This was a misunderstanding that the Second Vatican Council was determined to clear up. It emphasized that we all have a vocation (Lumen Gentium, chapter 5). The very first call we have is not so much to do something, but to be something. Each one of us is called to be holy. And holiness is not to be identified with any particular state in life. Whether we are students, full-time moms, nurses, or bishops, our daily activities furnish us with plenty of opportunities to grow in faith, hope and love. It is the perfection of these three virtues that make for true sanctity. Of course, there are many students, moms, nurses, and bishops who fail to become saints. Obviously then, the activities are not enough in themselves to make people holy. People have to make a conscious decision not just once but each and every day to surrender themselves, their wills, and their lives to God and allow Him, the potter, to use their everyday activities to shape them as if they were clay in His skilled hands.
When we are baptized, we receive that call to holiness. From that moment, our lives are no longer our own. “It is no longer I who live,” says Saint Paul, “but Christ Who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave His life for me (Gal 2:19b-20).” Like Samuel (I Sam 3), we are dedicated wholly to God, set apart to glorify Him in every aspect of our beings, including our bodies. His Spirit lives within us and so we become God’s dwelling place and acquire a new dignity. The biblical insistence on sexual purity comes from no prudish disdain of sexuality, but rather from the simple fact that we must treat our bodies with the reverence due to God’s temple (I Cor 6:13C-20). We have no right to allow the temple of the Lord to be used by ourselves and others as no more than a means for a cheap thrill.
There is something else that we are all called to be evangelizers. In baptism and confirmation, we are anointed prophets, which means that we are to announce the Good News of the Gospel. When Andrew met Jesus (Jn 1:35-42), he immediately told his brother Simon about this new prophet and introduced his brother to Jesus. The call to bring others to Jesus is not restricted to missionaries or those with an outgoing personality. The Second Vatican Council is unequivocal about it: both in deed and word, we are each called to be a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, the one who fulfills all the hopes and aspirations of every person on the face of the planet (see the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity and the Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church).
So should we stop praying for more priests and nuns? No way! The religious are a powerful sign to the world that holiness has to be everyone’s number one priority. And priests and bishops have a special call to share in the ministry of the Apostles in order to equip us all for our apostolic task.
So we need to pray for those who have answered the call and pray for more to answer the call. But praying for vocations means more than that. Imagine if the billion or so Catholics in the world took seriously their vocations to be saints and witnesses. I think we’d see some changes.
Dr. D'Ambrosio studied under Avery Cardinal Dulles for his Ph.D. in historical theology and taught for many years at the University of Dallas. He now directs www.crossroadsinitiative.com, which offers Catholic resources for RCIA, adult faith formation, and teens, with a special emphasis on the Year of the Eucharist, the Theology of the Body, the early Church Fathers, and the sacrament of confirmation.
(This article originally appeared in Our Sunday Visitor and is used by permission of the author.)
For information on Dr. D'Ambrosio’s summer pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Paul, visit www.crossroadsinitiative.com or call 800.803.0118.