The Church as a Mystery of Vocation  

(Down through the centuries, popes and theologians have used various metaphors to describe the Church. In this article, Msgr. Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G., Vicar General of the Diocese, reflects on the description of the Church as a Mystery of Vocation, and how this description should inform the attitudes and values of the faithful.)  

Pope John Paul II, in Sources of  Renewal, stated that the Vatican Council asked basic questions: “Church, what do you say of yourself? What does it mean to be a believer, a Catholic and a member of the Church?”

These questions, he stated, are addressed to the entire Church and “to all the individual members of whom the Church is composed.”

He also described the pastor al nature of the Second Vatican Council in these words: “a pastor al council proclaims, recalls or clarifies truths for the primary purpose of giving Christians a lifestyle, a way of thinking and acting.” He noted that an enriched awareness or understanding of the teaching of the Council should lead to the formation of attitudes that will help in the realization of the Council, in the life of the Church and in its members.

What is the influence of the teaching of the Vatican Council in the life of our parishes? What understandings and attitudes reflect the teaching of the Council? How does the Council enrich our lives and provide a challenge for change and renewal?

At this time in our Diocese, it is necessary to review the teaching of the Council and the ongoing development of its teaching on the nature and the mission of the Church. These teachings must have an influence on the life and activities of our Diocese and our parishes. If we take the time to reflect on what we say and what we do, or what we don’t do in our lives, we can discover attitudes and values that are important to us; what we really believe are important.

Our budget can reveal our priorities, whether it be our personal finance, or in an organization to which we belong. How we invest our time and money is an indicator of what is important or what is necessary according to our thinking.

Another way of establishing the importance of our awareness or understanding is to consider our self-awareness. Our self-image or self-understanding is important. If we see ourselves as made in the image of God who is love, if we have a realistic self-esteem, how we live and act will be different from someone whose self-image and self-understanding is different.

Our personal experience confirms the concern of Pope John Paul. How we understand the Church will lead to attitudes, structures, functions and activities. Awareness of the consciousness of the Church, enriched at the Council, will help us to make the Council ever more alive and life-giving in our Diocese and in our parishes.

How we understand the Church or parish is likewise important. Our thinking, our understanding and our attitudes influence our way of acting.

There are a variety of images and metaphors in Sacred Scripture that describe the Church or aspects of the Church. However, the Second Vatican Council is the first Council that was focused on the nature and mission of the Church. The dogmatic Constitution on the Church describes the Church in a variety of ways, including Mystery, people of God, mystical body of Christ. Since the Council, other images and models have developed that are consistent with the teaching of the Council.

One example is the image of Church as a Community of Disciples. This is a favorite image of Pope John Paul. When we look at our Diocese and at our parish, what are some of the attitudes and characteristics that would indicate that we are a Community of Disciples?

Cardinal Avery Dulles thinks that this image of the Church as a Community of Disciples could integrate the strengths of his analysis of the different models of the Church. He describes these models as institution, sacrament, herald, servant, and mystical communion.

The Church has been described in many documents after the Council as vocation, communion and mission. In this article, we will begin to look at the Church as a Mystery of Vocation.

First, we need to deepen our awareness of the meaning of vocation or calling. In a message to the 1997 Congress on Vocations in Europe , Pope John Paul II stated: “Life has an essentially vocational structure. In fact, the plan for it stems from the heart of the mystery of God: ‘He chose us in him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him’ (Eph 1:4).”

Pope John Paul looks at life in terms of four general vocations or callings that can help human beings in their search for meaning. He writes: “All human existence is therefore an answer to God, who makes his love felt especially on some occasions: the call to life; the entrance into his Church's communion of grace; the invitation to bear witness in the Christian community to Christ according to a completely personal and irreplaceable plan; the definitive call to communion with him at the hour of death.” In other words, life is a gift and a responsibility.

Writing in Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul shared some important thoughts on the mystery of the Church as Vocation and the theology of vocation in the life of every member of the Church. When we see our lives in terms of vocation, we see ourselves in terms of responsibility and gratitude. Because we have a vocation we are called to be active members of the Church and parish, we are called not only to receive, but also to contribute. We are also moved to see our lives not as individuals independent of the Church, but as members of the Church, giving and receiving.

