Redefining Vocations

Yesterday afternoon Women’s Ministry core-team hosted an event, Redefining Vocations, to help women de-stress from their current perception of what vocation means. The event featured a talk by Sr. Elizabeth and three testimonies, including one by our core team member, Margaret. For those who were unable to attend or would like a refresher, these are the main points from the event:

1. Vocations should not be stressful. Many people (myself included) get stressed and overwhelmed about the thought of vocations, but vocations are not meant to be binding. Your vocation should free you and allow you to live your life more fully.

2. Your vocation is not just some point in the future. It does not suddenly begin once you have a ring or a veil, but is a process that takes place throughout your entire life. As Katrina Zeno came to find, “the process is the end product.” Your vocation began the moment you were born and is taking place right now. So do not get caught up in thinking about what your future vocation will be, but focus on living out your current vocation.

3. As women we have not just one vocation, but three that can be remembered as U-G-I,or Universal, Gender, and Individual.

a. The universal vocation is one that all people have, it is the universal call to love. This is the vocation we receive because we are daughters of the Father. Before going any further in learning what our vocation is, we must first understand what it means to be a daughter of the Father so that we can accept His love and share it with others.

b. The gender specific vocation is our call as women to be mothers. As women we are created with an empty space in us, our womb, which signifies this call to be a mother. But this is not limited to just motherhood in the physical sense, but also spiritual motherhood, which allows all women to nourish the spiritual, emotional, and psychological needs of others around us by caring for them or through prayer.

c. The individual vocation is the unique vocation each person has that is based on our gifts. Our unique vocation unfolds throughout our life and will never be completed while we are still living.

These are some of the major points Sr. Elizabeth touched upon in her talk, but to learn more about the vocation of women there are plenty of resources available, including Katrina Zeno’s book, Discovering the Feminine Genius, and many essays by Edith Stein.


God Bless,
Beth