Homily for the week of April 25, 2010

HOMILY: Easter 3 C, 2010 - Vocation Sunday

Acts 13:14,43-52 · Rv 7:9,14b-17 · Jn 10:27-30

A few months ago Sister Maria Guadeloupe got a phone call from the Oprah Winfrey Show to ask if a film crew could visit her convent for 24 hours to see what life was like for Catholic sisters. A convent is the name of the house where nuns live. She is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary located in Michigan. They are all school teachers. They agreed to Oprah's request. The show was on TV on the 13th anniversary of the start of these nuns. In August Grant Desme is retiring from baseball to enter the seminary to become a priest. He was selected as the 2009 Arizona Fall League Most Valuable Player and was to join the Oakland Athletics. He said: I don't know what it all takes to be a priest. I think there are some aspects of baseball that will be able to help me.

I mention these news items because this weekend is usually referred to as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations because of the readings in which Jesus is referred to as the Good Shepherd. Jesus the shepherd calls men and women to take care of his sheep as he himself did. By his sheep, he means each other.

A vocation is responding to a call from God much as a sheep responds to the voice of the shepherd. A vocation is also making a decision to respond to that voice for a lifetime. For most persons it is a once in a lifetime call. It is not like someone telling us that supper is ready, or to pick up the pizza you ordered, or the repairs on your car are all done.

Everyone of us is given a vocation by God at birth. It is affirmed at our baptism, feed at our first communion, confirmed at our Confirmation, and finally chosen by us as we get older. We pray to find out how does God want me to live my life in serving and helping others. But when persons hear the word VOCATION, many persons think that we mean becoming a priest, or a religious sister or brother.

That is unfortunate. If all of us are called to a vocation, then there are millions of Catholics who have missed their vocation, including many here in church today. Rather, a vocation is our response to how we believe God wants us to serve others. For many, this means getting married, for others it means staying single, and for others it means becoming a priest, a deacon or a nun. All of these are vocations. A vocation is not a job. A person's job or employment does not depend on a persons vocation. As we well know persons who are married, or single or priest can be found in whole variety of jobs and occupations. But what is common to all vocations is the need to love. Love is the vocation of every human being. Our life on earth will not be judged by the fame we achieved or the amount of money we have acquired. It will be judged by the love we showed. At the hour of death, when we come face to face with God we are going to be judged on love, not how much we have done, but how much love we have put into the doing.

How do you know to which vocation Jesus is calling you? It is not a written invitation, nor does Jesus tap you on the shoulder. Rather it is a distant voice which gradually gets stronger and stronger inviting a person to choose the way to serve others in love. It comes to ordinary persons who have ordinary ears to hear and eyes to see. It is a voice heard in prayer and in silence but also in school, or at a party or a dance; with friends or with strangers.

But, for happiness in life a vocation must be a response to God's voice to us. Unfortunately, there are many conflicting voices. There may be a lot of noise in our life. At times our emotions overtake our decisions. To be true to our vocation it must be made by our entire self: our feelings, our spirituality, our intelligence, our common sense. It is made after careful thought and prayer, and seeking spiritual direction or assistance in making that choice. Our vocation, whether we have already chosen one, or are still seeking one, is best discovered by asking yourself: In what vocation does God want me to serve others in a loving way, and get to heaven when I die?

Many of you here today, like myself, have responded to God's voice and have chosen a vocation. A Vocation Weekend for us can be a reminder to renew that response to God in our chosen vocation. The person that I was 51 years ago next month when I became a priest is somewhat different than the person today, but my vocation is still the same. I am sure that those of you who have been married for 25 or 40 or 50 or more years can say the same about yourselves. In the best sense a vocation ages as we age.

Each of us in some way have been invited by Jesus to help him to shepherd. To do so is to do it like Jesus the Good Shepherd. He pitied them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd: and he began to teach them at great length.