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For what purpose have you come?

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Occasion: World Day for Consecrated Life THE BOOK OF JOB presents work as futile and the worker as a pawn, a “slave” consigned to grueling days of hard and meaningless toil and restless nights of troubled sleep. Saint Paul, on the other hand, presents an enthusiastic vision of work as pouring oneself out for the well-being of others. He views his ministry as a sacred trust. He freely accepts his calling, and thus his work has a noble purpose. Jesus, too has a purpose. When, after a day of preaching, teaching, and healing, Jesus went off in the early morning to pray, Simon and those who were with him pursued him. They recognized that Jesus had been a big hit. “Everyone is looking for you,” they said. They wanted to go back with Jesus to bask in the glory of his newfound celebrity status. But Jesus, having communed with the Father in prayer, understood he was called to go forth to all the nearby villages to preach. “For this purpose have I come,” he said. And he “went forth preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.” That day, the disciples learned a lesson about the importance of listening to and following God’s call within. AS THE CHURCH celebrates World Day for Consecrated Life, it is a day to thank God for calling women and men to vowed life in service to the church and the world. And it is a day to recognize and pray for all those men and women who, like Saint Paul, have listened for and responded to that call with the gift of their lives. And I would add that it is also a day for every Catholic to recognize the importance of encouraging others, particularly young people, to consider religious life as a priest, sister, nun, or brother. Research shows that the top vocation influencers are parents and grandparents. A key factor in those who have entered religious life is having received an invitation to seriously consider a call to religious life from a pastor, mentor, family member, or friend. As the church celebrates World Day for Consecrated Life, it is a day to thank God for calling women and men to vowed life in service to the church and the world. And yet too few talk about religious life, let alone encourage young people to consider the option seriously. In fact, many young people who do voice interest in pursuing that life path are met with derisive comments that call into question their character or readiness to face life—when in fact they are conscientiously asking one of the hardest questions anyone can face. Perhaps the biggest deterrent is that we live in a culture that avoids deep discernment in general. Each of us has a vocation. We are all called to listen deeply within to discover the dream God has for us, the dream God planted in our hearts. At the turn of the new millennium in 2000, the North American Bishops called for all believers to help create a “culture of vocation,” which means encouraging widespread practice of listening, imagining, and discerning what God is calling each of us to—today, this year, this lifetime. Here are the five steps they suggested every Catholic can take. 1. Pray (for your own conversion and to grow in holiness) 2. Evangelize (Share your faith in word and, especially, deed.) 3. Experience (Invite young people to worship, community, service, and witness.) 4. Mentor (Accompany and share wisdom and knowledge with young people in the process of discernment.) 5. Invite (Be direct! Say, “Have you ever thought of religious life? From what I see of you, I believe you would make a fine priest, sister, brother.”) Ultimately, discovering one’s calling, God’s dream for us, is all about relationships. It requires a close, authentic, and healthy relationship with the Lord, with ourselves, and with others who have chosen the path of religious life. It involves listening to others who take seriously their own discernment process, and serving people in need who will always present to us the face of Christ. The choice of what we do with the gift of our life is of the utmost importance. Those who embrace this question honestly and freely are far more likely to avoid the plight of Job who experienced life as futile and empty, because they know, deep down, that God has planted within them a calling that is a sacred trust. Like Jesus, our hours and days and years can be guided by knowing “for what purpose I have come.” Reprinted with permission from VISION VocationNetwork.org

Authors Tom McGrath

Special occasion vocations world day for consecrated life
Quotes

22 Jan 2017 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

You will know your vocation by the joy that it brings you. —Dorothy Day The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge . . . is itself a frightful despotism. –George Washington

dorothy day Vocation george washington
Vocation: Is invitation enough?

