Vocations Sunday – A Sign of Hope

What does it mean to be called by God? Many people who consider that they may have a vocation to the priesthood or religious life often feel that they are not good enough. They haven’t had the dramatic moment of conversion or call like Matthew, Peter or Paul had. They think that they must be wrong, because God couldn’t possibly be calling them! Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.

We all have a vocation. Each one of us, no matter who we are, where we come from or whatever is called by God to live a life that is filled with faith, hope and love. This is true by virtue of our Baptism and the reality that we are all children of a God who desires a deep and fulfilling relationship with us. Today is Vocations Sunday and it’s an opportunity to reflect on and pray for all those who are called to serve the people of God as shepherds.

Pope Francis recently spoke of priests and religious needing to be shepherds who “live with the smell of their sheep.” He is challenging men and women around the world and in our own parishes to look at their lives, their own giftedness and seek to follow God’s invitation in a selfless and faithful way. But it’s not easy. We live in a society that can struggle with this kind of radical commitment. We need as a community of faith to nurture and support vocations. We need to invite those that we know who seem to be open to the  struggles of life, who seem to have an active prayer life and above all seem to be people of compassion. We need to have the courage to act like Eli, Annias or even Jesus to say that they have a lot of the qualities that would make a good priest or religious. And above all we need to pray for all our brothers and sisters, that they will be open to the invitation of God to be his instruments of peace.

If you think you might have a vocation and would like to talk about it feel free to give me a call on 086 7857955 (IRL) or 075 26764236 ( UK ).