Theology of Vocation

Conversion on the Way to Damascus (c. 1600-1601) by Caravaggio

THEOLOGY OF VOCATION

Commentary on Joseph Bolin, Paths of Love: The Discernment of Vocation

According to Aquinas, Ignatius, and Pope John Paul II (2008)

See: https://www.pathsoflove.com/paths-of-love-introduction.html

Chapter 1 – Principles of Christian Life

– Chapter 1 is a good exposition, in my opinion. My only comment is that the theology of the evangelical counsels pertains to the religious and to celibate clergy.

– In the context of the abovementioned discussion, Opus Dei presents a particular problem because the numeraries are lay, yet they are expected to live the counsels without professing them. Opus Dei numeraries also derive their spirituality from that of the Secular Institute, which is a type of religious spirituality. We are therefore presented in the case of Opus Dei numeraries with the absence or lack of an appropriate theology of the application of the evangelical counsels. They are expected to live the evangelical counsels without professing them. They are expected to live according to the norms of religious life without the juridical status required of religious life. How do we resolve these inherent contradictions? How do the evangelical counsels apply to Opus Dei numeraries, if at all?

Chapter 2 – Saint Thomas Aquinas

– While Saint Thomas Aquinas occupies a venerable place in Roman Catholic theology, we have to be careful not to accord undue regard for his opinions. He has sometimes been wrong, egregiously so. His incorrect position on the Immaculate Conception is often cited, but there are other instances, notably his misogyny.

– That being said, we should remark that Aquinas is speaking about religious life nearly 1000 years ago. His claim that “it is certain that considered in itself it is better to enter it” might be a fair argument during his time, but it is dubious at the present time. Among the differences between the present time and the High Middle Ages, we can cite the existence of cultism in the Roman Catholic Church as well as the corruption indicated by the clerical sexual abuse scandal. Besides, religious orders do undergo decline and corruption – the Legion of Christ is a contemporary example. One third of male religious orders are extinct. It is a shaky assumption today to posit that religious life is good in itself or that it is a good superior to lay life, considering, among others, what we know today about institutional corruption generally. Aquinas’ assumption of the intrinsic goodness of religious life is, I believe, the weakest part of his argument, and in this respect I would even say that his argument is fatally flawed.

– Personally, I would apply the above point to Opus Dei. Opus Dei is not an unmitigated good. In particular, Opus Dei’s way of life proceeds from the words and acts of Saint Josemaría Escrivá – close examination, wherever possible, reveals his words and acts not to be infallibly exemplary or normative, and in this respect they are problematic, indeed, sometimes manifestly evil.

– Today it is possible, although uncommon, to profess the evangelical counsels without being formally incorporated into a religious order. We observe that in Aquinas’ view, “Evangelical Counsels” equals “Religious Order.” It is not the case today.

– The distinction between internal inspiration and external circumstances, explicitly addressed or at least implied by Aquinas, is useful, valuable, and necessary. In particular, we affirm that merely internal inspiration is insufficient to confirm a vocation. Also, it is possible that dubious or even unsavory motives underlie the desire to enter religious life. Do they invalidate the existence of a religious vocation? Aquinas argues that since the object of the desire, religious life, is good, such imperfect motives do not invalidate the existence of a religious vocation. However, we have said that religious life is not an intrinsic good in the light of what we know today about religious institutions, so we do not subscribe to this argument. The argument we would make is basically experiential – since human motives are rarely ever wholly good, unmixed with evil, to strive for immaculate motives is unrealistic. We would say that if the motive is not incorrigibly reprobate or predominantly evil, then a morally good motive that shows signs of being chiefly so is sufficient for us to consider the existence of a vocation to the clergy or to religious life. Put another way, a sufficiently morally good motive directed toward a substantial moral good is sufficient to indicate the possibility of a vocation and not to rule it out. Subsequently, to confirm the existence of a vocation, other factors come into play, external factors in particular.

Chapter 2 – Saint Ignatius of Loyola

– Saint Ignatius’ three ways deal principally with internal vocation, and in the case of the first way, exclusively so.

– Father Mike Schmitz gives four rules for discernment:

Is the door open?

Is the door good?

Is it wise to enter this door?

Do I want to enter this door?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne8n–1ATd1s&vl=en  

—Ascension Presents, “4 Helpful Rules for Discernment,” YouTube video, 6:30 minutes, February 8, 2018

I would say it is a “good” set of rules – easy to remember, not always so easy to apply. Rules 1 and 4 are somewhat easy to resolve, unless, possibly, in the case of Rule 4 someone is tortured with doubt about what they really want. In complicated cases, Rules 2 and 3 would fruitfully involve the application of Saint Ignatius’ second and third ways.

