Chapter 3 – Vocation and Conscience
This is the universal aspect of vocation
Vocation and conscience are considered as guides towards
moral discernment. In Catholic moral theology, God is
understood to meet and communicate to human beings in
their conscience; it is where the objective sacred claims axis
intersects with the subjective axis of human experience. It
is through discernment using one’s conscience and the
sources mentioned that one can also have a sense of
vocation.
Word of God: John 15:9-17
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now
remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will
remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so
that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be
complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I
have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if
you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants,
because a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I
learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so
that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and
so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give
you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”
I. VOCATION
The word vocation comes from the Latin word vocare,
which means “to call” or “to summon.” This connection to
calling has often led to the common understanding of
vocation as related to the priesthood, religious life, or
marriage.
A. LUMEN GENTIUM (11-13) on VOCATION
“Fortified by so many and such powerful means of
salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state,
are called by the Lord, each in his own way, to that perfect
holiness whereby the Father Himself is perfect… In virtue of
this catholicity, each individual part contributes through its
special gifts to the good of the other parts and of the whole
Church…Not only then is the people of God made up of
different peoples but in its inner structure also, it is
composed of various ranks. This diversity among its
members arises either by reason of their duties … or by
reason of their condition and state of life.
B. Catholic Moral Theology: ASPECTS OF VOCATION
This is the universal aspect of vocation that calls each
human being to love and serve God and others, regardless
of our backgrounds, culture, or race. We share the
threefold tasks of Christ, that is, priestly, prophetic, and
kingly. Thus, all Christians are called to cooperate in the
promotion of peace, justice, and care for all creation.
1. Vocation is what is received at baptism.
that calls each human being to love and serve
God and others, regardless of our
backgrounds, culture, or race. We share the
threefold tasks of Christ, that is, priestly,
prophetic, and kingly. Thus, all Christians are
called to cooperate in the promotion of peace,
justice, and care for all creation.
2. Vocation is more specific and concerns the state
of life of a person.
This is often what comes to mind when
the word vocation comes up: whether or not one
chooses to be married, to be single, or to join in
the religious or ordained life. All of these are
equally good paths, with different graces and
challenges for each state of life.
3. Vocation is personal mission.
This aspect takes into account a person’s
particular circumstances, concerns, talents, needs
and opportunities. A Catholic, just like all other
Christians baptized, is called to love others and
serve God. These universal precepts are seen in
the concrete instances where the person shows
the virtues and the fruits of the Holy Spirit in all
aspects of his or her life. All people, though
different in their career and status, are all called to
love others and God through their lives.
Finding one’s vocation is not easy. It does
not mean that everything will always turn out well.
However, it finds a deeper sense of meaning in the
world and a deeper sense of peace in participating
with God’s creative work in the world. It is finding
the aforementioned aspects of vocation that
becomes the path to holiness for Catholics.
Holiness is not simply about extraordinary feats of
fasting and poverty, or miracles. It is about finding
one’s vocation, where one can serve God and
others, using the particular gifts or charisms given
by God to the person. Holiness is about answering
the call to grow mature to the best people we can
be.
Discernment now enters the scene, as it is
the process of making decisions, particularly big
ones such as for one’s career, marriage, or family,
is something that everyone does, and is not merely
a practice of the elitist, religious or ordained.
Discernment helps us in finding our vocation.
What is really our call, or the call that we receive
from God.
 C. Frederick Buechner on Vocation
“We can speak of a man choosing his vocation, but
perhaps it is at least as accurate to speak of a vocation
choosing the man, of a call’s being given and a man’s
hearing it, or not hearing it. And maybe that is the
place to start: the business of listening and hearing. A
man’s life is full of all sorts of voices calling him in all
sorts of directions. Some of them are voices from
inside, and some of them are voices from
outside...Which do we listen to? What kind of voice do
we listen for? … No one can say, except each for
himself, but I believe that it is possible to say at least in
general to all of us: we should go in with our lives
where we most need to go and where we are most
needed.”
The Catholic understanding of God believes that
God speaks to each person various ways, meeting that
person in his or her particular life situation and
communicating God’ self to the others in the best way
that that person can understand. God wants what is
best for us and that this will also give us the most joy
and deep peace. God does not want human beings to
be miserable people who are simply God’s puppets;
rather, it is an intersection and mutual dialogue of
God’s freedom and human freedom.
D. Japanese Term for Understanding Vocation.
Ikigai (生き甲斐) is roughly translated as the “reason
for being” or the “reason why you wake up each morning”.
It is found in the middle of the intersection of a person’s
passion or happiness, the person’s skills and practical
needs, and what the world needs. In the same way, one’s
vocation can be found here as well: in serving God and the
world, as well as developing one’s skills and character in
love and justice.
II. CONSCIENCE
It is not enough that we answer the call of
vocation. It is also important to know how one
answers the call of vocation. Thus, it is
through the conscience that one is able to
respond to the call of vocation.
A. James Keenan on Conscience
“The call to grow, the call to move forward as
disciples, the call to put on virtue is always a call heard
in the Christian conscience.” Therefore, a person’s
conscience is better understood to be a process where
a person grapples with what God communicates to him
or her and acts according to the judgment made by this
process. It consists of “mentored practices of justice,
temperance, fortitude, fidelity, and self-care through
the ministration of conscience’s own prudence” that
“allows us to learn more and more about how we are
to respond to God, neighbour and ourselves in love.”
