Next week – November 4-10, is National Vocation Awareness Week. Parishioner Roe Abbato will speak to the parish regarding the Adopt-a-Seminarian initiative that began with her inspiration through the Faith Formation Committee. This is a great way to support the men who are presently studying for our diocese.
A vocation is a call from God to pursue holiness in a specific way, involving a public and permanent commitment. All of us as baptized Christians are called to holiness. Holiness is essential in the life of discipleship.
As Catholics, we firmly believe that God has a plan for our lives. He calls most to marriage, some to the priesthood, and others to religious life. Fully living our own vocations—and teaching young people how to discern God’s call—is a serious but joyful duty.
During this week, please pray about how God is calling you to live your vocation more deeply. If you are married – or preparing or contemplating marriage – it is a good time to reflect on how you and your (future) spouse share the life of faith together. If you are married outside of the church, perhaps this is a good time to open the conversation about “sacramentalizing” your marriage through convalidation, and acquiring an annulment if necessary in order to do so.
But it is also a time to encourage the young people in your life— children, grandchildren, students, and friends—to be open to the call of God in their lives to priesthood or consecrated life. It is always necessary to have many voices assist in the discernment of a religious vocation. St. Benedict was blessed this past summer to have seminarian (Chris Ziegler) and to celebrate the First Mass of Father Michael DeSaye. We are also a parish still fortunate to have not only a resident pastor but also a parochial vicar. This situation is become less and less common in our church today.
Marriage: Most people are called to marriage—a vowed union of a man and woman who promise to love their spouses and to joyfully welcome children.
Priesthood: Priests bring Jesus to people and people to Jesus through preaching and the sacraments. They are ordained to devote their lives to serve the people of God.
Consecrated Life as Brothers, Sisters, Nuns: Both men and women make vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience when they commit to live a life of simplicity and community in any of the many religious orders and congregations that have grown-up in the church over the centuries.
Permanent Diaconate: Men, usually married, respond to the call of the Lord to serve the church in a ministry of charity, sharing more fully in the life of the priests, as they assist at Mass, preach the Word, and celebrate the sacraments with the community.
Discovering and living all vocations these days is difficult. Fewer people are marrying, and, while the divorce rate has fallen, living a marital commitment is not easy. We are facing scandal and crisis as a church in the priesthood, making it more challenging for men to contemplate that vocation more deeply. The lack of visible religious – especially the Sisters – makes that vocation almost invisible today.
All of us need to pray for, and encourage one another in discerning and living the vocation that God is calling us to live in our lives as we walk together – hand-in-hand – to eternal life.