Auspice Maria Ep. 11: "Our Lives are Not an Accident"
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Transcript:
Welcome to the Auspice Maria podcast.
I'm Bishop James Ruggieri of the Diocese of Portland in Maine. I'm glad that you're here listening with me today.
In our last episode, we asked the question, what is the kingdom of God? And before delving more into this topic of the kingdom and how we, through living our vocation and also thriving in mission, contribute to the upbuilding of the kingdom, I'd like to just invoke again the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit of God, as you overshadowed the Blessed Mother at the Annunciation, we pray that you may continually overshadow your Church. Help us to bring forth Christ to the world through our words, through our actions, through our love. And guide us, Lord, as we walk through this podcast, inspire us. We ask all this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
So in that last podcast, we explored how the kingdom was the central theme of Jesus' preaching, as He proclaimed in Mark chapter one:
“The time of fulfillment, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.”
Those were the early words of Jesus as He began His public ministry.
Also, we looked at the parables. We looked at the parable of the mustard seed, the dragnet, and we recognized the kingdom was both already here and not yet in its fullness.
We also spoke of the kingdom not merely as a place, but as a culture—a way of life rooted in love, in truth, in joy, and in the dignity of every human person. This kingdom of God is not abstract—it’s concrete. It grows in our lives, our families, our parishes.
And so today, we turn to this truth:
Everyone has a role in building the kingdom of God.
And we do that through living well our vocation.
Let’s set the bigger context again.
The Church has a threefold mission—well, we could say three dimensions to her one mission:
Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, announcing the Good News to all peoples.
Bringing people into a living encounter with Christ, especially through the Church, her sacraments, and her community.
Building the Kingdom of God—creating a culture here and now that reflects the reign of Christ and prepares for its fullness in heaven.
This episode focuses on that last movement—building the kingdom, but from a deeply personal lens:
Your vocation is integral to your mission.
What is vocation?
What do we mean by that word “vocation”?
The word comes from the Latin vocare, meaning to call.
A vocation is not just a job. It’s a calling—a divine invitation to live a particular way of life.
God, in His love, calls each of us personally.
He doesn’t impose. We are not robots. He respects our free will.
So vocation always involves two things:
1. God’s invitation
2. Our free response, discerned with care, prayer, and honesty.
And that discernment means listening to God’s voice deep within.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 1776, quoting Gaudium et Spes 16:
“Deep within his conscience, man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself, but which he must obey.
For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.
His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary.”
Those words from the Catechism, again taken from Gaudium et Spes, remind us that in that sanctuary—that inner sanctuary that is within all of us—we come to know who we are and what we are called to become.
Let’s look at one of the clearest examples of vocation in Scripture: the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary of Nazareth.
In Luke 1:26–38, we hear the story of the Annunciation.
Listen to an abridged part of it with me now, please:
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
This is the essence of vocation.
God calls, invites. Mary listens. She consents freely. And her yes changed history.
Through her vocation—that of motherhood and marriage—Jesus comes into the world.
Of course, He is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and Saint Joseph, the just man, is His earthly father. Not His biological father, but He is reared in that beautiful covenantal love of the marriage that Mary shares with Joseph.
So Mary, embracing her vocation, becomes the Theotokos, the God-bearer.
Mary’s vocation reveals that God works through human lives, human relationships, human choices. And every vocation, sincerely and authentically lived, brings Christ to others.
Now let’s look more closely at marriage as a vocation.The Church teaches that marriage is not merely a contract—it is a covenant, a sacrament, a calling that brings grace and serves the kingdom.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 1601, citing Canon 1055 and echoing Gaudium et Spes 48:
“The matrimonial covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole life is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring. This covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.”
Let’s unpack that for a moment.
Marriage is a partnership of the whole life—not partial, not temporary. It’s total.
It’s ordered toward two goods:
⦁ the good of the spouses
⦁ the procreation and education of children
And for baptized Christians, marriage is not just natural—it’s supernatural.
Christ raises it to a sacrament.
That means marriage gives grace. It is a channel of God’s presence and power.
Husband and wife become a sign of God’s love, and through their self-gift, they help build the kingdom—by loving each other in fidelity, by welcoming life, by raising children in the faith, by building a domestic church, a home where Jesus is known and loved.
As St. Paul says in Ephesians 5:31–32:
“For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.”
Marriage then is not just about two people.
It’s about the Church, the kingdom, the world.
But marriage is not the only vocation.
God calls some to the priesthood, others to religious life, some to consecrated virginity, some to the single life—all for the sake of the kingdom.
Whatever the form, every vocation is a call to holiness.
As the Catechism says in paragraph 2013, pulling from different sources:
“All Christians are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. In order to reach this perfection, the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ’s gift.”
So a priest is not simply a sacramental functionary. He’s called to be the most complete man he can be—a spiritual father, a shepherd, another Christ.
A married couple is not just a romantic pair. They are builders of the kingdom, domestic missionaries.
And a single person, living with intention, prayer, and service, is a witness to the sustaining love of God.
So here’s the invitation: Live intentionally. You and I were not created randomly. Our lives are not an accident.
God has called you.
He’s called me.
He’s chosen you.
He is inviting you to live your vocation—whether as a husband, a wife, a priest, a religious, a single disciple—with purpose and joy.
And through your vocation, you build the kingdom of God.
As 1 Peter 4:10 tells us:
“As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
So let’s do that.
Let’s live vocationally.
Let’s raise our children to see their lives not as something to consume, but something to offer.
Let’s ask ourselves not just, What do I want to do? but rather,
Lord, what are you calling me to do?
Let’s listen in that sacred space where God speaks—our conscience, our prayer, our intimate friendships—and say with Mary:
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Because when we say yes to our vocation,
We say yes to mission.
We say yes to love.
And we help make the kingdom of God more real for the whole world.
Thank you again for joining me this week in the Auspice Maria podcast.
A special shout out to Jake, my producer.
And also, I’d like to end by offering all of this to the protection and intercession of Mary as we pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