Short essays about observed trends in Roman Catholic life - Pastoral trends

Vocation to priesthood and religious life depends on personal invitation. Studies confirm this. When fewer priests report inviting young men to consider priesthood, for example, the number entering seminary seems to decline. However, there is another, perhaps even more important factor. Vocations depend on inspiring example and personal witness more than simple invitation. This may seem obvious, but it is often overlooked. Young people are looking for qualities of dedication and approachability, a sense of peace and contentment more so than simply being asked to consider a life as a priest, sister, or brother—or as a lay ecclesial minister, or any particular life calling, for that matter. This may suggest that the most we can do to lift up vocations in the next generation, whether vocations to religious life and church service or simply as faithful followers of Christ, will be in how effectively we witness to who we are, rather than what we do. And this conclusion comes out in studies of the clergy. When priests are asked to rate themselves in terms of what they do and the pressures they feel, the result often shows low morale or division. When they are asked the same question in terms of priesthood or their sense of themselves, the result is typically one of high satisfaction and contentment. The question for vocation and for building a church of high commitment may well be in how we can effectively integrate the two.

Authors Bryan Froehle

vocations example

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Exploring the word

07 May 2017 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle A

Sometimes it feels like a huge sign ought to be posted in every window around the world: “LEADERS WANTED.” Such a sign might hang in businesses and city halls, in schools and in churches—everywhere leadership is needed and its absence keenly felt. But leadership alone can lead to dangers worse than mere chaos. Tyrants and zealots are leaders too, but they may lead their followers down a corridor of doom. On Good Shepherd Sunday, we pray for vocations around the world. We definitely need to pray for religious leadership in our church; wise, holy, compassionate ministers of God’s grace are in ever-shorter supply. So please pray that folks sitting in the pews today will hear this call and generously answer it. But let’s not stop there. Let’s also pray for wise, holy leaders in other Christian communities; for truly prophetic rabbis in every synagogue; for imams who listen carefully for the benevolent voice of Heaven; and for discerning leaders in all the world’s religions who speak in the name of the Sacred. May all who claim to speak for God be possessed by the Spirit of holiness! May we all be guided on the way of peace! Jesus is the gate, and the gatekeeper, who opens the road to peace. He describes the route to peace with the challenging term “justice.” The just gate is a narrow passage, we’re told; few use this entrance. So we pray again for just leaders, especially in businesses and governments, who will fearlessly take the route of justice and serve the common good in every decision. Many say our nation is more divided than ever. This can’t be true. Once citizens were divided about their loyalty to Britain. Some former colonists retained fierce ties to England even after the United States was born. During the Civil War, fractures in this country drove us to fight a war against each other. Regionalism still witnesses to the scars a century and a half later. New divisions are styled from the color wheel of politics: red versus blue. A partisan distinction, but of course the rift is never as clean or clear as it’s painted. The truth is that citizens often disagree about very important things—democracy says we can. People of every nation have been divided in conviction, as even scripture bears witness. Like Peter’s fellow Jews in Acts, we feel the contemporary rift piercing our hearts, questioning our unity, inviting us to have new conversations. But it’s no time to despair. Our way through is open to us. We need only to enter the just gate of the one Shepherd we can trust. Related scripture links Role of repentance: Lev. 5:5; Isa. 1:16-18; Ezek. 36:25-26; Mark 1:14; Luke 5:32 Radical nature of Baptism: Rom. 6:3-11 No longer I who live: Gal. 2:20 Parthians, Medes, etc.: Acts 2:7-11 Shepherd imagery: Jer. 23:1-4; Mic. 5:3; Ezek. 34:11-24; Matt. 18:12-14, 25:31-46; Luke 15:3-7; 1 Pet. 5:1-4 Catechism links Shepherd: CCC 754; 764; 2158 Repentance in Acts: CCC 363; 1226; 1287; 1427-1429; 1433

Authors Alice Camille

vocations religious leadership leaders divisions the gate

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Quotes

14 Jan 2018 - 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 Savior 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

sin Vocation listening

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Homilist’s overview of April

