May 2025
Yesterday was Vocation Sunday, and the beginning of National Vocations Awareness Week. We also celebrated the Jubilee of Teenagers as part of our year of Jubilee.
Each of us is called by God to live a life in relationship with him and to express that relationship in our daily life. That will take different forms and one of those is through religious life and priesthood. This week we pray that those of our community who are called to priesthood and religious life will have the courage to answer this call. We need to pray for this intention regularly and to keep encouraging our young people to consider this call. We also need to create an environment where this vocation can grow and develop.
Vocations to priesthood and religious life generally begin in the home. Parents provide the environment where children come to know Christ, learn how to communicate in prayer, read the scriptures, talk about things of faith and what it means and give guidance to their children on the things of faith. It is here that young people grow to appreciate the importance of a relationship with God and what that may mean for their lives. This forms the foundation for the vocational call.
Our faith community, if we are to be truly Catholic, needs the gift of the Sacraments and the ministry of priesthood and religious life if we are to have the fullness of God’s gifts and grace. It is why these vocations are so important for the life of the Church. As a Church community if we lose sight of the importance and necessity of these vocations then we become so much less than what we are meant to be.
I encourage each of us to reflect on how we might encourage our young people in their faith life and experience and help them to see what God is asking of them. It is especially so on this Jubilee of Teenagers, for this is a time when many young people can lose touch with living an active faith life and participating in the faith community.
As we celebrate the calling of Pope Leo as our Pope, we pray that many more young men and women will take up the call to become priests, sisters and brothers in our Church.