An e-mail I recently sent to a young lady considering entering our missionary training program; she is also considering the religious life – she wonders about the term “vocation” as it applies in “lay missionary voacation.”
Dani -
I think you have raised an important matter. Over the years the Church certainly has emphasized the big three vocations: marriage, the religious life, and the priesthood. And these are often lifetime vocations (but certainly not always - more and more religious are taking their vows in stages, and marriages are ended by death of a partner...).
I have come to realize that the old way of thinking (big three vocations) regularly leads to a misunderstanding about our calls to the apostolates. Many laity end up with the impression that only the priests and religious are called to serve God, and that married people are only expected to stay married and care for their children. Or single laity think that they can only serve the Lord if they become priests or religious.
Today, it is clearer than ever that all of the laity are called (have a vocation) to the apostolate, and that different priests and religious have different apostolates, depending upon the gifts, talents and "calling" of the Lord on each person's life. Here we are certainly speaking of "vocations" but not the "three" so often mentioned.
The call of God to serve in foreign missions has always been considered a wonderful and special vocation. And recent Church teaching declares constantly that the laity are called to the missionary life, and that this calling to the lay apostolate is received from God, and that the special grace to enter the lay missionary vocation is rooted in Baptism and Confirmation. In recent decades a good number of lay missionary saints, single and married, have been canonized, and today there is an enormous growth in the numbers of Catholic lay missionaries. While priestly and religious vocations in the West continue to decline, there is an impressive increase in all lay apostolate vocations.
My advice to you is that you don't get bogged down in semantics. Be a religious if that is God's call to you. Remain a single lay woman, if that is the Lord's call. And be a missionary, for years or for life. If you believe the Lord is calling you to the missionary life and to marry and mother children, begin your missionary life and pray you will meet a man to marry you who wants to be a missionary too. (This has happened for some of our missionaries.)
In FMC our missionaries do not take vows. We hope many will make this their life's work. Others have left FMC to serve the Lord in other ways. We trust that they will continue to serve the Lord faithfully in new apostolates. One young lady served as a missionary with us for several years, then left, got married, and returned with her husband; both serve as missionaries today, along with their children.
Dani, God is your Father, He knows you very well and He has a plan for you - seek and you shall find, ask and you will receive, knock and the door will be opened to you. We invite you to be a lay missionary with us; here you will be challenged to live a holy, missionary life, and your life will bear fruit for God's glory - is the Lord calling you to FMC? That decision is entirely yours.
In Jesus, Frank
Dani -
I think you have raised an important matter. Over the years the Church certainly has emphasized the big three vocations: marriage, the religious life, and the priesthood. And these are often lifetime vocations (but certainly not always - more and more religious are taking their vows in stages, and marriages are ended by death of a partner...).
I have come to realize that the old way of thinking (big three vocations) regularly leads to a misunderstanding about our calls to the apostolates. Many laity end up with the impression that only the priests and religious are called to serve God, and that married people are only expected to stay married and care for their children. Or single laity think that they can only serve the Lord if they become priests or religious.
Today, it is clearer than ever that all of the laity are called (have a vocation) to the apostolate, and that different priests and religious have different apostolates, depending upon the gifts, talents and "calling" of the Lord on each person's life. Here we are certainly speaking of "vocations" but not the "three" so often mentioned.
The call of God to serve in foreign missions has always been considered a wonderful and special vocation. And recent Church teaching declares constantly that the laity are called to the missionary life, and that this calling to the lay apostolate is received from God, and that the special grace to enter the lay missionary vocation is rooted in Baptism and Confirmation. In recent decades a good number of lay missionary saints, single and married, have been canonized, and today there is an enormous growth in the numbers of Catholic lay missionaries. While priestly and religious vocations in the West continue to decline, there is an impressive increase in all lay apostolate vocations.
My advice to you is that you don't get bogged down in semantics. Be a religious if that is God's call to you. Remain a single lay woman, if that is the Lord's call. And be a missionary, for years or for life. If you believe the Lord is calling you to the missionary life and to marry and mother children, begin your missionary life and pray you will meet a man to marry you who wants to be a missionary too. (This has happened for some of our missionaries.)
In FMC our missionaries do not take vows. We hope many will make this their life's work. Others have left FMC to serve the Lord in other ways. We trust that they will continue to serve the Lord faithfully in new apostolates. One young lady served as a missionary with us for several years, then left, got married, and returned with her husband; both serve as missionaries today, along with their children.
Dani, God is your Father, He knows you very well and He has a plan for you - seek and you shall find, ask and you will receive, knock and the door will be opened to you. We invite you to be a lay missionary with us; here you will be challenged to live a holy, missionary life, and your life will bear fruit for God's glory - is the Lord calling you to FMC? That decision is entirely yours.
In Jesus, Frank
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