Turn Back To What Vocation Is

[EJames2]

[url="http://en.gloria.tv/?user=47420"]Father Reto Preaches[/url]: Turn Back to What Vocation Is
http://en.gloria.tv/?media=242519

[BarbTherese]

It is a matter of personal interpretation unless one adheres to what Rome is saying. Hence Father Reto is expressing his personal opinion and contrary to what The Church is saying.
[quote]
[b][url="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html"]http://www.vatican.v...sitatem_en.html[/url][/b]
[b]CHAPTER I[/b]
[b]THE VOCATION OF THE LAITY TO THE APOSTOLATE[/b]
2. The Church was founded for the purpose of spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the earth for the glory of God the Father, to enable all men to share in His saving redemption,(1) and that through them the whole world might enter into a relationship with Christ. All activity of the Mystical Body directed to the attainment of this goal is called the apostolate, which the Church carries on in various ways through all her members.[quote] For the Christian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate.[/quote] No part of the structure of a living body is merely passive but has a share in the functions as well as life of the body: so, too, in the body of Christ, which is the Church, "the whole body . . . in keeping with the proper activity of each part, derives its increase from its own internal development" (Eph. 4:16 [/quote]

[BarbTherese]

[url="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html"][color=#663300]DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH
[b][i]LUMEN GENTIUM[/i][/b]
SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964 [/color][/url]



[url="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html"]http://www.vatican.v...gentium_en.html[/url]

[quote]

What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature. It is true that those in holy orders can at times be engaged in secular activities, and even have a secular profession. But they are by reason of their particular vocation especially and professedly ordained to the sacred ministry. Similarly, by their state in life, religious give splendid and striking testimony that the world cannot be transformed and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes. [quote]But the laity,[color=#ff0000] by their very vocation[/color], seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer.[/quote]
[/quote]

[Guest hermanita]

I'm confused. This talk was beautiful and inspiring to me. Going to daily Mass has changed my life and helped me to look at life from a less ego driven perspective. But I don't see where Father said anything against the call of the laity to the apostolate.

I loved his talk. What did I miss? I know I'm not very theological.

[BarbTherese]

Wonderful that daily Mass has been such a positive influence in your life!
In his opening comments, Father states that marriage is not a vocation. Father also 'puts down' a person's occupation which Rome tells us is integral to the call of the lay person and that no area of our lives is not a call by Christ to His Gospel and as leaven in the world, integral to the lay vocation. I didn't listen much further than that as my computer loads up these videos very slowly.
Vocation does not begin with a call to a state in life, it begins with our baptism.
Perhaps in some other places, Father might have had quite valid and inspiring things to say.

[Guest hermanita]

[quote name='BarbaraTherese' timestamp='1326841774' post='2370653']
Wonderful that daily Mass has been such a positive influence in your life!
In his opening comments, Father states that marriage is not a vocation. Father also 'puts down' a person's occupation which Rome tells us is integral to the call of the lay person and that no area of our lives is not a call by Christ to His Gospel and as leaven in the world, integral to the lay vocation. I didn't listen much further than that as my computer loads up these videos very slowly.
Vocation does not begin with a call to a state in life, it begins with our baptism.
Perhaps in some other places, Father might have had quite valid and inspiring things to say.
[/quote]

I guess I missed the part about marriage. Perhaps English is not his first language and he was unclear in his expression. I took the part about what we do not being our vocation to mean that it isn't the essential thing. Thanks for your explanation.

[BarbTherese]

What we do in a certain sense is not the essence as in post #3. The lay vocation is very different from that of religious life or the priesthood (see post #3 Lumen Gentium) . We are all however called to be people of The Gospel as we go about the duties of our state in life and we are "called there by God".
It is possible that Father was unclear in what he had to say and I am definitely at fault in not listen to his whole address.

[das8949]

[quote name='BarbaraTherese' timestamp='1326843705' post='2370670']
What we do in a certain sense is not the essence as in post #3. The lay vocation is very different from that of religious life or the priesthood (see post #3 Lumen Gentium) . We are all however called to be people of The Gospel as we go about the duties of our state in life and we are "called there by God".
It is possible that Father was unclear in what he had to say and I am definitely at fault in not listen to his whole address.
[/quote]

Wow how shockingg to me to hear your insolence. I remember being trained to respect the position of the priesthood upmost and to be forgiving in nature.

[BarbTherese]

[quote name='DarleneSteinemann' timestamp='1326846280' post='2370713']
Wow how shockingg to me to hear your insolence. I remember being trained to respect the position of the priesthood upmost and to be forgiving in nature.
[/quote]

No insolence intended. I certainly do highly respect and value immensely the priesthood and strive to be forgiving. I merely meant that the priesthood, religious life and the lay vocations are all different as Lumen Gentium makes clear and that perhaps Father Reto had English as his second language and did not express his meaning clearly as had been suggested.

[Deus te Amat]

[quote name='DarleneSteinemann' timestamp='1326846280' post='2370713']


Wow how shockingg to me to hear your insolence. I remember being trained to respect the position of the priesthood upmost and to be forgiving in nature.
[/quote]

Wait, what? You should reread what you quoted, because there was nothing that could even be close to construed as insolent.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Deus_te_Amat

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='DarleneSteinemann' timestamp='1326846280' post='2370713']
Wow how shockingg to me to hear your insolence. I remember being trained to respect the position of the priesthood upmost and to be forgiving in nature.
[/quote]

It's "utmost," and her post wasn't insolent at all. Priests can be theologically unsound, and when that happens (not saying it did here because I didn't listen to the talk so I don't know), then there is an obligation to stand up for what is true so that other faithful do not become confused about Christ's teaching.

[cmaD2006]

[quote name='DarleneSteinemann' timestamp='1326846280' post='2370713']
Wow how shockingg to me to hear your insolence. I remember being trained to respect the position of the priesthood upmost and to be forgiving in nature.
[/quote]

Actually BarbaraTherese's posts were fine. If you look at what you quoted, where she said "it is possible that Father was unclear in what he had to say and I am definitely at fault in not listen to his whole address," she actually showed a level of humility not insolence.

I highly respect the priesthood too ... and what she had said in the posts in this thread were not out of line.

[BarbTherese]

Probably the reason there is such confusion, or there can be, about what is a vocation is because there seems to be confusion amongst those we look to and value as speaking with some authority in The Church and especially our priests and religious. I must state that this is nowhere near as prelavent as it once was however. Rome is very clear about vocation if one reads the documents. Father Reto may well have had some very valuable and even important things to say about the vocations to the priesthood and religious life, but when I heard his opening comment that marriage was not a vocation, I am afraid I just switched off and did not continue with the video. He may well have had problems with English as a second language possibly. It may even have been one of those Freudian slips when one states the opposite to what one wanted to say. I dont know. After I heard his comment, I just wanted to clear up if I could what Rome tells us is "vocation" and not address the subject of Father Reto per se, other than a brief comment that his comment re marriage was contrary to what Rome states i.e. marriage is a vocation.

If we are in doubt about what is and is not a vocation, then various documents out of Rome state it very clearly for us.

Father Reto's opening statement or close to the opening statement anyway was not correct - this is not at all to state that he may not have had some very important things to say about the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. I try hard not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, I make too many mistakes myself and try to be grateful for corrections putting me on the right track. Not only this, but since I did not watch the video to the conclusion, he may have corrected himself later in the video re the vocation of marriage.

Edited January 20, 2012 by BarbaraTherese