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Exploring the word

10 Jan 2010 - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle C

Who are the future leaders in your community? Invite those younger than 20 to stand in your assembly. These children and teenagers are the hope of the future. They may not seem like leaders at the moment, with roving eyes, poor posture, questionable taste in fashion, and a universal reluctance to be scrutinized by grown-ups. But from groups very much like these will come government leaders, business owners and professors, lawmakers and mentors—and lots and lots of parents. For the sake of the church we love we hope this group includes souls brave enough and generous enough to be our future religious leaders. Today begins Vocation Awareness Week. In this Year of the Priest, it's especially appropriate to consider the call to religious leadership. Isaiah foretold the coming of a "light for the nations" who would bring justice, clarity, freedom, and hope to the world. The church's mission is to continue raising up that light, to summon nations to justice, to open the eyes of those blinded by immediate benefit, to liberate those oppressed by poverty or prejudice, and to make hope real for those who live in despair. But the church isn't an organization a half a world away. The church is right here. It fulfills its mission if you and I fulfill ours. There's no one else to appeal to, nowhere else to pass the buck. Who will be the teachers, leaders, truth-tellers if we are not? Who will answer the call inherent in our baptism if not you and me? The anointed servant Isaiah describes is no fanatic, not a fellow shouting Bible verses on the street or causing revolutions in the name of God. Isaiah's servant is a gentle person who makes justice real by responding to the Spirit of God that lives in him, day by day. You and I are called, by our own anointing, to do the same. In the time of John the Baptist people fervently hoped that he was the one they'd been waiting for: the Christ of God, the liberator and light-bearer. John was a revolutionary—which is to say, the sort of savior you'd expect. Here's a man who can change things! Jesus by contrast was something of a disappointment. A meek and gentle Lord who would go to the cross was the wrong kind of leader for the change most people wanted to see. Yet Jesus "pleased" God. Jesus was precisely the Christ the world needed, though he seemed all wrong for the part. When we look at the next generation of leaders, do we automatically eliminate some by our own narrow standards? Those who will carry the light forward are already among us. Related scripture links God in the word: John 1:1, 14; John 15:7; Heb. 4:12 Prepare the way of the Lord: Mark 1:3; Matt. 3:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23 Gift of the Spirit: John 14:15-18, 26; Acts 2:1-11 Are not our hearts burning?: Luke 24:32

Authors Alice Camille

leader national vocation awareness week year of the priest church mission

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Exploring the word

25 Apr 2010 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

So let's talk frankly about the vocation crisis. We all know why we're having this problem, though public rhetoric imparts the blame to this group or that one. Some folks fault the ambition of Catholic parents, who push their children to pursue careers studded with financial incentives and material success. Others blame generations of church leaders, both clergy and religious, who abused their authority, mailed in their performances, and offered a poverty of reasons to emulate them. Traditionalists argue that the secularization of the church has led to faint feelings among the faithful toward religion in general and the Holy Eucharist in particular. Progressives say clinging to old formulas that limit who might be eligible for leadership is to blame. And a whole bunch of people just shrug and admit that society around us is living so high on the hog, why should anyone surrender all the luscious possibilities in favor of something so self-abnegating as celibate service? We can blame parents, bishops, priests and nuns, Vatican II (for changing things) or its backlash (for not changing them enough), or modern culture altogether. These factors definitely contribute to a decrease in fervor for a career in the church. But the main reason our leadership is imperiled is simpler: Catholic men and women have been choosing other directions for their lives. Institutionally speaking, we want them to want "us," to join our mission and our vision. But the vast majority of Catholics are saying no-thank-you to that. Is it our job, as church leaders, to persuade others to become like us? Or is our mandate to empower Christians to engage and fulfill their Christianity? It might make the most sense to lead our communities to understand and embrace their identity in the mystical Body of Christ. If some are sincerely called to be preachers, teachers, administrators, and apostles, the Holy Spirit can be trusted to sort that out. But if present leaders do not lead their assemblies to cherish the baptismal vocation and its implications, it would be awkward, even dangerous, to prompt these same un-evangelized members to become our future leaders. Un-evangelized leadership, it might be argued, is yet another reason how we got into this mess to begin with. The mission of the church is the same for 2,000 years: proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Good shepherds know that and fearlessly do it. Equipping our assemblies to know who they are "in Christ" will assist them in whatever these good Catholic men and women actually do choose as their life's direction. In Christ they will choose wisely. Apart from Christ, does it matter what they choose? Related scripture links Workers get the same wage: Matt. 20:1-16 Universal hope of salvation: Isa. 2:2-5, 40:5, 55:1-5, 56:3-8, 60:3, 66:18-21 The blood of the Lamb is enough: Isa. 53:4-12 Light to the Gentiles: Isa. 49:6 Catechism links Vocation: CCC 1-3; 542-546; 825; 836; 1694-1696; 1699

