Vocations and Formation
Dear Young People, As Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, he saw two boats moored by the side of the lake. He got into the one belonging to Simon and asked him to “put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” (LK 5:4) After Simon objected, he acquiesced to Our Lord’s request and caught an amazing number of fish. Simon’s reaction then turns in on his own unworthiness and Our Lord reassures him, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.” With that Simon, and the brothers, James and John, brought their boats to land, left everything, and became His followers. Jesus has never stopped calling men and women to be His disciples. Before He formed us in the womb He knew us. Jesus calls us to a holy life and we live out our baptismal dignity in the single life, married life, or the priesthood and religious life. How is the Lord calling you? Do not be afraid to respond! Please be assured of my prayers as you discern God’s call. Make use of our website and feel free to contact me or members of our vocation team to help as you listen to Our Lord’s call. Peace! --Most Reverend Paul D. Sirba, Bishop of Duluth DULUTH DIOCESAN PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS Almighty Father, we beg You for an increase in religious vocations and holy marriages in our diocese. Help us to be generous in our response to Your call. Choose from our homes those who are needed for Your work and strengthen us with the courage to say “yes” and to follow You. Help us as a diocese, as a parish, as families to encourage and foster vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, and consecrated life. We commend our prayers to our patroness, Mary, Queen of the Rosary, and ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen - Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr
Signs of a Religious Vocation 1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm. 2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God. 3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements. 4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love of Jesus Christ. 5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation. 6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation. 7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward. 8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation. 9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners. 10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not have a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state. ================================================================== MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS 11 MAY 2014 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Theme: Vocations, Witness to the Truth
1. The Gospel says that “Jesus went about all the cities and villages... When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’” (Mt 9:35-38). These words surprise us, because we all know that it is necessary first to plow, sow and cultivate to then, in due time, reap an abundant harvest. Jesus says instead that “the harvest is plentiful”. But who did the work to bring about these results? There is only one answer: God. Clearly the field of which Jesus is speaking is humanity, us. And the efficacious action which has borne “much fruit” is the grace of God, that is, communion with Him (cf. Jn 15:5). The prayer which Jesus asks of the Church therefore concerns the need to increase the number of those who serve his Kingdom. Saint Paul, who was one of “God’s fellow workers”, tirelessly dedicated himself to the cause of the Gospel and the Church. The Apostle, with the awareness of one who has personally experienced how mysterious God’s saving will is, and how the initiative of grace is the origin of every vocation, reminds the Christians of Corinth: “You are God’s field” (1 Cor 3:9). That is why wonder first arises in our hearts over the plentiful harvest which God alone can bestow; then gratitude for a love that always goes before us; and lastly, adoration for the work that he has accomplished, which requires our free consent in acting with him and for him. 2. Many times we have prayed with the words of the Psalmist: “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (Ps 100:3); or: “The Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession” (Ps 135:4). And yet we are God’s “possession” not in the sense of a possession that renders us slaves, but rather of a strong bond that unites us to God and one another, in accord with a covenant that is eternal, “for his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 136). In the account of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah, for example, God reminds us that he continually watches over each one of us in order that his word may be accomplished in us. The image is of an almond branch which is the first tree to flower, thus announcing life’s rebirth in the springtime (cf Jer 1:11-12). Everything comes from him and is his gift: the world, life, death, the present, the future, but — the Apostle assures us — “you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:23). Hence the way of belonging to God is explained: it comes about through a unique and personal relationship with Jesus, which Baptism confers on us from the beginning of our rebirth to new life. It is Christ, therefore, who continually summons us by his word to place our trust in him, loving him “with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength” (Mk 12:33). Therefore every vocation, even within the variety of paths, always requires an exodus from oneself in order to centre one’s life on Christ and on his Gospel. Both in married life and in the forms of religious consecration, as well as in priestly life, we must surmount the ways of thinking and acting that do not conform to the will of God. It is an “exodus that leads us on a journey of adoration of the Lord and of service to him in our brothers and sisters” (Address to the International Union of Superiors General, 8 May 2013). Therefore, we are all called to adore Christ in our hearts (1 Pet 3:15) in order to allow ourselves to be touched by the impulse of grace contained in the seed of the word, which must grow in us and be transformed into concrete service to our neighbour. We need not be afraid: God follows the work of his hands with passion and skill in every phase of life. He never abandons us! He has the fulfilment of his plan for us at heart, and yet he wishes to achieve it with our consent and cooperation. 3. Today too, Jesus lives and walks along the paths of ordinary life in order to draw near to everyone, beginning with the least, and to heal us of our infirmities and illnesses. I turn now to those who are well disposed to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what their own vocation is. I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and to allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which “are spirit and life” (Jn 6:62). Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). It will help you to participate in a communal journey that is able to release the best energies in you and around you. A vocation is a fruit that ripens in a well cultivated field of mutual love that becomes mutual service, in the context of an authentic ecclesial life. No vocation is born of itself or lives for itself. A vocation flows from the heart of God and blossoms in the good soil of faithful people, in the experience of fraternal love. Did not Jesus say: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35)? 4. Dear brothers and sisters, this “high standard of ordinary Christian living” (cf John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31) means sometimes going against the tide and also encountering obstacles, outside ourselves and within ourselves. Jesus himself warns us: the good seed of God’s word is often snatched away by the Evil one, blocked by tribulation, and choked by worldly cares and temptation (cf Mt 13:19-22). All of these difficulties could discourage us, making us fall back on seemingly more comfortable paths. However, the true joy of those who are called consists in believing and experiencing that he, the Lord, is faithful, and that with him we can walk, be disciples and witnesses of God’s love, open our hearts to great ideals, to great things. “We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for small things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals!” (Homily at Holy Mass and the Conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation, 28 April 2013). I ask you bishops, priests, religious, Christian communities and families to orient vocational pastoral planning in this direction, by accompanying young people on pathways of holiness which, because they are personal, “call for a genuine ‘training in holiness’ capable of being adapted to every person’s need. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church” (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 31). |
Contact: Diocese of Duluth
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