8th Grade Vocations Mass
By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 4/181/02)
Everyone here has had the experience of being invited — for example, to a birthday party, or to join a team or to become someone’s friend. Inviting: that’s what we see and hear Jesus doing in the scene just described for us in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus is inviting the two disciples to come and stay with Him. "What are you looking for?" He asked them. They replied, "Rabbi, (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying?" "Come and you will see," Jesus answered. So they went and saw where he was staying and they stayed with Him that day. The two disciples said "yes" to Jesus’ invitation.
Jesus is repeating in our midst today what He said and did centuries ago in the Gospel scene. Right now, He is inviting us to be His followers, to be His disciples, to come and stay with Him. It is not the first time He has invited us; that was at Baptism. Since then, He keeps repeating His invitation. He is doing that again — right now — here!
Yes, Jesus keeps inviting us to know Him better and to love Him more — to come closer to Him. He keeps inviting us to invite others as well to know and to love Him. Getting to know and to love Jesus and then bringing others to know and love Him: this is the mission of the Church — we call it "evangelization." Every member of the Church is chosen and called to know and to love Jesus and to bring others to Him. That is why you are enrolled in a Catholic school. Besides learning about all those things which people in the public schools learn, you also learn about Jesus and His teachings, you learn about the saints and how you can bring the Gospel and its values to the way you live at home and in your neighborhood. Yes, by going to a Catholic school, you do know Jesus, you do meet Him in His Word and in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. I am sure that you want other people who do not know Jesus to begin to know Him and then to love Him. We can say this in another way: every person is called to be holy, to live in close union with God. Our Holy Father reminds us: "The main task of the Church is to lead Christians along the path of holiness…." (2002 Message for the 39th tWorld Day of Prayer for Vocations, no. 1).
So, God invites each of us to be holy, to become evangelized and to invite others to become holy, to evangelize. Again, Pope John Paul II tells us: "Every vocation in the Church is at the service of holiness. Some, however, such as the vocations to ordained ministry and consecrated life are at the service of holiness in a thoroughly unique manner. It is to these vocations that I invite everyone to pay particular attention today, by intensifying their prayers for them" (Ibid. no. 2).
We have gathered here today to pray that those among us, meaning in particular you who are eighth-graders in Catholic schools across our diocese, will hear Jesus’ invitation to you to serve the Church as priests and religious, because priests and religious invite people to become holy and nurture them in holiness in unique ways. Priests make Jesus uniquely present by preaching, celebrating the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation, and leading God’s People in their faith. Our Holy Father reminds us that priests "are ‘in different times and places the permanent guarantee of the sacramental presence of Christ, the Redeemer’ (Christifideles Laici, 55) and… in their preaching of the Word and celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, [they] guide Christian communities on the paths of eternal life" (2001 Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, no. 3).
Religious sisters and religious brothers make present and visible among God’s People Christ in His roles as Teacher, Healer and Reconciler. Again, our Holy Father tells us: "We need men and women who, by their witness, ‘remind the baptized of the fundamental values of the Gospel’" (Ibid.).
God chooses people for these needed and special roles of service to holiness: the priesthood and the religious life. Just a little while ago, you heard how God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet. "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." Jeremiah tried to protest by saying he was too young, but God said to him: "Say not, ‘I am too young.’ To whoever I send you, you shall go … Have no fear before them."
God is choosing some of you right here to be priests or religious. Jesus is inviting some of you right here to come and see where He lives, to stay with Him as you serve the rest of the people in the Church as a priest, a brother, a sister. I do not know whom among you God is inviting, but if you ask Him, He will let you know. Every day, in your own words, say to Jesus: "Dear Lord, help me to discover the plan God has for my life and, when I do know it, let me say ‘Yes!’" If the Lord is calling you to be a priest, a brother, or a sister, say "Yes!" with all your heart. Too many people do not yet know Jesus; too many people have never met Jesus. Too many people do not love Jesus! Say "yes" to God’s invitation and change that! Say "yes" and let His invitation change your life!
Copyright ©2002 Arlington Catholic Herald. All rights reserved.
Return to back issues
Return to main
page