Vocation and sin

[passerby]

Hi y'all,

I think this is the right place for this, and sorry if it's been answered already (if it has, I couldn't find it)...I recently heard regarding responding to one's vocation that if we refuse it is a mortal sin. But not only that, we will never be happy because we are not following God's plan. Is this true? I understand the grounds for mortal sin...can one ever have full knowledge as to whether or not one is being called (as in 100% certainty). And I also don't believe that God abandons us to misery...although I know we create our own misery sometimes. But it seems strange that we could "foil" God's plan so easily...

Thoughts?

Thanks,

B

[beatitude]

That's not true. This kind of thinking really frustrates me, because it turns what should be a wonderful adventure into a terrifying maze filled with life-threatening obstacles where you're always worrying if you've taken a wrong turn somewhere. It also puts limits on the love and power of God.

God has not prepared special little boxes for each of us, each with our name on it, and decreed that only damnation and unhappiness lie outside the box. He offers us freedom to choose - and that choice isn't just between right and wrong, but between right and right and right. I have chosen to go forward with my secular institute, but there were a couple of religious communities I really liked, and had I chosen to enter one of them it wouldn't have been 'wrong'. It is like music. God is inviting us to play in his orchestra. Imagine diving in and seizing the clarinet, because that is the instrument that appeals to you. Hearing the beautiful music coming from the viola, would you worry that you should have chosen viola instead? That maybe the viola is better? No doubt you could also have made something lovely with the viola, but you chose clarinet, and that is also good.

Providing we are doing our best to love Jesus and our neighbour (which means remaining aware of his love for us, and not frightening ourselves about his plan) we are in the right place.

[Gabriela]

beatitude is right. I once taught a lesson in an RCIA class on vocational discernment. I told them that discernment is the process of prayerfully considering two or more options that are both/all good, i.e., that are not sinful. That is the definition I learned from Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV, who is considered the leading thinker in America today on St. Ignatius' rules of discernment.

If the options are all good, one cannot possibly sin by choosing one over the other. You "co-create" your life with God: He doesn't dictate to you what path to take. You have free will. He offers you things, and you accept or reject them. Rejecting them is not necessarily sinful. We very often say that a vocation to the religious life is a gift, and like any gift, you may choose not to accept it. (The vocation to marriage is also a gift, by the way, and religious reject that gift—are they committing a mortal sin? Of course not!) 

We also often say that God is always able (and willing) to bring good out evil. So if he can bring good out of evil, imagine what he can do when you've chosen something good. And it is certainly a good thing when you say, "Thanks, God, for the offer of vocation X, but I think I prefer your other offer of vocation Y."

 

 

Edited April 1, 2016 by Gabriela

[BarbTherese]

On ‎2‎/‎04‎/‎2016‎ ‎6‎:‎32‎:‎50‎, Gabriela said:

. I told them that discernment is the process of prayerfully considering two or more options that are both/all good, i.e., that are not sinful. That is the definition I learned from Fr. Timothy Gallagher, OMV, who is considered the leading thinker in America today on St. Ignatius' rules of discernment.

The above is very important to understand, I think, about discernment, discern and discerning in this context i.e. vocation and call.  It is never so much a choice between one good and other lesser goods (although such might apply subjectively), but a choice between objectively equal goods.  I do not contest that celibacy is the highest of all the vocations on an objective scale - but quite obviously if I refer to the subjective and I choose celibacy and because it is the highest, but I do not have the necessary qualities - then I have not made a sound  choice.  I have not discerned wisely. Wisdom being a Gift of The Holy Spirit.  It needs to be held paramount, I think, that it is God who bestows His Gifts for the good of The Church wherever He May.  It also needs to be understood that even impediments can be God's Hand guiding in a particular direction and away from another - and for the good of The Church.  Doctrine of The Will of God - Direct and Permissive.

I think that probably yet again, The Church has "shot herself in the foot" by proclaiming the various vocations on an objective theological scale, without  being very careful , and at the same time to underscore what that means and/or does not mean.  Consequently confusion can abound.

On ‎2‎/‎04‎/‎2016‎ ‎6‎:‎32‎:‎50‎, Gabriela said:

If the options are all good, one cannot possibly sin by choosing one over the other. You "co-create" your life with God: He doesn't dictate to you what path to take. You have free will. He offers you things, and you accept or reject them. Rejecting them is not necessarily sinful. We very often say that a vocation to the religious life is a gift, and like any gift, you may choose not to accept it. (The vocation to marriage is also a gift, by the way, and religious reject that gift—are they committing a mortal sin? Of course not!) 

We also often say that God is always able (and willing) to bring good out evil. So if he can bring good out of evil, imagine what he can do when you've chosen something good. And it is certainly a good thing when you say, "Thanks, God, for the offer of vocation X, but I think I prefer your other offer of vocation Y."

4 minutes ago, BarbaraTherese said:

And it is certainly a good thing when you say, "Thanks, God, for the offer of vocation X, but I think I prefer your other offer of vocation Y."

  Well said...............

attitude and perspective.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

On 4/2/2016, 7:02:50, Gabriela said:

 

We also often say that God is always able (and willing) to bring good out evil.

 

Big one right there. Even if there is a wrong choice and we make it if we remain in good faith, hope of heaven and charity in word and deed even if we go the wrong way surely God will make something good of it.

 

God is Good.

[Era Might]

I think a lot depends on how specifically you look at a "vocation." On the broadest level, one's vocation is a role...monk, nun, husband, father, etc. But this is too generic and I imagine a lot of people make vocational mistakes because they only see the vocation on the broadest terms...hence two people get married because that's what you do in society, you adopt the roles of marriage, only to discover they've married a stranger. And on this broad level it's probably hard to make a mistake...you generally have a sense if you are suited to a generic way of life. But I think the real ambiguity of vocation comes the more personal you get, when vocation ceases to be a possibility of youth, and matures into your life's fate, the cross you must carry to Jerusalem. A vocation, I suppose, doesn't really begin until you have serious doubts about it, until you live in fear of it, until you're a middle aged man who wakes up to the same nagging wife, or the priest who wonders what a joy marriage would have been, or a monk who goes through the motions and hears nothing, only the silence he romanticized as a novice. That's when vocation really begins.

Edited April 13, 2016 by Era Might

[Guest]

Everything is a mortal sin lol