A homily by Fr Stephen Wang about the meaning of the Christian vocations and how we discern our own vocation. Sometimes a vocation seems to grow quite naturally out of our life and our desires; but sometimes it can take us quite by surprise…
Tags: discernment, vocation
Is it right to fear God? What is the difference between a destructive fear and a “holy trepidation”? An Advent homily by Fr Stephen Wang: Look around you at the chapel walls. Look at the […]
How to enter the reality of suffering without losing faith in God
Have you ever been in a situation where, to everyone outside, it looked like everything had fallen to pieces? A failed plan, a project or job fallen through, a serious illness, a financial loss, some […]
Catholics and Our Common Home: Caring for the Planet We Share
At last we are in fashion! Back in 1995 I wrote a CTS pamphlet entitled, Must Catholics be Green? It had seemed obvious to me for a long time that any sane person would want […]
World Mental Health Day: how can the Catholic Church offer pastoral support to those who need it?
Mental Health and the Christian response: personal reflections from a Catholic layperson: World Mental Health Day is coming this Saturday, 10th October. The theme this year is Dignity. Thinking about this from a Catholic perspective, […]
I remember a few years ago coming across a prayer which seemed to speak straight to me. It went something like this; “Lord: don’t look now I have my foot in my mouth again. The […]
The Birth of St John the Baptist
So often today I think many Christians feel they are the lone voice crying out in the wilderness. When all our family members and friends have fallen away from their faith it can be very […]
What an inspiring young man, St Aloysius is. Not for any great deeds is he known, in many ways his was a very ordinary life lived quietly. But his faith led him to turn his […]
The Gift of Priests and Sisters: a resource from Ten Ten
Primary school children throughout the UK have been learning why certain people chose to follow God’s call to become priests and sisters by engaging in an innovative new project from the Catholic education organisation, Ten […]
Eight Songs for the Easter Octave
Divna Ljubojevic, Christos Anesti x https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRlJC-ckL4 Normally Orthodox liturgies are considerably more verbose than their Latin equivalents, but the opposite is the case for the Easter proclamation. While the Exsultet lasts ten minutes, the Byzantine […]
John Legend, Self-Gift, and the Last Supper
When a video has 800 million views on YouTube, it’s probably fair to say that it’s tapping into something pretty deep in our common humanity. John Legend’s love song, ‘All of Me’, is one such […]
How to help your children have a solid and lasting faith
As a parent one of the most important and enduring gifts we can give our children and grandchildren is a faith in Jesus Christ and his saving power. But we should be under no illusion, […]
On the first Monday of the month, Ten Ten send a newsletter to parents who have attended a parent session in a school. The newsletter includes a chapter from the booklet “Being a Parent Today: […]
When everything goes wrong and we are tempted to give up hope
When everything seems to go wrong and you get to the point where you are about to give up and rage and despair and collapse. That’s often the very moment when God wants to step […]
Are you a beleaguered clique or a creative minority?
Catholics are a minority in the UK today. But what do the Scriptures say about the vocation of creative minorities and the responsibility they have to build God’s Kingdom? A homily by Fr Stephen Wang.
Who is Jesus? (And, by the way, how to vote in the EU Referendum…)
A homily by Fr Stephen Wang, about the challenge of proclaiming Jesus Christ, and the political implications of St Paul’s theology of baptismal unity.
Why do you go to work in the morning?
As Christians we are called to loving service, and as adults we spend a third of our waking lives at work. So how do we turn our work into service? One of the deepest modern […]
I have come to the conclusion that we are All called to the same Vocation ~
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength & You must love your neighbour as yourself.” ~ Mark 12:30-31 & Matthew 22:37-40
But each with a different ministry.
Peter was married ~ and God still called him to be the first Papa ~ the Rock on which His Church was to be built. A Married Man. A Vocation to Love and to serve God. And a Ministry to be a bridge for others between the earth and the Heavens.
We changed it – against Gods example/Call.
God himself created us and wants that his name is known by every one through his chosen servants , that is why I feel i want to be one among those servants ,but i do not get the way i may run through ,so i need your advice
Pray – intimately with your Lord. Prayer it is the Braille of the soul where God is in direct communion with you. He who knows you intimately will reach you and inspire you – even through others.
Learn to Love as Jesus teaches us.
https://thewayoflovecharism.wordpress.com ~ To Love is Our One Vocation.
Discern your ministry. Be open hearted. Use your gifts and grow by challenging your weaknesses. God will be with you where you are supporting holding cherishing you.
Love kindly always x tenderness comes from Him and brings out His kingship and beauty in you x
The Church is clear: the Universal Vocation is holiness, which is exemplified in your verse. However, we are each called to a particular vocation: that is, a particular state of life. For a Roman Catholic, one cannot be both married and a priest. That is a disciplinary decision of Rome. It is not a dogma. The Church does not see anything inherently wrong with a married man also being a priest. In fact, in the Eastern Churches (that are in communion with Rome), if a married man desires to be a priest, he may follow that call. Though, he must be married before he enters seminary (just as Peter, the first Pope, was married prior to being given his Office).
We did not “change it” against “God’s example/Call.”
Peter was married ~ and God Intentionally & Specifically called him to be the first Papa!
My point is that Peter was called to a particular vocation. A particular state in life. Agreed.
Peter was called to marriage – husband – son in law – and beyond this was called to priesthood, founding the Church of Antioch and later the church in Rome.
He was the Rock upon which Gods Church was to be built.
John 1:42
‘And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).’
1 Corinthians 9:5
“Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?”
‘That is a disciplinary decision of Rome.’ Yep.
Maybe Rome might now better consider putting its disciplinary decision back in line with Jesus example ~ if we are to avert the biggest crisis in Christianity – due to not following His example…