VOCATIONS ARE EVERYONE’S CONCERN

Bishop Paul S. Coakley

Ask any priest about how he recognized his priestly vocation and you will hear a very personal story about God working through people. 

In our family my parents would ask from time to time, “Have you ever thought about being a priest?”  That was usually the end of the conversation.  I changed the subject as quickly as possible.  But the mere fact that they were asking told me several important things.  It told me that being a priest is a good and noble thing.  It told me that they would be proud to have a son who is a priest.  And it told me that God calls ordinary people, just like me. 

God used those occasional words of encouragement to prepare the soil of my heart to receive the seed of my vocation.  God plants the seed.  The vocation is God’s gift.  But he uses other people to work out his plan.

WE ARE ALL PART of that plan.  Parents, families, priests, teachers, catechists and peers all have a part to play in creating a vocation-friendly culture within our homes and parishes.  It is a culture that encourages young people to be open to God’s loving plan for their lives.  It is a culture that encourages generosity.

God calls us each by name.  He has a particular plan for each of our lives.  We are called to be disciples through Baptism.  We are called to live out our discipleship in various ways, either through a vocation to priesthood, consecrated life, marriage or the dedicated single life.  Discerning which calling is our own requires prayer and personal reflection.

 But it also involves the community of the Church.  Our vocation is lived out within the Church and in service of the Church’s mission.  The Church, through pastors, parents and others helps us to recognize and respond generously to God’s mysterious call in our lives.

We are beginning National Vocation Awareness Week.  Our focus is on vocations to the priesthood and religious life.  Among various planned activities, several young men of our diocese are participating in a Quo Vadis Retreat this weekend to learn more about seminary and priesthood and to prayerfully discern if this is where the Lord might be leading them.  Significantly, they were encouraged by their pastors to participate.  There will also be visits to our Catholic high schools by priests and religious who will visit classrooms and discuss vocations with students. 

PROMOTING VOCATION awareness requires more than one week each year.  It has to become a habit, a culture.  I invite you to consider what you are doing to foster a generous response to God’s call among young people.  Is there daily prayer in your homes?  Is there a regular prayer for vocations in the parish liturgy?  Have you ever encouraged your children, a young person, or a friend whom you think would make a good priest or religious sister or brother?  Do you make time in your personal prayer to pray for vocations and for those young people whom God might be calling?  Do you ever take time to thank your pastor or to encourage seminarians in their response to God’s call?

If my parents and others had not encouraged me, if the Church had not been praying for me, I would not have had the courage to respond or the ability even to recognize the meaning of the mysterious stirrings in my heart.  

Developing a culture of vocations requires the involvement of the whole Church.  Thank you for doing your part to encourage the next generation of priests and religious whom God is calling to serve His Church.