Most of us get bogged down thinking that vocational calls are related to our occupations. But this is not the case. It is helpful to understand that three vocational callings are found in our lives.

There are three vocational callings: The Call of Faith, The Call of
Relationships, and the Call of Work:

• The Call of Faith, which is our highest and most basic calling, addresses the question: “How am I to live?” This call, for all people—Christian, Muslim, Jew, and Hindu—is a call to live as a Child of God.
• The Call of Relationships addresses the question: “With whom am I to live?” This call invites us to travel life’s journey as a family member, friend, spouse, or community member.
• The Call of Work addresses the question: “How Should I Labor?”

Each of these calls evokes responses from us. They each bring separate joys, opportunities, responsibilities, and commitments. And yet, these three vocational calls are always intertwined.

Sometimes our vocational journey takes us to places where these three calls are all working together. Sometimes we find ourselves in places where tension may exist between one call and another. And sometimes on the vocational journey we find that one call seems to be written in a capital C, beckoning us to give it far more attention than the other two.

It is a spiritual pursuit to respond to these three vocational callings. Throughout this spiritual journey we can learn to understand the ordinary and that the ordinary is sacred.

In the end, the spirituality of responding to the three vocational calls invites us to the same journey and destination: fulfilling our soulful promise to become.

For Reflection

1. Which of the three vocational Callings in your life is demanding the most attention at this time?
2. Which of the Callings have you given the least amount of attention to recently?
3. With whom do you want to think this through a bit further?

Copyright © by Harcourt Religion Publishers. Used by permission of the publisher.