Many Christians today become priests because that is their vocation as it allows them to help people. Modern day bishops and cardinals are the successors of the original disciples, and the Pope is the successor of St. Peter, the founder of the Christian church. Service is the foundation of the Catholic Church; therefore, there is a hierarchy of service rather than greatness.
Vocation also guides some people into being doctors. These doctors heal most people however, some women go to doctors to have an abortion and the doctor will not carry it out because it is morally wrong, the Catholic Church believes that life begins at conception, and an abortion is murder. However, the church does help people to make many difficult choices, and will support those Christians, with whatever choice they may choose.
Some people may even decline a job offer because they must work on a Sunday and that is the Christian day of rest.
The mission of disciples is the same as it was 2,000 years ago. Principles that disciples need to follow are:
- Care for the sick- like Mother Teresa
- Feeding the hungry
- Fighting injustice- like Martin Luther King Junior
- Telling others the good news (through medical, educational, social and political means)
- Love Jesus
- Healing- this often means spiritual healing but can be physical. This may also display itself as a concern for injustice in the world.
Some Christians boycott large companies such as Nestlé™ and Nike™ because they use unethical ways of acquiring money. These methods of acquiring money can be from using sweat shops in India and paying people tiny amounts of money, to conning poor, pregnant mothers, from third world countries, out of their little money so they can buy milk powder for their children.
This teaching of discipleship is also very difficult to fulfil in a modern day and age because of certain complications in life. Many people spend their lives, today, in pursuit of material possessions, whereas in the past, people did not have the time or money to go and seek material possessions. The church played a vital role in a community, in the past. There was therefore a greater sense of neighbourliness, which is often missing today due to the focal point being a television rather than the church.
There are many good examples of modern disciples; however, one of the most reported about lately was Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa dedicated her life to healing and caring for the sick. She gave up everything, and spent her life like those disciples in the time of Jesus.
Therefore, this teaching of disciple may affect the life of a Christian today in their work and actions.
