Every vocation is a call to love | Seeking with Saintly Hearts

Maria Montemayor

Friday, February 13, 2026

“I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting. - St. Thérèse of Lisieux, OCD

The Catholic Church acknowledges three vocations: marriage, priesthood, and consecrated life. The foundation of each vocation is love. Each vocation has its own sacrifices, but they are all a means by which we can love and serve God.

Marriage

Most people will feel called to marriage. This is a very natural vocation: God plants into human hearts the desire for marriage and a family. Within marriage, a person chooses to give of his or her self to the spouse and any future children. The goal in marriage is to lead the spouse and children to God. In marriage, a husband is called to “love [his] wife as Christ loved the Church” (Ephesians 5:25) and a wife is also called to love and respect her husband. The couple are also called to practice chastity, which entails complete faithfulness to the spouse (avoiding lust, intimacy outside of the marriage, etc.). If you feel called to married life and are still waiting for your spouse, Seeking with Saintly Hearts: A Novena to St. Valentine invites you to entrust that desire for love to God.

Priesthood

Some men may feel called to the priesthood. In this vocation, men are called to love the Church and dedicate their lives to serving her. They must be obedient to their bishops, cardinals, and Pope, whatever direction they are given. Often, priests serve in a parish, however their superiors may assign them other roles and responsibilities (according to their talents and gifts) such as teaching at a university or serving as a military chaplain. A priest must minister to those in his care and do his utmost to lead them to God. With large parish communities, this can be a huge task for a priest, but their love of God and support from superiors and fellow priests can help them carry out their missions.

Consecrated life

In religious life, men and women take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They make these vows out of love for God and the religious community they feel called to serve. Men in religious life include monks (brothers/friars) and priests, although not all priests are members of a religious community. Women in religious life include sisters (who live prayerful active service in the world) and nuns (cloistered or semi-cloistered sisters who live a contemplative life in a monastery or convent, separate from the outside world). Another possible vocation for women is being a consecrated virgin, who makes her vows to her bishop. They do not take a vow of poverty or obedience, so they live and work in the world, but they are committed to a life of prayer and celibacy. Consecrated virgins, nuns, and religious sisters give of themselves totally and exclusively to God. They are called to faithfully commit to Him in love for the rest of their lives.

What about those who are single and have not made any vows? Traditionally, the Church teaches that the single state is an anticipatory state, meaning that a person is waiting to totally give of his or her self to God in love either through a spouse or through a commitment to celibacy in a religious community or virginity for the Kingdom. There are those who continue to discern the priesthood or religious life, and those working toward marriage. Singleness also reminds the whole Church that every Christian, in every vocation, is on an ongoing, unfinished journey through this life.

There are also those who die early - like St. Carlo Acutis and St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who passed away in a single state. Even if they did not have the chance to make any vows, they lived the universal vocation that we are all called to: holiness. They loved God first and foremost and that guided the way they lived their lives. When we die as faithful Catholics, we will all be united in love with the Lord in heaven.

As we begin our Lenten journey, let us keep in mind this universal vocation to holiness, and continue to pray for our current or future vocation (marriage, priesthood). During Lent we make sacrifices out of love for our Lord (like giving up meat or sweets), but this Lent, let us also sacrifice our time and give our energy and efforts to those we love and those God entrusts into our care.