Authors Alice Camille

Vocation leaders Shepherd

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Homily stories

25 Apr 2010 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

You can frame stories around the following themes that occur in today’s readings: Jealousy (first reading): Recall and describe a time when jealousy kept you or someone else from appreciating one of God’s gifts. Self-protection (first reading): Those who are prominent or leaders will always be tempted to simply protect the status quo rather than open up to the Word of God. Surviving a time of great distress (second reading): There is a time of great distress in every passage toward spiritual growth. Tell a story about a time of distress that led to a new awakening of faith or understanding and how it led to deeper love of God. How might we hear the shepherd’s voice? (gospel): In others, in our conscience, in the example of holy men and women of our tradition, in prayer, in worship, from our children and other surprising places.

Vocation call Faith Leadership jealousy

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Homily stories

01 Mar 2009 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

My newest hero is my neighbor across the hall: a public high-school teacher thought of as funny, sensitive, but not all that deep. Brian was on the verge of getting engaged to a beautiful woman, a social worker with a genuine concern for the people she helped. But when they began talking about marriage and children, she was clear about her expectations. He would, of course, have to pursue a different career because they could never raise a family on a teacher’s salary. “How ‘bout law school?” she threw out as a possibility. Brian was taken aback, but he too was very clear: He wanted to be a high school teacher. It was his dream job, his “vocation,” to use his words. He watched his dad die early in a high-powered job that kept his family at a distance, and he didn’t want that for his kids. He also wanted to be there to help other kids. Wow, who knew? We all read him wrong, including his girlfriend. Since she couldn’t get past the money, the relationship ended. But for me, it was the beginning of an even more beautiful friendship. Here was a friend who could teach me about resisting temptation and staying on course—just like Jesus.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

teacher engage expectations Vocation friendship Temptation

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Exploring the word

25 Jan 2009 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

I’m not going to pretend that I know a thing about fishing. But I do know a thing or two about casting nets and being caught in them. And isn’t being caught how each of us discovers our vocation? And isn’t casting the net the most biblical understanding of the work of evangelization? Like many who discern a vocation in the ways of the church, I was caught in the big net early, at the age of seven. I didn’t have a name for the experience yet, but God and the things of God held my attention the way nothing else could. I think most people repeat that story about their vocations, whether their primary call is parenting, drawing, teaching, or big-rig operating. I know a very shy man who trained to be an interpreter and had a profound gift for languages. He didn’t find his true vocation, though, until he ran off and literally joined the circus. He went around the world in the spotlight as the ringmaster, shouting, “Lay-dees and gentlemen!” in 15 languages. For him, it was bliss. When we are caught up in the net of true vocation, we just know it. It’s not something that we choose so much as it chooses us. We don’t usually struggle in this net for very long. It’s almost like a bassinet, a safe environment where we are free to grow and love and learn. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to discern and surrender to vocation live a life that “clicks.” Even hardships don’t seem so hard when you are lifted up in this sacred net. But to receive our true vocation we have to surrender any false image of ourselves we may have picked up along the way. Simon and Andrew, James and John were simply fulfilling expectations at the shore of the sea. They were doing what their fathers did, what they were supposed to do according to their culture. When Jesus invited them to follow him, they had to drop their fishing nets to do it. That sounds easy; it probably wasn’t. They’d held those nets a long time. Their days were defined by them: casting them out, hauling them in, cleaning and mending them, to start again the next day and the next. Dropping those nets was really about dropping everything: security, the past, their old identities and life plans and goals. Jesus promised them other nets, bigger ones. So they went. God always casts the bigger net. That is how the evil city Nineveh was caught, and how the prophet Jonah himself was caught. In this gracious net you and I were gently caught. Isn’t love sometimes called “the tender trap”? Related scripture links Sign of Jonah: Matt. 12:38-42; 16:1-4; Luke 11:29-32 Prophets of doom: Nahum, Amos Conflict with Assyria: Zeph. 2:13-15; Jth. 1-2 Jonah’s psalm in praise of God’s deliverance: Jon. 2:3-10 Catechism links Vocation: CCC 1-3; 541-546; 823-828; 836; 1546-47 Discipleship: CCC 531-533; 551-553; 783-786; 1691-1696 Conversion: 821; 1423; 1426-1439; 1451-1454

