Vocations Sunday
The Church has chosen this Sunday, also known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ to pray for vocations to the priesthood. It is, therefore, also ‘Vocations Sunday’. Our Lord in today’s Gospel calls Himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:14) because He wants to take care of us all personally. “The sheep that belong to Me listen to My voice: I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life” (John 10:27-28). The priest is an ‘alter Christus’ or ‘another Christ’, whose task it is to bring those entrusted to his care to eternal salvation, to save their souls. Today, as we all know, there is a grave lack of priests, so this affects all of us, whether we like it or not. More and more parishes are having to be amalgamated, and in some areas one priest can be taking care of up to four churches. Daily Mass in a parish church is quickly becoming a thing of the past. So what do we do?
Our Lord told us what to do. “Pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He send labourers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). In other words we have to pray for vocations and we have to pray very hard. Where there are vocations, it is a sign that there has been much prayer. Where there are no vocations it is a sign that prayer has been lacking, or at the very least, there has not been enough of it. We can do all the promotion and advertising imaginable, but without prayer there will be no fruits. St Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “The most important hours for my communities are the four hours of community prayers each day.” And the result is plentiful vocations.
Today we hear frequently that the seminaries are empty with many closing, and people even wonder if God has stopped calling men to the priesthood because He wants the laity to take over. No! The Catholic Church needs priests to function, otherwise it would not be the Church Christ founded. A Church without priests would be Protestant. Our Lord founded a hierarchical Church with bishops and priests to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, to administer the Sacraments and to govern. God keeps calling people to this life, but do people hear Him? There needs to be a fervent Catholic environment in families, and the young must be taught not to deny God whatever He asks for. We must pray continuously for vocations from our own homes and families, and that those God is calling will hear that call.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century in this country, a woman spent an hour a day in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament that just one of her ten children would consecrate themselves to God. After some years, nine of them became consecrated religious and the tenth became the famous Victorian Cardinal, Nicholas Wiseman (1802-65).
St John Vianney (1786-1859) the Patron Saint of Parish Priests wrote, “Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put Him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of JESUS Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die (as a result of sin) who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest … After God, the priest is everything! Only in Heaven will he fully realise what he is.”
The Church and the world needs priests and we need holy and faithful priests! Pray for your priests that we live up to our calling. Could God be calling someone reading this to the priesthood or religious life? Do you know somebody who might make a good priest? Pray for them. Perhaps even suggest it to them. We can all be vocation promoters by helping those around you to live a Christian life. A priestly vocation, and therefore the salvation of many souls, could be depending on you!
Fr Paul Gillham, IC
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