Always develop a sense of vocation

WE should all be concerned about this matter. We need to

develop a sense of vocation, for the simple reason that everyone has a

vocation. We come from God and we belong to him. He always calls us to

himself and offers us a way to go to him.

            The way to go to him, peculiar to each one of us given our

different situations in life and God’s specific plan for us, is the

vocation God gives us. We therefore should try to discover that

vocation as early as possible and correspond to it as fully as

possible also.

            To be sure, no one comes to existence by mere accident nor

by pure chance and divine caprice. God does not create us at random.

Even a person who is considered unwanted by his parents or is

conceived through rape is already a person planned and loved by God

from all eternity. This is a fundamental truth about ourselves that we

should never take for granted.

            Thus, we should try to develop this sense of vocation as

early as possible. And this can mean as early as when one is still a

child, already beginning to be aware of what and who he or she is.

This normally should start in the family, with the parents playing a

major role in this affair since they are our first teachers here on

earth.

            The parents should be quick in sowing the seeds of this

sense of vocation by making the child aware that he or she just did

not come from them but from God. And that he or she also belongs to

God. This basic truth should always be reinforced all throughout the

process of bringing up and educating the child.

            The parents should therefore plant the rudiments of piety

in their children, mainly through their example and with them doing

the appropriate catechesis. Their children should see them praying and

having a special and pious regard to God. When the children see the

love between them and feel their parents’ love for them, then the

children will find it easy to relate themselves with God in faith and

love.

            This is a big challenge for the parents nowadays since,

with so many fascinating developments around, the children can easily

fall into self-absorption and self-indulgence. The parents should be

ready to handle this danger very well. They should come out with

appropriate plans and means to help their children become God-centered

instead of self-centered.

            Only in this atmosphere of piety should the topic of

vocation be brought up directly with the children, explaining the why

and wherefore of it. The children should be made aware that God has a

particular vocation for them and that they have the duty to discover

it. Of course, this has to be done in a gradual way, without putting

pressure on the children.

            At a certain point, the parents should start explaining to

the children the different kinds of vocation, showing to them the

different conditions involved and the different requirements needed of

each kind. While parents can make suggestions as to what vocation is

most likely fit for their children, they should refrain from

pressuring their children in the choice of vocation.

            Parents should also see to it that this sense of vocation

is reinforced in the schools their children go to. And they have to be

quick to react when certain elements can tend to undermine this sense

of vocation. Nowadays, there are many of these things that can

undermine this sense of vocation. And so while always respectful of

the privacy of their children, they should always be watchful of their

children’s affairs.

            Perhaps, parents should first be given the appropriate

formation to carry out this delicate duty they have toward their

children.