I would add that in applying the second way, the devil can appear as an angel of light. I would suggest that in situations of doubt wherein the action of the evil spirit is suspected, a notable distinction between the action of the good spirit and that of the evil spirit is as follows:

Evil spirit – Disquiet and unease

Good spirit – Peace from interior reassurance notably and other good inspirations and affections

Chapter 3 – Hans Urs von Balthasar and Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

– It is remarked that Ignatian indifference (a better term is “equal-mindedness”) is necessary to discern effectively but that equal-mindedness is not so easily attained. To this qualification I would respond that when the situation demands it, it is better to decide than not to decide at all, and that in order to make a morally sufficient decision, only moral certainty is necessary. Moral certainty is defined in law as “beyond reasonable doubt.” I prefer to use the philosophical concept of “a very high degree of probability, sufficient for action.” Moral certainty is a certain judgment with respect to moral questions, sufficient for acting according to conscience. In acting on the basis of moral certainty, a person might be morally wrong, but they will be acting according to their conscience, according to the principle of primacy of conscience, see CCC 1778:

“Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law:

“‘Conscience is a law of the mind; yet [Christians] would not grant that it is nothing more; I mean that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of responsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise. . . . [Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.’ [John Henry Cardinal Newman, ‘Letter to the Duke of Norfolk,’ V, in Certain Difficulties felt by Anglicans in Catholic Teaching II (London: Longmans Green, 1885), 248]”   

A person should always act according to their conscience.

– Von Balthasar’s position that one must seek God’s will is consistent with Ignatian discernment – according to the latter, one seeks and finds God’s will by implementing the appropriate Ignatian Rules of Discernment.

– I see no difficulty in asking God to show signs of his will. After all, we know from Scripture and religious historical experience that God uses signs to indicate his will. However, we also know that God sometimes chooses not to work signs, which itself may be a Divine sign. The only time seeking signs is problematic, in my opinion, is if the desire for signs is inordinate. The desire is inordinate, for example, when signs are unnecessary to manifest God’s will. Observe that God did not send signs to the brothers of Dives because there was already sufficient indication and evidence of his will. Extraordinary signs are not necessary in the parable of Dives. Additionally, I would say that if “signs” do occur, they should be subject to discernment. Evil spirits can do extraordinary things as well, not just good spirits.

– Consistent with Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, I would say that the proper exercise of legitimate religious and spiritual authority is necessary to confirm a vocation.

– Feelings are not decisive or controlling, true, but they should not be entirely ignored. Feelings communicate, and it necessary for the discerning person to listen to feelings and understand what they are telling him or her, because they are probably saying something significant, if not critical.

– The author goes into a long exposition about marriage, dealing with the question of whether marriage is a vocation, which to me is a ridiculous question. God is always calling us at every moment – we can speak of vocation in an instant sense and in a continual sense – and to the extent that his call indicates that we assume stability in a particular state in life, it is a vocation in the more stable and enduring sense of the term.

– If vocation is the manifestation of God’s will for a particular person, then marriage is with absolute certainty a vocation, because God clearly calls some to marriage, the obvious examples par excellence being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not to mention Mary and Joseph.

– Concerning Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, we quote the Catholic Encyclopedia: “The rigourist influences to which St. Alphonsus was subjected in his youth explain the severity which led him to say that a person’s eternal salvation chiefly depended on this choice of a state of life conformable to the Divine election. If this were the case, God, who is infinitely good, would make His will known to every man in a way which could not be misunderstood.”

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15498a.htm

—“Ecclesiastical and Religious Vocation,” Catholic Encyclopedia, 2021

 

– Generally, the difficulty with von Balthasar’s and Saint Alphonsus’ positions concerning the grave necessity of following one’s vocation is that they appear to assume that a vocation is perfectly manifest. I doubt that that conclusion can be made in the vast majority of cases, at least at the beginning of a person’s involvement in clerical or religious life. It is also questionable whether the perfect manifestation of a vocation is at all possible, because we are speaking of a non-empirical reality, the spiritual call of an invisible God.

– The obscurity, in varying degrees, of the Divine call underscores the necessity and importance of applying sound Rules of Discernment and acting accordingly.

– All the above being said, we agree with St. Ignatius’ view that sometimes vocation is so manifest that one is “under obligation to follow it.” However, we would repeat our question whether the perfect manifestation of a vocation is at all possible. My view is that it isn’t, and therefore the obligation to follow an apparent vocation is never absolute.

Chapter 4 – Saint John Paul II

It’s worthwhile to read John Paul II – after all, he is a saint and a pope. However, I would opine that on the specific matter of vocation, he really doesn’t say anything new, for example:

– Objective circumstances indicate vocation – yes, we know this. Saint Ignatius’ second and third ways, for instance, involve taking into account the various objective circumstances that impinge upon a situation and upon the corresponding decision.

