Mother Angelica Says That Religious Vocation Is...

[Sarah147]

Hello,

And the caller asked what would become of those that had a vocation but did something else. Mother started in saying that they might not have had a vocation.

So what are your thoughts on all of this? She said this on the show that was on tonight.

God bless you.

[TeresaBenedicta]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1297820175' post='2212790']
Hello,

And the caller asked what would become of those that had a vocation but did something else. Mother started in saying that they might not have had a vocation.

So what are your thoughts on all of this? She said this on the show that was on tonight.

God bless you.
[/quote]

What do you mean by "those that had a vocation but did something else"? As in, they professed vows or were ordained and then left to get married? Or they thought they were called but never answered, then got married?

I hold a more traditional Thomistic view on vocations than most. Religious life is an objectively higher state in life and a closer following of Jesus by way of practicing the evangelical councils. Objectively speaking, the clearest path to holiness and perfection is the religious life. That being said, it is only by God's grace that a person persevere in the religious life... If that grace is not given, one cannot endure the religious vocation. Which means that said person is not called by God to that vocation and his/her path to holiness is in a different vocation.

On the other hand, if vows are made (or one receives Holy Orders), that person has chosen that said vocation and that is their state in life. Just as a married person, who takes marital vows knowing or feeling called to the religious life/priesthood, is now married. That is their state in life. And perceived call or desire for the ignored vocation is not a good enough reason to dispense from those vows and seek it out.

There are rare and individual cases... but that's my view in general.

[Cherie]

[quote name='TeresaBenedicta' timestamp='1297828957' post='2212841']
Or they thought they were called but never answered, then got married?

[/quote]

I think that this was the gist of what the caller meant, though I may be wrong.

Unfortunately there are many married people, especially women, who, with all good intention, tend to be over-zealous in their religious duties, to the detriment of their family. These folks believe they have missed out on their "real" vocation, which was to be a religious, and so to "make up" for that so-called "lost calling," they compensate by spending hours in church, hours in prayer, basically living life as a religious though they are married and with children.

I met many of these people as a Sister. I even know a married woman who purchased the rosary ring the perpetually professed Sisters wore because she believed she had some sort of special "espousal" to Jesus, even though she was married, and she wanted the ring to commemorate that.

For many of them, it is simply a case of their desire for holiness, not the fact that they "missed" their vocation.