Authors Alice Camille

fishing vocations jesus Jonah Simon James Andrew John

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Quotes

18 Jan 2009 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

John points to [Jesus] and says: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” [Jesus’] taking away sin is still going on, he is taking it away from every individual in the world, till sin be taken away from the whole world, and the Saviour deliver the kingdom prepared and completed to the Father. —Origen (182-251) Vocation doesn’t come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about . . . or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my expectations. —Parker Palmer In the year 2000, the Boston Globe reported, the number of adults being baptized as Catholics was up by up to 10 percent, and the number of Catholics baptized as infants but who received First Communion and were confirmed as adults rose at a slightly higher rate. The gospel today is full of titles: John’s disciples call Jesus Rabbi, a “teacher” or “master” who acted like a traditional rabbinic figure but also claimed special authority; Lamb of God: a reference to the sacrificial paschal lamb—the suffering servant of Isaiah 53:7, who “like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep before the shearers . . . was silent and opened not his mouth”—and perhaps to the Good Shepherd; and the Messiah: the Anointed One who came to save his people. We also hear of Peter as Cephas, the rock on whom the church will be built.

Vocation listening lamb of god

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Exploring the word

03 May 2009 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

Last November we citizens faced an important question together: Who should lead? It has a related, shadow question that gets asked more rarely: Who will follow? Although we ask the first question quite openly during an election year, it arises as well in the more immediate circles we inhabit. Who should lead: in families? In the work environment? In various committees within the parish or neighborhood? Even among friends caravaning to this or that event, someone has to get up front, and the rest have to agree to get in line behind. Otherwise, we don’t go anywhere together. We as church ask the same questions from our own membership each year on Good Shepherd Sunday, which is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. From among those gathered here this weekend we must ask: Who will lead the church into the future? Who will preach the gospel to the assembly that gathers tomorrow, and all our tomorrows? Who will be our teachers and prophets and healers, our administrators and music-makers and caregivers? If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a small army to run the average parish. We dedicate this one day each year to pray for church leaders: those whom we already have, and those we need for the future. If you love the church, pray for those who lead her. If you don’t like the way the church is headed, if you have disagreements with ecclesial decisions and pronouncements, then you may have to pray twice as hard! But more than that: You might consider that your dissatisfaction may itself be a call to service if not to leadership. The church doesn’t need yes-men and -women. It needs the kind of people prepared to follow the Word of God and to summon others to follow them in the ever-surprising way of new life. A lot of folks are content to criticize leadership in every context, whether it be in the family or at city hall, in Washington or the Vatican. But we all bear the responsibility of growing good leadership. We do it in the home and in schools, in parishes and, yes, on the campaign trail sometimes. People become good leaders based on their experiences, on what life teaches them in good times and in bad. Look into your heart on this Good Shepherd Sunday: Have you gained in wisdom? Do you have a light you’ve been tending under a bushel? Are you the leader we’ve been waiting for? Related scripture links Human wisdom vs. the power of God: 1 Cor. 2:3-5 The paradox of the Resurrection: 1 Cor. 15:42-44 The poverty that is rich: 2 Cor. 4:7-18, 8:9 The strength of the kingdom: 2 Cor. 10:3-5 In weakness, power reaches perfection: 2 Cor. 12:7b-10 Catechism links Good shepherd: CCC 551-553; 606; 609; 649; 753-754