– The being and purpose of a vocation is to love God and to love neighbor – yes, we know this as well. The being and purpose of human life is to love God and to love neighbor, so the Divine call is necessarily ordered toward that end. An interesting corollary of this principle is that one may be called to single life – not clerical or religious – or to marriage, if in that particular state in life, a person loves better and greater. This view counters the position that clerical or religious life is intrinsically better than marriage. Thus the intrinsic goodness of a vocation lies in the specific character of the Divine call, which is personalistic, not in the objective elevation of clerical or religious life over marriage. At the end of our lives, says Saint John of the Cross, we will be judged on our love.

Chapter 5 – Benedict XVI

Just like John Paul II, Benedict XVI, a holy man and a pope, is worth reading. In my opinion, he has a more precise and finely discriminating theological intellect than John Paul II.

– What Benedict XVI says is somewhat new but not entirely so. He says that vocation sometimes consists in pursuing the Divine call on our own initiative. Another way of putting this view might be: God gives the general direction, we fill in the specifics. Not all vocations are explicit like those of the 13 Apostles (Judas Iscariot fell away, Matthias took his place). Notably, in Acts, there is no explicit appointment of Paul as Apostle. Although he calls himself an Apostle in his epistles, we are left to wonder whether his status as an Apostle is self-appointed, that is, something he undertook on his own initiative, or whether it was bestowed upon him by the original Apostles. Many founders of religious orders undertake the foundation on their own initiative rather than as a result of a supernatural communication or sign. In other words, they specify their vocation of founder, on their own initiative. So Benedict XVI is on to something important here. Sometimes, vocation is something we discover when we direct our decisions toward some religious, spiritual, and moral good. It isn’t the result of some supernatural communication or sign. We would say that Benedict XVI’s view is not entirely original. The principle he cites is implied, for example, in Aquinas’ view that the choice of religious life is objectively better than to do otherwise. The choice of religious life that Aquinas recommends results from the decision made on the part of a candidate, on their own initiative.

– I have said in the past, “Discernment is the key to the spiritual life.” By this statement I mean that in order to grow in our relationship of love with God and with neighbor, we need to cultivate a continuous spirit of discernment. God speaks to us throughout our lives, in some sense at every moment. At the same time, good and evil spirits battle for our hearts, influencing us toward good or evil. In order to make the right decisions and to act in a way that advances our journey toward God and his eternal, infinite love, we have to know how to discern well and to apply the principles of discernment soundly to our daily, indeed, momentary circumstances. When we live a continuous spirit of discernment, we undertake the discovery and accomplishment of our vocation on our own initiative. Therefore, the effective practice of the discernment of spirits is necessary to discovering and accomplishing our vocation on our own initiative. This point I would add to Benedict XVI’s insight.

Chapter 5 – Conclusion

Comments

1. Inadequate methods for discerning a vocation

– Making a decision on the basis of one’s own strengths and abilities

Factor should be taken into consideration but it is not controlling or determinative of vocation, except in the sense of disqualifying the candidate, e.g. a person with complete and permanent gluten intolerance cannot be ordained a priest.

– Following one’s inclinations

Factor should be taken into consideration but it is not controlling or determinative of vocation. Sometimes God does reveal his will through our desires, e.g. marriage is often motivated at least in part by sexual attraction.

– Waiting for miraculous signs

We have said that it is acceptable to ask God for miraculous signs, but they should be subject to discernment if they occur, because the evil spirit can also work miracles. Miraculous signs are in the normal course of events unnecessary to reveal or confirm God’s will, and as a rule it is possible to decide with moral certainty about a course of action even without the occurrence of miraculous signs. Therefore, in the normal course of events, it is not necessary to wait for miraculous signs.

– Attempting to draw everything from the particulars of providence

Particulars of providence should be taken into consideration but they are not controlling or determinative of vocation.

Author discusses emotions – it is a factor that should be taken into consideration but it is not controlling or determinative of vocation. Emotions should not be ignored. They communicate, more often than not, a significant message. We should listen to emotions, interpret them, draw out their message, and evaluate their contribution to our understanding of a situation.

2. Proposal for discernment of vocation

Workable

3. Confirmation of a choice

Author speaks about internal confirmation – fair enough. However, external confirmation is also necessary, essential even – choice should be confirmed by the legitimate and proper authority.

4. A personal view

What is controlling and determinative of vocation? We say that the vocation to a state in life is manifest as a result of interior conviction arising from the sound application of the Rules of Discernment – discernment of the spirits – joined to the confirmation of the decision by the legitimate and proper authority.