Pope issues positive vocation message

With the title "Rejoice and Be Glad: the Call to Holiness in Today's World," the pope's newest apostolic exhortation, released in April, provides much for vocation ministers to rejoice over, as its core message encourages a sense of calling and discernment in everyday life.

The 37-page document (before footnotes) is ideal for personal reflection, group study,  and discussion with those in discernment. Below are samplings from the exhortation.

I would like to insist primarily on the call to holiness that the Lord addresses to each of us, the call that he also addresses, personally, to you: “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44; cf. 1 Pet. 1:16). (10)

We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by laboring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. (14)

Always ask the Spirit what Jesus expects from you at every moment of your life and in every decision you must make, so as to discern its place in the mission you have received. (23)