Authors Alice Camille

Leadership followers world day or prayer for vocations

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Exploring the word

06 Nov 2016 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

How close to the Apocalypse are we this week? Considering that our national presidential election is mere days away, it may feel like we’re poised on the brink of a volcano. Whatever happens on Tuesday, two things remain the same. One is that every citizen of voting age has a moral obligation to vote thoughtfully and prayerfully. The other thing is that whoever our next president may be, we remain “one nation, under God, indivisible.” Our unity is our sacred trust as citizens of these United States. Another idea that helps us to back away from the apocalyptic edge is that National Vocation Awareness Week starts today. The American bishops initiated this week in 1976, but it was only shifted to the first week of November in 2014. It’s a fateful shift: As we consider who our future leaders should be in government, so too we encourage future leaders for our church. Pope Francis uses the term “special consecration” to describe the service of Christ that draws men and women to embrace the roles of priest, deacon, and religious. A consecrated life is the precise opposite of an inconsequential life. For those who feel their lives may be meandering without purpose or focus, a summons to deeply intentional living can be personally apocalyptic—but in a good way. The “rule of three” seems to apply when encouraging vocations: When someone hears from three sources that he or she seems right for such special consecration, this sounds the interior bell that invites further exploration. So don’t be shy about being one of those three voices for those who may be awaiting affirmation. Apocalyptic doings are on the menu as we creep closer to the end of the church year. We hear the brutal story of seven tortured sons and their equally valiant mother. Its symbolic meaning is more vital than its historical reliability: Seven sons represent the full complement of the future, all lost in a single day along with their mother. To sacrifice the whole family is to risk the earthly future. Only confidence in the God who transcends history is worth the risk. By contrast, the story posed to Jesus is nonsense. Seven dead husbands and a childless wife all die. The Sadducees focus on an absurdity: Whose wife is she in the afterlife? That Sadducees don’t believe in afterlife increases the superficiality of their inquiry. Jesus refocuses the matter to what’s consequential: When seven fruitless husbands and a childless woman die, hope remains because our God is a living God. Even when all hope seems lost, the future remains because the God of the living rescues us even beyond death. With God, we can weather anything, even the apocalyptic. Related scripture links Faith, hope, and love: 1 Cor. 13:13 Fruits of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-23 Corporal and spiritual works: Isa. 58:6-7; Matt. 25:31-46; Luke 3:11; 11:41; Heb. 13:3; James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17 Catechism links Marriage: CCC 1601-1658 Things that last: CCC 736; 1812-1832; 2447

Authors Alice Camille

apocalypse vote voting national vocation awareness week Consecrated life vocations

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Exploring the word

06 Nov 2016 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

How close to the Apocalypse are we this week? Considering that our national presidential election is mere days away, it may feel like we’re poised on the brink of a volcano. Whatever happens on Tuesday, two things remain the same. One is that every citizen of voting age has a moral obligation to vote thoughtfully and prayerfully. The other thing is that whoever our next president may be, we remain “one nation, under God, indivisible.” Our unity is our sacred trust as citizens of these United States. Another idea that helps us to back away from the apocalyptic edge is that National Vocation Awareness Week starts today. The American bishops initiated this week in 1976, but it was only shifted to the first week of November in 2014. It’s a fateful shift: As we consider who our future leaders should be in government, so too we encourage future leaders for our church. Pope Francis uses the term “special consecration” to describe the service of Christ that draws men and women to embrace the roles of priest, deacon, and religious. A consecrated life is the precise opposite of an inconsequential life. For those who feel their lives may be meandering without purpose or focus, a summons to deeply intentional living can be personally apocalyptic—but in a good way. The “rule of three” seems to apply when encouraging vocations: When someone hears from three sources that he or she seems right for such special consecration, this sounds the interior bell that invites further exploration. So don’t be shy about being one of those three voices for those who may be awaiting affirmation. Apocalyptic doings are on the menu as we creep closer to the end of the church year. We hear the brutal story of seven tortured sons and their equally valiant mother. Its symbolic meaning is more vital than its historical reliability: Seven sons represent the full complement of the future, all lost in a single day along with their mother. To sacrifice the whole family is to risk the earthly future. Only confidence in the God who transcends history is worth the risk. By contrast, the story posed to Jesus is nonsense. Seven dead husbands and a childless wife all die. The Sadducees focus on an absurdity: Whose wife is she in the afterlife? That Sadducees don’t believe in afterlife increases the superficiality of their inquiry. Jesus refocuses the matter to what’s consequential: When seven fruitless husbands and a childless woman die, hope remains because our God is a living God. Even when all hope seems lost, the future remains because the God of the living rescues us even beyond death. With God, we can weather anything, even the apocalyptic. Related scripture links Faith, hope, and love: 1 Cor. 13:13 Fruits of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-23 Corporal and spiritual works: Isa. 58:6-7; Matt. 25:31-46; Luke 3:11; 11:41; Heb. 13:3; James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17 Catechism links Marriage: CCC 1601-1658 Things that last: CCC 736; 1812-1832; 2447

