Living Your Vocation: Why God Chose You for This Life

The Ache to Be Chosen

Forget finding your passion. Living your vocation starts with admitting God chose you first. There is something in our human nature that craves to be seen. We long to be chosen, whether for a team, a promotion, a marriage, or a friendship. I remember never being picked first for a team growing up. I was always near the bottom of the list, one of the last ones chosen.

We want to hear someone say, “I want you to be mine.” We hear an echo of this in the Old Testament. God forms and knows us before we are born (Jer 1:5). He knits us together in our mother’s womb (Ps 139:13). He calls us by name as his own (Is 43:1). This is divine initiative. God saw you, desired you, and chose you, from the very moment he created you. He has loved you and called you by name ever since.

A Church Full of Callings

In the Church, this choice takes many forms. This is what we call vocation: God’s invitation, extended differently to different people. He calls some to be prophets and others to be martyrs. Still others he calls to the priesthood, to share the mysteries and sacraments with his people. The Church holds a rich diversity of vocations, and each one matters.

Some feel drawn to simplicity and poverty, in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Others, like the Jesuits, feel called to study, to teach, and to explore philosophy, theology, quantum physics, and psychology. Still others, believe it or not, are called to be hermits. (If you are still discerning which path might be yours, check out the book list on discernment.)

The Silence of the Carthusians

Before entering the seminary, I discerned a call to become a Carthusian. If you haven’t heard of the Carthusians, they are the most contemplative order in the Church. Roughly 300 monks live this life across the world today. They grow their own food, raise their own livestock, and cut their own fabric for their habits. They pray every four or five hours.

The Carthusians devote themselves to silence and prayer. Once a man enters the monastery, he speaks only rarely, and only with his prior’s permission.

Sixteen Years for a Silent Film

A filmmaker once became fascinated with this way of life. He asked a Carthusian prior for permission to make a documentary about the monks. The prior answered, “I think it is the will of God, but not yet.” Sixteen years later, the filmmaker, Philip Gröning, finally received the call.

The Carthusians granted permission, though only under strict conditions. He had to work alone, live as the monks lived, and film without any artificial lighting. Only afterward would the monks agree to speak on camera.

The result, Into Great Silence, is a mesmerizing, wordless film that premiered in 2005. It draws the viewer into the rhythm of monastic prayer and work. It invites us to consider the spiritual life without ever raising its voice. There are all these vocations in the Church, and every single one of them is necessary and beautiful.

Your Job Is a Vocation Too

But the Second Vatican Council reminds us of something important. Religious vocations, like priests, deacons, nuns, and monks, are not the only vocations. Lumen Gentium, the Council’s teaching on the Church, calls this the lay vocation. It is lived out by the Christian politician, the healthcare worker, the filmmaker, the architect, the lawyer, and the plumber. These vocations carry real weight, because they come with real responsibility.

Consider healthcare. A doctor or nurse must study the Church’s bioethics. However, what the law allows is not always what is morally permissible. Texas law, for example, permits a patient or family to withdraw nutrition and hydration under certain legal provisions.

However, Catholic moral teaching draws the line differently in many such cases. The same tension shows up with direct sterilization. The state may allow it, but the Church does not, for theological and philosophical reasons we are called to study.

The same goes for business owners and politicians. They must study the Church’s social doctrine and the philosophical and theological foundations of human dignity. Then they must apply these to economics and public life.

You might say to me, “Father, I’m an investor. I don’t see how Church teaching could speak to my profession.” But even here, the Church has something to say. We cannot invest in everything the world invests in without asking whether it serves human flourishing. Real guidelines exist for what ethical investment looks like in a Christian life.

Gaudí: God’s Unfinished Architect

You have probably heard of Gaudí. He began building the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and became almost obsessed with creating something beautiful for God. Critics and contemporaries antagonized him throughout his life, and a tram struck him fatally on his way to confession.

More recently, in June 2026, Pope Leo XIV traveled to Barcelona. The visit marked the hundredth anniversary of Gaudí’s death. There, the pope blessed the Sagrada Familia’s central spire, the Tower of Jesus Christ. This made it the tallest church in the world.

The basilica as a whole still awaits completion; its Glory Facade remains under construction. Still, Gaudí stands one step closer to canonization, and many already call him “God’s architect.”

Living Your Vocation Starts Today

Think about that: a lay vocation to be an architect for God. He designed spaces meant to convey something transcendent, a space to encounter the beauty of God. We only need to read St. John Paul II’s Letter to Artists to see this. He entrusted artists and musicians with a mission: to promote human flourishing through their craft.

We all carry this beautiful lay vocation, even as a student, even as a plumber. God chose you to go into the world, not shy, not believing you have nothing to contribute. You carry the message of your Lord. You will find ways to apply the Gospel in your life, through prayer and through study.

We must take responsibility for the mission we hear in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells his disciples: “Go into the world, cure the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead” (Mt 10:8). This is a command the Lord gives you in your profession, in your vocation. Trust in that divine mission, but also find the courage to put it into practice.

For us, work is not just how we feed our families. It is the path of our sanctification, the way God makes all things new in every dimension of society.

Take stock of that the next time you walk into your workplace. Sanctify it. Know that you are living your vocation, and study the responsibility that vocation calls you to.

So let us pray for the gift of discernment, the gift of courage, and the gift of joy. May we bear the holy name of Christ and put it into practice in every vocation. The Lord entrusts each one to us, religious and lay alike. St. Peter, prince of the apostles, pray for us.

Interested in learning more about the Sagrada Familia? Check out this documentary