01 Apr 2018 - Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Sunday), Cycle B

Easter season begins day one of this month, starting with an octave that ends coincidentally with the Easter of our Orthodox friends on Divine Mercy Sunday (8). Good Shepherd Sunday (22) is World Day of Prayer for Vocations. See www.worlddayofprayerforvocations.com for bulletin art, inserts, and ideas. Not to step on vocations, but the 22nd is also Earth Day, considered the largest secular observance in the world with more than a billion participants. Future church leaders will also be environmentalists, according to Laudato sí. This joyful season is normally an invitation for parish staffs to “chill” after a laborious Lent and Holy Week. Yet April, aka, Keep America Beautiful Month, is variously dedicated to gardens and animals. It boasts National Farm Animals Day (10), Pet Day (11), Love a Tree Day (16), Arbor Day (for actually planting trees) (27), and Water a Flower Day (for the faint of ambition) (30). Can’t we baptize all this fervor into a parish study of Laudato sí—a spectacularly readable document? Taxes are due this month (17). So are obligations to our community with World Health Day (7)—bringing annual focus on specific physical or mental health issues (see WHO website). We acknowledge Administrative Professionals (25) and Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work (26) to inspire and mentor them. At the top of May, we honor International Workers on the feast of Joseph the Worker (1). Harry Truman invited us to observe a National Day of Prayer (3). Cinco de Mayo (5) celebrates Mexican culture. Who says Easter season has to be sedate?

World Day of Prayer for Vocations laudato si

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Homily stories

26 Jan 2020 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

The first vocation invitation or call that I received was from my father. It was my junior year in college and I had yet to declare a major. My parents and I were engaged in a tense conversation in our living room. Although my dad did not suggest I follow him into the dental profession, neither did he believe that I went to college to find a husband. He was clearly worried that I did not know what I wanted to do with my life and he counseled that I had to be able to support myself. I remember him saying, with some frustration, “So teach.” That was the call I needed at that time. So I taught history and theology for five years at a Catholic high school in Boston. Though I loved my students, in time I noticed a persistent inner voice asking: Is there something else I am to do? After more time, I sent for a theology graduate school catalog. I looked at it, felt intimidated and shoved it in desk drawer. Several months later, while driving in the car and thinking about life, I announced aloud—I am going to graduate school. I received an assistantship that not only paid for graduate school but provided a stipend. And for the first time in my life, I loved studying and I knew I wanted to pursue ministry in some way. Though Jesus did not appear on a seashore, he called me in that moment in the car. And I’d venture to say he is calling every one of us in some way every day.

