This past Sunday the Church celebrated the feast of the Holy Trinity. In an effort to try to understand God better in this feast, we tend to describe aspects of God with titles or labels. Yet the true essence of God cannot be summarized down into a few words. As a reflection of God, the same is true with us, even if we label ourselves. 

WIthin the Trinity, we usually identify each person by what He does: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. None of these descriptions fully delve deeply enough to really have a relationship with God. The Creator has asked us to address Him as Father, and one could write a whole book about the deeper meanings of why this title is so important. We call the second person in the Trinity Jesus, because He was born at a point in time and was addressed by that name. There is a whole litany of the name and titles of Jesus, and Redeemer is just one of them. The third person of the Trinity also has a number of descriptive labels: Comforter, Advocate, Paraclete, and even the name changed in English from Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit because of shifts in language and meanings.

As humans, we like to use descriptions to categorize ourselves. Our first title is that of being a daughter or son when we are born, setting us in relationship to those responsible for us. If we have siblings, then we may be called brother or sister, or even more descriptively as older brother and younger sister. As we grow we become students and may augment our titles by the activities in which we are involved: soccer player, swimmer, dancer, pianist. Some of these titles may see us well into adulthood, and for a few may become their career. For others these will fade into the background of our experience or be relegated to that of a hobby. 

As adults we typically can indicate the title of how we want the world to see us. For many it may be the role they have in their career. For those who work as doctors, nurses, lawyers, and CEOs, etc., most people will have a general sense of what they do and what their responsibilities are. My title at my company is not really a true reflection of what I do and when someone inquires about my job, I usually describe what I work with (websites) rather than my title (product owner), since it does not convey the same understanding as other job titles. Some folks may describe me as a baker, since I enjoying baking all sorts of delectables like breads, cakes, brownies, and cookies. However, since I only bake occasionally, I wouldn’t consider myself a baker. With my newfound enjoyment of weaving, I strive to work multiple times a week on my current project, yet again, since it is not my profession, I would only use the term weaver in describing it as one of my hobbies. Depending on the person or audience we’re introducing ourselves to, we may choose one title over another based on the relevance we perceive the others will be receptive to.

After all these years, I can remember being taught about vocations in the Catholic elementary school I attended. Vocation isn’t just a job, not merely an action, but a call from God to a particular state in life. I remember learning the three states: marriage, religious, and single life. In looking up the definition for vocation, Merriam-Webster says, “summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action; especially: a divine call to the religious life.” The etymology of the word derives from words that mean “to summon,” “to call,” and “voice.” Since we live in such a secular culture, the thought of having a calling from God is not well received. When husbands and wives talk about their vocation as being the most important in their life, the outcry that other titles should have a higher priority only serves to illustrate the lack of faith in society. There are sacraments for both marriage and the priesthood, yet other religious vows and the call to the single life can have the perception of being less important because there is no corresponding sacrament. However, God calls everyone to their unique vocation, so that not one vocation is “better” than another. We need all three types of vocations, as they work in concert with the others to support our earthly journey. With our free will, it’s up to us to either embrace God’s call or reject it.

Titles may come and go in our life and the labels we use to describe ourselves will shift over time. Yet it is our response to the vocation that God is calling us to that will determine if we achieve the final summons of God to become a saint and live in eternity with Him.