our Lord ordains some to suffer for the sanctification of priests and the multiplication of earnest workmen in His vineyard, which vocation, next to that of the ministry, is the noblest that can be entrusted to souls. ”

“ Have you considered that much of all that you call morals is indeed the effect of their religious teaching?”
“That is religion not the priest.”
“I speak for the instrument, I confess; but a clergyman is to religion what an army is to a war—and you might as well think of conducting a national contest without officer and soldier, as a moral, religious contest without a clergy. And I doubt whether you have any idea of religion, unless it be a sort of restraint upon certain actions and passions. ”

“ We may reasonably suppose that on its entrance into religion, by making profession of the vows, the Christian soul obtains remission of all its sins. Not that the religious profession, considered in itself, possesses a sacramental virtue, operating by its own intrinsic and independent office, or that it can, like baptism and penance, blot out the stain of sin ”

“ To this sacerdotal devotion, there necessarily attach certain characteristic sentiments, both moral and religious, which give it a distinctive influence on human character, and adapt it to particular stages of civilization. It clearly severs the worshippers by one remove from God. ”

“ True religion they are inclined to place in profession, in forms and ordinances, and in excited states of feeling; and true conversion, in dreams, visions, trances, voices,—all bearing a perfect or striking resemblance to some form or type which has been handed down for generations, or which has been originated in the wild fancy of some religious teacher among them. ”

“ If I know anything of the doctrine of vocation, as taught by the Scriptures, our Constitution, and the great Reformed divines, it includes these truths: That no man's call to preach or rule is valid, until the people of God voluntarily echo it, inviting and electing him to teach and rule them: That even as the Holy Ghost moves the soul of him whom Christ calls to preach; so, the same Spirit moves the hearts of Christ's people to approve and select him: That the Spirit is as much in the body, as in the clergy: and that His divine voice, as uttered in the two, cannot contradict itself. ”

“ Not always, indeed, will this inward impulsion to the work be so distinct and imperative, but it will always be felt, and with greatest force as the soul draws nearest to God and the true nature of the ministry is most clearly perceived. Hence, in determining the question of vocation much prayer is necessary, and the convictions which predominate in the soul, when most consciously in God’s presence, are to be most carefully considered. ”

“ But thinking of these as religious and of such service as divine we fall into the habit of thinking that they alone, in all the world of action, are divine. We set on one side of life the religious service limited to these formal acts and on the other side what we call the secular life and service. ”

“ The duties required in the second commandment are the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath instituted in his word, particularly prayer and thanksgiving in the name of Christ, the reading, preaching, and hearing of the word, the administration and receiving of the sacraments, church-government, and discipline, the ministry and maintenance thereof, religious fasting, swearing by the name of God, and vowing unto him. ”

“ Without doubt there is a strong temptation today, bearing upon clergy and laity alike, to address their religious energies too exclusively to those tasks whereby human life may be made more abundant and wholesome materially.... ”

“ In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common employment will be an act of religious worship. 4thly. In our families, when we endeavor to bring up our children in the discipline and admonition or the Lord; instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness. ”

“ As they were not taught in the New Testament that human learning is a needful qualification for the ministry of the Gospel, they acknowledged those only in that sacred office, whom they believed to be called of the Lord to the work; and through the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit, men and women among them were qualified to speak to exhortation, edification, and comfort. ”

“ Divinity should never be considered as a profession—it is a divine mission! Physic—physic, my boy! the healing art! that's the profession for you! And I am very glad to hear you declare for it, too, for now the way is perfectly clear! ”

“ Here, then, are two categories of individuals in the nation; those who, by divine vocation, are destined for the service of the church, and those who continue in the ordinary condition of Christians—the ecclesiastics and the laics. ”

“ I am always talking to you about what we call religious duties, such as praying and singing, making efforts to save your own soul and the souls of the people about you. In these letters I propose speaking of the things that men call secular, and which many people reckon have nothing to do with Religion. ”

“ Worship and sacrifice, procedures for working on the dispositions of the deity, theology and ceremony and ecclesiastical organization, are the essentials of religion in the institutional branch. Were we to limit our view to it, we should have to define religion as an external art, the art of winning the favor of the gods. In the more personal branch of religion it is on the contrary the inner dispositions of man himself which form the centre of interest, his conscience, his deserts, his helplessness, his incompleteness. ”

“ And although the favor of the God, as forfeited or gained, is still an essential feature of the story, and theology plays a vital part therein, yet the acts to which this sort of religion prompts are personal not ritual acts, the individual transacts the business by himself alone, and the ecclesiastical organization, with its priests and sacraments and other go-betweens, sinks to an altogether secondary place. ”

“ Here are priests and candidates for the priesthood, preparing themselves to live under the laws of religious obedience, and to devote themselves either to the instruction of youths, or to missions, or to the direction of souls, in the post assigned to them by their obedience ”

“ The church of form, rituals and ceremonies attracts the passive who are willing to let the priest or pastor or prelate take charge of the religious work while they, the attendants or worshippers, sit quietly by and say amen and join in the responses. ”

“ This rapid development in the direction of individual freedom of thought may give us at length a church—by whatever name it may be designated—where the only creed held binding will be the creed of love, the only devotion essential to true fellowship a devotion to truth and duty. ”

“ By the various teaching communities of religious priests, brothers, and sisters, thousands are saved; for in youth their pupils acquire a love and a practical knowledge of faith; they are nurtured in purity and piety, and they are enlightened and encouraged in habits of industry and sobriety. ”

“ Personal and relative duties must be done in obedience to his commands, with due aim at pleasing and honouring him, from principles of holy love and fear of him. But there is an express and direct duty also that we owe to God, namely, belief and acknowledgment of his being and perfections, paying him internal and external worship and homage,—loving, fearing, and trusting in him,—depending on him, and devoting ourselves to him,—observing all those religious duties and ordinances that he has appointed,—praying to him, praising him, and meditating on his word and works. ”

“ You made a profession of religion in order to serve yourselves. You designed nothing more nor less than to make a profession of religion subserve your business, profession or avocation; or else, give you character and notoriety in the world. Here now is the principle of self-love, selfishness, self-aggrandizement, prompting men to attach themselves to the different branches of Christ's church. ”

“ And if so, can it be a work unfit for, unworthy of, a clergyman—whose duty is to preach Him to all, and in all ways,—to call on men to consider that physical world which, like the spiritual world, consists, holds together, by Him, and lives and moves and has its being in Him? ”

“ To carry to such a people the divine word, to call them together for sacred instruction, to introduce amongst them a pure and heavenly worship, and to lead them to the observance of a Sabbath on earth, as the preparative and prelude to a state of endless perfection, was surely a work worthy for a Saviour to command, and becoming a christian people to attempt. ”

“ Acting as high-priests, devoted to religious discipline, in private families of distinction, or shut up in their colleges, when not engaged in the offices of their religion, they gave themselves up, exclusively, to the cultivation of literature, and to the study of logic and metaphysics, so prevalent in their schools, resembling, in the simplicity and virtue of their lives, the ascetics of the middle ages ”