B. Gaudium et Spes on Conscience
“In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law
which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds
him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and
avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks
to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a
law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man;
according to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most
secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with
God, Whose voice echoes in his depths. In a wonderful
manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by
love of God and neighbor. In fidelity to conscience,
Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for
truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous
problems which arise in the life of individuals from social
relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway,
the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice
and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality.”
C. Conscience Based Discernment
The conscience is where the objective axis (Scripture and
Tradition) is related to the subjective axis (reason and
human experience) in dialogue to come up with a
judgement of what is morally right. The objective axis is
concerned with understanding what God seeks from us,
while the subjective axis is how we understand what God
wants and how it fits into our own particular life situation.
It is thus where a person can perceive what is understood
to be divine law or natural law as well as how to apply this
to the specific situation of the person.
Three things to be considered:
1. Act itself (is it good or bad)
2. Intentions
3. Circumstances
Weighing all these three can be difficult because
the various circumstances of the people can drastically
change what the good is in a particular situation. It is
important to remember that there are no one-size-fits-all
answers. However, all of us are called to use our conscience
to come up with the morally right thing to do despite being
not perfect and making mistakes. The emphasis should be
on how the person grows and develops the conscience to
become a more loving disciple of Christ rather than simply
focusing only on getting the acts correct.
D. FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
This is an important task in developing better and
morally right discernment. Developing conscience is
important for it to stay working in its best form. Forming
the conscience is a lifelong process which means, it does
not happen overnight nor it is an easy task. However,
forming the conscience entails two concerns: what happens
when the person is in ignorance, which leads to an
erroneous conscience; and, what happens when one’s
conscience differs from the Catholic Church’s teachings.
D.1 Ignorance: Invincible and Vincible E. Ways of Forming Our Minds

Invincible ignorance is defined as a form of 1. Learning from the experiences and reflections of friends
ignorance that a person cannot remove through his or her
2. Taking time to read and study Sacred Scripture
reasonable effort. The person cannot be held as sinful in
the same way that someone who had full knowledge is 3. Listening to parent’s advice or engaging in dialogues with
sinful. However, the person still committed and evil and them over important issues
must make amends for this and seek to correct his or her
4. Learning in school: listening to teachers, asking
conscience. On the other hand, vincible ignorance is
defined as a form of ignorance that a person can remove questions, participating in classroom discussions, doing
through some effort. This cannot be used as a reason for a research
wrong moral judgment.
5. Studying the teachings and the stand of the Catholic
In Gaudium et Spes, the Second Vatican Council
Church on moral issues
writes that “conscience frequently errs from invincible
ignorance without losing its dignity;” however, “the same 6. Consulting parents, teachers, and counselors on issues
cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and and life situations
goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows
practically sightless as a result of habitual sin.” F. Ways of Forming Our Hearts
Though a person will never know everything and
will always be coming from a particular perspective that will 1. Spending moments alone in quiet personal prayer and
have blind spots or weaknesses, there is still a way to have reflection
some degree of moral certitude in deciding which side is
2. Attending and participating in the Eucharistic liturgy
more correct. According to John F. Morris, “to follow the
strongest evidence available is the only proper way for a 3. Joining reflection sessions, prayer groups, or youth
human agent to act in any uncertain situation. That is, recollections with friends
basing our moral decisions upon the evidence that we do
have is the only way to act properly as rational, responsible 4. Celebrating the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and
moral agents…when you know that you do not know, find the Sacrament of Reconciliation
out!”
CONCLUSION
D.2 Conscience and Church Teaching
Vocation and conscience are two important
Catholic moral theology has upheld what is called
concepts in Catholic Theology that help people understand
the primacy of conscience. This means that a human being
the meaning of and their place in the wider community and
must always obey his or her conscience; as Gaudium et
the world. Rooting one’s purpose and sense of meaning
Spes put it, the conscience “holds one to obedience.” Still,
helps anchor a person to his or her commitments,
saying that the conscience has primacy does not make the
particularly when the going gets tough and it can be
person infallible.
difficult to continue doing the good that we ought to do.
Part of conscience formation is seriously learning One’s vocation gives a person a sense of purpose and the
and understanding what the Church is teaching and to see way to holiness for that particular person, while one’s
whether or not a person still has legitimate grounds for conscience helps a person bring together his or her
disagreeing with the teaching. “Legitimate grounds” require experiences, Scripture and Tradition in order to make
a defense of the dissenting side using the sources and morally good decisions to respond to one’s vocation. We
methodology of the Catholic Church. This includes a proper are all called to always better ourselves and our conscience.
reading of Scripture and Tradition, and proper analysis of
For the next chapter, we will deal with the
human experience. Thus, disagreeing with Church teaching
fundamental understanding of morality in Scripture for how
cannot simply be feelings, nor can it be based on
we understand what morality means is rooted in certain
fundamentalist, literalist, or incorrect readings of Scripture,
events in Scripture. So, stay tuned! See you in the next
or faulty sources that are not verified. If the person does
chapter of our lessons. Adelante!
have a serious disagreement with legitimate grounds, this is
called dissent. Dissenting from Church teaching is a serious
matter and should not be taken lightly nor done
disrespectfully.