Authors Peggy Ekerdt

Teaching call Vocation calling

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Resources for our times

New Take Five Bulletin Inserts | Vocation Awareness | Synodal | Racial healing

Year of Prayer Vocation resources
Exploring the word

25 Apr 2021 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

Years back I spoke to a youth group about the church. I offered them the opportunity to “vote” on the models of the church as described by Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles. I outlined each one and had the students consider the ideas privately before pledging their allegiances. The majority of the takers went for the Mystical Model, which is not unexpected. Young people are spiritually hungry, eager for God encounters, idealistic in their beliefs, and far purer in their hearts than those of us who’ve spent a few more decades on this planet. The next largest group adopted the Sacramental Model, because community and friendship are appealing at an age when friends frankly seem more important than family. The usual percentage of do-gooders latched onto the Servant Model, insisting that doing what Jesus did is more important than talking about it. Once more, it’s the idealism in teenagers that fires them up for service and compassion more so than jaded and cynical adults. A small but fierce trio of young men remained staunchly dedicated to the Institutional Model, insisting that rules are rules, and somebody needs to be in charge of the show. But not one of the 70 adolescents in the room was willing to commit to the Herald Model. “Doesn’t anyone think that church is ultimately about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to the whole world?” I asked. A few of the Servant adherents stirred uneasily, but no one was willing to relinquish his or her current position in favor of becoming the messenger. World Day of Prayer for Vocations If there is a vocation crisis, perhaps this little exercise illustrates one source of the trouble. One can seek God, share community, serve others, and run the shop handily without a personal sense of mission. The call to proclamation, to bring the word of God to the people of God, is a highly specific and encompassing occupation. As every preacher knows, it’s not exactly something you can do as a hobby on the side. Proclamation is not merely an activity but also a lifestyle. You become the word you proclaim—or you become the worst form of hypocrite. The heralds of the church—priests, preachers, missionaries, catechists, religion teachers, sponsors, and reconcilers—have eaten the prophet’s scroll and tasted its sweetness. Many of them have stood with Jesus on the mountain and heard him say, “Go, and make disciples . . . .” And they take these words to heart. They have understood that God’s story and their own personal stories are one. They feel a burning commission to help others connect the dots between salvation history and salvation present, so that Easter morning may dawn again in a world tending toward death. If it came down to a matter of percentages, I suppose we would do well to have more people excited about personal communion with God, fellowship with others, and service toward the disadvantaged. But we do need a handful of people to turn on the lights and keep order, and a few heralds for every gathering of the faithful. When no one in the room wants to take responsibility to tell the story, however, we are in real trouble. The place for leadership Vocations have taken a hard hit in the present generation for another obvious reason, of course. Catholics have undergone a crisis of confidence in their leadership. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord,” the Psalmist assures us, “than to trust in people.” Even in princes, he adds. Granted, trusting in people, royal or otherwise, is a long-term losing proposition. As my high-school religion teacher used to lament, “We are human, therefore limited, therefore imperfect, therefore disappointing to ourselves and others.” High-profile people on the global scene are just as likely to disappoint us as the folks next door under these conditions, because they are no less human. Putting our ultimate hopes in mortality, ours or anyone’s, is just a disaster waiting to happen. So as the money tells us, “In God we trust.” Divinity does not disappoint because in God there are no limits or imperfections, no unexpected shortages, and no personal crises to navigate. As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Forever is a tremendous forecast from the perspective of our mortality. So why not trust in God and leave it at that? Precisely because we are mortals, that’s why. Even as we place our ultimate confidence in God, we look for human leaders to marshal the communal effort. These leaders do not merit our highest allegiances but they do require our cooperation and support. Whether they are civic, religious, or global leaders, they cannot lead unless the rest of us are prepared to follow. On this Sunday when we pray for vocations worldwide, we’re not asking for miracles, just capable leadership. Applying the word Good shepherds Jesus the shepherd is our model, the one who’s not for hire and can’t be bought. Yet we couldn’t put a price on what he offers, salvation at the cost of his own life. This rejected cornerstone is the keystone of the whole structure. He is the reason “we are all God’s children now,” as amazing a statement as that is. We don’t have to find shepherds to do what Jesus did—Jesus accomplishes all the saving we need. All we require are shepherds surrendered to Jesus himself, and to the task of bringing his gospel forward and outward to all the world. If we proclaim this gospel effectively, we won’t have any trouble raising the next crop of heralds. Related scripture links Jesus is the same: Heb. 13:8 Trusting in God: Ps. 32:10; 37:3; 40:4; 131:1-3; Prov. 3:5; 20:22; Isa. 26:4 Other shepherd images: Jer. 23:1-4; Mic. 5:3; Ezek. 34:11-24; Matt. 18:12-14; 25:31-46; Luke 15:1-7; 1 Pet. 5:1-4 Catechism links Good shepherd: CCC 551-553; 606; 609; 649; 753-754