Authors Alice Camille

apocalypse vote voting national vocation awareness week Consecrated life vocations

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Researchers roll back the stone on Jesus’ tomb

06 Nov 2016 - Preaching the News for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

The empty tomb is a big part of the story of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, themes that are central to this Sunday’s readings, which focus on Jesus as the "firstborn of the dead,” as the Gospel Alleluia says, quoting the Book of Revelation. In the innermost chamber of the site said to be the tomb of Jesus, a restoration team has peeled away a marble layer for the first time in centuries in an effort to reach what it believes is the original rock surface where Jesus' body was laid. Many historians had long believed that the original cave, identified a few centuries after Jesus' death as his tomb, was obliterated ages ago. But an archaeologist accompanying the restoration team said ground-penetrating radar tests determined that cave walls are in fact standing—at a height of six feet and connected to bedrock—behind the marbled panels of the chamber at the center of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. “What was found,” said National Geographic archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert, “is astonishing.” The work is part of a historic renovation project to reinforce and preserve the Edicule, the chamber housing the cave where Jesus is said to have been entombed and resurrected. It is the centerpiece of one of Christianity's oldest churches and one of its most important shrines. “I usually spend my time in Tut's tomb,” said Hiebert about the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's burial site, “but this is more important.” National Geographic is partnering with Greek restoration experts to document the restoration work. A 12th-century building sitting on fourth-century remains, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the only place where six Christian denominations practice their faith at the same site. The Edicule was last restored in 1810 following a fire, and is in need of reinforcement after years of exposure to humidity and candle smoke. A hulking iron cage built around the Edicule by British authorities in 1947 for support still stands but is not enough. Renovations at this holiest of spots require mutual agreement by the church's various custodians, and that is notoriously hard to secure. The denominations jealously guard different parts of the site and often object to even the slightest of changes. Last year, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after Israel's Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe. It prompted the Christian denominations to green light the repairs, which began in June. Pilgrims line up throughout the day for the chance to crouch in the Edicule's tiny room. They kneel before a white marble encasing, said to cover a surface hewn from the side of the limestone cave where Jesus' body was laid before his Resurrection. Church officials closed the Edicule to pilgrims beginning Wednesday evening, and workers used a pulley to slide open the marble slab in hopes of reaching the burial surface. Hiebert said the slab hadn't been removed since the year 1550. Underneath the marble was a layer of debris. By Thursday afternoon, workers had finished removing the debris, revealing something unexpected: another marble slab. Hiebert said he thinks the second slab, which is grey and features a small etching of a cross, dates to the 12th century. It is cracked down the middle, and underneath it is a whitish layer. "I don't believe . . . that is the original rock," Hiebert said. "We still have more to go." The main Christian communities that govern the church have allowed the work crew only 60 hours to excavate the inner sanctum, Hiebert said. Experts are working day and night to reach the tomb's core and to analyze it. "We will close the tomb after we document it," said Antonia Moropoulou, an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, which is supervising the renovation. The restoration team wants to tightly seal the core of the tomb before injecting parts of the shrine with mortar for reinforcement, so the material doesn't seep inside what is considered to be the holy rock. One part of the tomb will remain exposed. Experts on Thursday cut a rectangular window in one of the Edicule's marble walls, so pilgrims will be able to glimpse, for the first time, a part of the limestone wall thought to be the tomb of Jesus. David Grenier, secretary of a group that oversees Roman Catholic church properties in the Holy Land, stood with a few other Franciscan friars, watching the work crew in awe. “What happened here 2,000 years ago completely changed the history of the world,” he said. “To be able to dig, let’s say, to the rock where the body of Jesus was laid . . . it’s overwhelming joy.” Lessons drawn from the readings Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith because it demonstrates that there is no power greater than God’s love. Even death is transformed by that love. While archeological news is always exciting, the faith of Christians worldwide does not depend on the outcome of a scientific investigation, but rather on the lived reality of God’s love, present and active in our lives each day. Final thought in light of the news National Vocation Awareness Week begins this Sunday and carries through November 12. The great historical tradition of our 2,000-year-old church is part of what attracts young people to consider investing their lives in a pastoral vocation. Make sure young people in your care are aware of the great archeological treasures around the world that bear witness to the ancient and noble pedigree to which they belong. PREPARE THE WORD offers a selection of vocations homilies for your use.

jesus' tomb Edicule Church of the Holy Sepulchre national vocation awareness week tomb of christ burial site

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