Vocation and Communication

I have a vocation, a calling of God, to marriage. To being a wife. To being a mother.

.... when the Church speaks of "vocation," she means a calling out to each person to accomplish a task preordained by God in the coredemption of the world. The highest joy in life for a Christian is searching out, discovering, and pursuing the purpose for which God called him into existence. The idea of vocation implies and demands a larger design to life. The Vocation of Marriage in God's Plan Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, D.D.

When I married, I had no idea of the concept of vocation. I just thought it would be fun to get married. I certainly didn't understand the sacrament and the graces of the sacrament.

Then, when I became a Catholic, and learned more about the idea of marriage as vocation, well, I second guessed my vocation. Maybe I wasn't really called to this, maybe it was an accident.

Silly, huh?

I love being a wife and mother. Amongst all the things I do, these two stand out as my calling.

I was told recently that communication is an important part of my vocation.Well, duh. However, it was also pointed out to me that communication involves not just talking - but talking honestly. Saying hard things when they need to be said. In love. And knowing when to hold my tongue and listen, in love.

Wow, very true. Very powerful. Very difficult, sometimes..


Sometimes we think that communication is the same thing as
telling someone something. But communication is much more than
that. Communication is any sharing of meaning between two
(or more) people.
We very often communicate without words, such as when I look
threateningly at a child who is about to take a cookie. I may say no
words, but the child gets a message.
One of the challenges of communication is that we may not have the
same meanings as the people we communicate with. Even with our children,
we may have very different meanings.
Communication: Building A Strong Bridge

Cartoon from
Self Help magazine