I.

CALLINGS IN LIFE
“We belong to God and anyone who has knowledge of God gives us a hearing, while
anyone who is not of God refuses to hear us. Thus do we distinguish the spirit of truth
from the spirit of deception.” (1 John 4:6)
“ Beloved, if God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another. No
one has ever seen God. Yet if we love one another God dwells in us, and his love is
brought to perfection in us. (1 John 4:11-12)
God who created man out of love also calls him to love – the fundamental innate
vocation of every being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is
himself love. Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an
image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves us. It is good, very good,
in the Creator’s eyes. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to
be realized in the common work of watching over creation: “And God blessed them, and
God said to them: ‘ Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it’ .” (CCC
1604)
“ The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of
God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being
freely to direct himself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions, he human person
does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral
conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they
make their own sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. With the help of
grace they grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin, they entrusts themselves as did the
prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven. In this way they attain to the
perfection of charity.” (CCC 1700)
“ The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his
body serve its unity and mission. For “ in the church there is diversity of ministry but
unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of
teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are
made to share in the priestly, prophetical and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore,
in the church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People
of God.” Finally, “ from both groups (hierarchy and laity) there exists Christian faithful
who are consecrated to God in their own special manner and serve the salvific mission
of the church through the profession of the evangelical counsels. “ (CCC 873)
“ We must also remember the great number of single persons who, because of the
particular circumstances in which they have to live – often not of their choosing – are
especially close to Jesus’ heart and therefore deserve the special affection and active
solicitude of the church, especially of pastors. Many remain without a family, often due
to conditions of poverty. Some live their situation in the spirit of the Beatitudes, serving
God and neighbor in exemplary fashion. The doors of homes, the “domestic churches”
and of the great family which is the church must be open to all of them.“ No one is
without a family in this world: the church is a home and family to everyone, especially
those who ‘ labor and are heavily laden’. (CCC 1658)