2nd Sunday Vocations

 

Today’s readings are about God’s call and those who are called to follow Him. In the first reading, Samuel was sleeping in the temple, near the ark, which was the dwelling place of God, when he heard the voice of the Lord, call him by name. He awakens and thinking that Eli was calling him, he states, “Here I am.” After going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Eli responds stating, he did not call him, and tells him to go back to sleep. After three times, Eli realized, the Lord was calling Samuel, and so, he told him, the next time he hears his name, he is to respond stating, “Speak, Lord your servant is listening.”

The psalm also speaks of the Lord’s call. It states, “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.”

In the Gospel, Our Lord calls some of His disciples. After John the Baptist points to Jesus and states, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Two of John the Baptist’s disciples heard what he said, and began to follow Jesus. Later in that afternoon, Andrew, who was also one of John the Baptists disciples, found his brother, Peter and told him, he had found the Messiah and both began to follow Jesus that day as well.

Today’s message is about vocations. A vocation is a calling. The Lord calls many men and women to follow Him. Men are called to the priesthood and/or religious life, as monks, friars or hermits. And women are called to be religious sisters or nuns.

God uses different means to call men and women. For example, when St. Francis of Assisi was praying in a run down abandoned church called San Damiano, he heard the voice of Jesus come from a Crucifix, saying, “Francis, build my Church. As you can see its fallen into ruin.” St. Francis believed Jesus wanted him to start a religious order of men dedicated to penance, that later became known as the Franciscans.

Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare nun of Perpetual Adoration, who founded EWTN, the Catholic cable television network, realized she had vocation to become a nun after doing a novena to St. Therese and was miraculously healed.

St. Ignatius of Loyola discovered his call to start a religious order called the Society of Jesus, after he was wounded in battle and began to read the lives of the saints, while he was recuperating in a convalescent home.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta received her call to start a religious order when she was riding on a train. She said Jesus spoke to her asking her to quench His thirst by taking care of the poorest of poor.

Fr. Don Calloway, as a young man, got involved in selling drugs and stealing, but when he read a book about the story of Our Lady of Medjugorje, decided to become Catholic and then later a Catholic priest. We are going to watch his conversion story this Wed. at the Faith Formation Class after Mass.

Blessed Fr. Solanus Casey came to understand God was calling him to become a Franciscan priest, due to seeing a murder while he was a street car operator in Detroit.

Fr. Stu Long, who became famous due to a movie about his call, discovered his call to the priesthood after a motorcycle accident.

Fr. Isaac Coulter, a priest from our diocese discovered his call to the priesthood, when he made his own altar, chalice and Mass books as a little boy.

Even though there is a great shortage of priests and sisters in our country, and throughout the world, this is not the case in our diocese. There are three stumbling blocks to vocations in the United States. And all begin with the letter “P”. They are pride, power and pleasure.

Pride causes one to not go to confession, to be blind to one’s sins, and so, one therefore is deaf to the Lord’s call. Serious sins block God’s graces, and pride can cause one to not even acknowledge one’s own sins. Pride wants us to be self-sufficient, to place our self, and our desires, above God and to seek our own selfish desires. But Jesus calls His followers to be humble and self-giving.

The second “P” is power. If young people seek power, fame, worldly glory, honors, and money, they are unable to hear the Lord’s call. The desire for power causes young people to want to move up the corporate ladder, to control others, to win at all cost, to be selfish with one’s money and goods and seeks to live a life of luxury.

The third “P” is pleasure. Excessive pleasure causes one to be deaf to the Lord’s call of a vocation as well. The seeking pleasures of the eye and body, the desire for immediate pleasure and satisfaction causes deafness to the call. Pleasures include inordinate shopping and purchasing excessive clothes and wardrobes, or expensive money wasting hobbies. Other sinful pleasures include indecent images, excessive food, drugs, abuse of alcohol and pre-marital activity. But, Jesus calls His followers to die to self and to be pure and chaste.

The response to the vocation shortage caused by pride, power and pleasure, can be found here in our own diocese. They are: Eucharistic adoration and monthly confession to conquer pride; stewardship to conquer power, and mortification to conquer excessive pleasure.

Young men and women, who come to Eucharistic Adoration pray, in humility, and hear the voice of Jesus say, “Come, and follow me”. As Samuel heard the voice of the Lord, while near the ark, the dwelling place of God, so, the voice of the Lord can be heard in prayer, before the new and everlasting Covenant, the Eucharist. And when young people go to confession, humility replaces pride, because we realize we need God’s forgiveness and mercy.

Through our time, talent, and treasure by way of stewardship, we conquer the desire for power, and discover true power is in the giving of our self. Stewardship overcomes the stumbling block of power, and so, one hears the Lord call to serve and to give.

Mortification conquers excessive pleasure. Because God dwells within us, we are to protect our eyes from sinful images, and our bodies from harmful things, such that we strive for purity and chastity. Through Mortification by way of prayer and fasting, young people turn away from false pleasures and are free to respond to God’s call.

More and more young people today, are willing to turn their back on peer pressure and the ways of the world. They are tired of being told all sorts of lies by society. They seek truth and are willing to lay down their lives to follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life. They want to serve and to live a life of virtue and holiness. They want the world to be a better place.

Today, let us pray for all young people, that Our Blessed Lady, who always did the will of God, will inspire young men and women to hear the voice of Jesus, and respond, “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.”