What is the Single Lay Vocation? - SINGLE BLESSEDNESS I OF V

SINGLE MUCH?

If you say the word, “single,” the popular mind immediately would immediately think of someone who is available, not yet married, or worse, that it has come to mean one is sexually active.  In the mind of Christ, single means something else.  Go ahead and look for the word in the Bible or Church documents:

1 Chronicles 12:38 “All the rest of Israel were of a single mind

”Deuteronomy 28:12  “And the LORD would single him out from all the tribes of Israel” 

Document on the laity: “All branches of a single vine” 

On the Church: “A single people, a people which acknowledges him in truth and holiness”

We see here that it tends to the meaning of being focussed or unified and even set apart.  It is only St Paul in his discussion on single life in 1 Corinthians 7 that he says,

“To the unmarried I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do.”  (v. 8)

“Let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband --and that the husband should not divorce his wife.” (v. 11)

Only here does he mean it in a similar way that we are used to hearing about in the world around us, however, here it also does mean focussed on the Lord or set apart for him.  

There are many ways we could approach a reflection on the vocation of what has started to be named recently, “Single Blessedness,” but we will approach it as having single-minded focus on Jesus Christ, a vocation of being present to the Lord.  All too often even within the Church people would say that being single is like being suspended in gelatin, someone who has not yet found their focus or their vocation, hasn’t found a man yet, or they “missed the boat” and have grown two old for marriage.

First let’s start off saying the obvious: the single life is the most misunderstood vocation there is in the Church.  An old retired bishop used to get very upset when someone would say about his sister, “She didn’t have a vocation.  She was single.” 

This might be because vocations are mistakenly or superficially defined often by what someone has or does.  A married woman has babies.  A religious sister has vows.   A priest says mass.  A married man provides for his family.  Even our theology may be presented this way.  You might hear that a priest or religious, or even a married person has found a vocation, but a single person?  Many would say that it is a state of life that a person is in because they just haven’t found the right lady or man.  What is needed is a recalibration or redefinition of the Christian vocation by who we are in Christ.  This is what the Second Vatican Council and the Pontificate of Blessed Pope John Paul II attempted to do.  In this light, a priest lives in Persona Christi Capitis et Pastores, in the Person of Christ, Head and Shepherd.  This phrase is mentioned over thirty times in Blessed Pope John Paul II’s document on Priesthood, Pastores Dabo Vobis.  A religious sister is a Spouse of Christ, or a Spouse of the Word, a rich identity that is being recovered in recent years to preserve the vocation of consecrated women from being reduced to social work or merely defined by actions.

The lay vocation comes from the Sacrament of Baptism where we are immersed (baptizein in Greek means immersion) in the Most Holy Trinity and communion with him.  Therefore a single lay person is called first and foremost to “be” instead of do, to be present to the Lord.