Pope John Paul situates our thinking about vocations in the choice of God our Father, who acts freely and on his own initiative: “Every Christian vocation finds its foundation in the gratuitous and prevenient choice made by the Father ‘who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will’ (Eph. 1:3-5).

“Each Christian vocation comes from God and is God’s gift,” the late pontiff said. “However, it is never bestowed outside of or independently of the Church. Instead it always comes about in the Church and through the Church because, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, ‘God has willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness.’”

Our American society places a high value on individualism. We tend to be formed by individualism and often are unaware of its influence and its potential to distort the Gospel message and the nature of the Church. These words of John Paul II come as a challenge and a correction, a call to conversion on the level of our understanding and our thinking and acting. Pope John Paul reminds us that we are called to communion with God and with one another, and communion leads to community and social concerns about charity and justice.

“The Church not only embraces in herself all the vocations which God gives her along the path to salvation, but she herself appears as a mystery of vocation, a luminous and living reflection of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity,” he said. “In truth, the Church, a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, carries within her the mystery of the Father, who, being neither called nor sent by anyone (cf. Rom. 11:33-35), calls all to hallow his name and do his will; she guards within herself the mystery of the Son, who is called by the Father and sent to proclaim the kingdom of God to all and who calls all to follow him; and she is the trustee of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who consecrates for mission those whom the Father calls through his Son Jesus Christ.”

We must promote an awareness of vocations and develop a culture for vocations in our parishes. Pope John Paul states: “The Church, being by her very nature a ‘vocation,’ is also a begetter and educator of vocations. This is so because she is a ‘sacrament,’ a ‘sign’ and ‘instrument’ in which the vocation of every Christian is reflected and lived out. And she is so in her activity, in the exercise of her ministry of proclaiming the word, in her celebration of the sacraments and in her service and witness to charity.”

These three activities have also been identified by Pope Benedict XVI in his recent encyclical God is Love as the essential functions of the Church. They are also located in the scripture passage of the Acts of the Apostles that inspired our Diocesan Mission Statement, which is written from a perspective of the Church as vocation, communion and mission.

Our Diocesan Mission Statement begins: “We the Catholic faithful…are called . . .” This simply and clearly speaks of vocation; it says we are all called.

Pope John Paul II continued, “We can now see the essential dimension of the Christian vocation: Not only does it derive ‘from’ the Church and her mediation, not only does it come to be known and find fulfillment ‘in’ the Church, but it also necessarily appears – in fundamental service to God – as a service ‘to’ the Church. Christian vocation, whatever shape it takes, is a gift whose purpose is to build up the Church and to increase the kingdom of God in the world.”

These words of our late Holy Father remind us that the Second Vatican Council has called all of the Christian faithful to appreciate the grace of Baptism and Confirmation and become more active members of the Church. In an individualistic and consumer society, like our own, many look to the Church and parish to provide spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and spiritual goods and services when needed. There is often a failure to appreciate the evangelizing mission of the Church and the responsibility of its members to discover, develop and share their gifts for the mission of the Church.

Particularly at this time, as we continue to learn the teaching of the Vatican Council and prepare for pastor al planning, it is important to learn about the nature and mission of the Church. A renewed awareness of the Church as Vocation and mission leads to an awareness of the vocation and responsibility of each member and helps us to look at our parishes in a new way.

We are not called to maintain buildings and schedules because of convenience or custom. We are challenged to improve our understanding of the Gospel and how we proclaim and witness the good news of God’s love to our members and to the local community and culture. The parish is not for its members alone. The parish has a mission.

When we look at the Church from the perspective of Vocation and we look at human life in terms of vocation, what new insights arise? When a parish looks at itself in terms of vocation, and its responsibility to cultivate vocations, what difference does it make in the understanding of its mission and activities? As communities and individuals deepen their awareness of the enriched theology of the Church as vocation, what difference does it make in the life of the parish and its members?