Authors Alice Camille

World Day of Prayer for Vocations proclamation heralds of the church

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Exploring the word

08 May 2022 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle C

Among the most exciting aspects of the Christian story is how failure always leads to the greatest success. The last shall be first, the meek inherit the Earth, the cross morphs into the empty tomb, and the rejection of the gospel by the synagogue opens the doors to the Gentile mission in Asia Minor. This lose-win situation is repeated so many times it could be a useful mantra for the Christian life. Or as Saint Paul phrased it, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Most of us are pretty timid around the subject of failure. Maybe we fear the disappointment of parents or teachers who urged us so relentlessly to succeed. It could be peer pressure, keeping up with the Joneses, or the admiration in the eyes of our children that makes us determined to win, or at least to hide any and all losses along the way. But the truth is we do fail now and again. Marriages crumble despite good intentions. Well-meaning parents do wrong by their children regularly. People lose jobs, forfeit friendships, make bad financial decisions, or buy the wrong car. Some of us set out to move hearts with passionate homilies and end up boring the assembly silly. We don’t have to be afraid of failure. Christianity is our insurance policy against despair when it comes to human error. We believe in the God who brings new life to those who have died, who promises a new creation out of the rubble of the old one. So we screw up sometimes! And sometimes, indeed, our errors break many hearts besides our own. The grief and shame of these losses is real, but so is the promise that God does awfully good work with the broken pieces of human history. We may lose, but all is not lost. We hear his voice Today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday and also acknowledge the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. These two occasions fit together neatly: Shepherds lead, and among the vocations we pray for most fervently this day are for those who will lead us into the future as a church and as a global community. We pray for those who already exercise leadership, in spite of the times they will fail and have failed us—indeed, especially in the hour of their failures. We have seen what God can do with human losses, and so we must hold up the brokenness of our attempts to build a peaceful world, a just society, a holy church, and trust that God will consecrate our failures with divine wisdom. A community of hope will do this. A community surrendered to self-righteousness, cynicism, or despair will not. You and I might find it hard to discern a reason to hope, but we follow a Good Shepherd who has pledged not to let his sheep out of his hand. So long as we hear his voice, we cannot be lost, no matter how dark the moral jungle of our generation seems to be. Every week during the General Intercessions, I hear the folks of my community raise their voices in prayer for the world’s failures. First and foremost are the failures of the body that define our mortality: the cancers and heart attacks, the accidents and miscarriages, the addictions and depression. Next, people pray about the failure of relationships: the marriages that are in ruins, the children and grandchildren who seem lost to the church community and even to their own families. Prayers about the failures of government and the economy, social policy and worldly institutions come next. It might sound like a litany of despair to anyone who does not understand what prayer is, but in fact it is the ultimate act of faith and hope. Faithful people lift up this failed world in confidence that the Good Shepherd has each broken bit of human history in hand and is even now gathering up the fragments so that nothing may be wasted. Praying for vocations “The Father and I are one,” Jesus declares in John’s gospel. This fundamental unity is without flaw, and the nature of the bond between Jesus and his Father is the same indissoluble bond that Jesus shares with his church. When we pray for vocations, we aren’t simply praying for more priests and deacons, more sisters and brothers to fill gaps in church leadership. We are praying for an ever-greater awareness of this absolute bond between Jesus and us. We are not simply near Christ, we are in Christ. We are the Body of Christ, and there can be no distinction between the love of Christ and the love that you and I share with one another and the whole world. Vocation at its root meaning is about discerning our call. The Sunday assembly answers one call, to be Christ for others. And yes, we respond in many and varied ways, some of us to ordained and vowed service within the church, thanks be to God. And some to professional lay ministries within the parish community or within the wider net of Christian works of ministry: teaching and healing, comforting and caring for those in need, mentoring the young and remembering the forgotten. All the baptized answer the same call: to bring the presence of Christ into the world. When we pray for vocations, we are interceding for a greater perception of our own daily opportunities to be good shepherds right where we live and work. Applying the word The Lamb is at the center John’s great vision of the multitude too often gets sidetracked into meaningless discussions concerning the identity of those folks who “survived the time of great distress.” The number 144,000 appears twice in Revelation: once to describe the saved of Israel, and once to count the followers of the Lamb. “12x12x1000” could therefore be symbolic shorthand for “All Israel, all Gentiles, no kidding.” The number 144,000 implies the exact opposite of an exclusive elite. It holds the door open for everybody to join the multitude. The “great distress” is a good description of our time in this failed and broken world. And don’t those who unite themselves to the Body of Christ most perfectly overcome the struggles of this world so beautifully? Our common vocation is to join that multitude, by overcoming the distress of this world in every act of love, heart by heart and moment by moment. If we are good shepherds now, caring for those who hunger and thirst for nourishment, knowledge, healing, and justice, when we stand before God we will not see hunger or thirst again. Related scripture links Weakness is strength: 2 Cor. 12:1-10 Gathering up the fragments: John 6:12 The Father and I are one: John 18:21-23 144,000: Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-5 Catechism links Vocation: CCC 1-3; 542-546; 825; 836; 1694-1696; 1699

Authors Alice Camille

World Day of Prayer for Vocations failures faith and hope

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