MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XXXVI WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
25 APRIL 1999 - IV SUNDAY OF EASTER
Topic: “THE FATHER CALLS TO ETERNAL LIFE”
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
dearest Brothers and Sisters throughout the world!
The celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations on 25 April, 1999, the fourth Sunday of Easter, constitutes a recurring reminder to consider with attention a fundamental aspect of the life of the Church: the call to the ordained ministry and to the consecrated life.
In the journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the year 1999 opens “the horizons of believers, so that they will see things in the perspective of Christ: in the perspective of the Father who is in heaven (cf Mt 5,45)” (Tertio millennio adveniente, 49) and invites them to reflect on the vocation that constitutes the true horizon of every human heart: eternal life. It is precisely in this light that the full importance is revealed of the vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life with which the heavenly Father, from whom come “every good endowment and every perfect gift” (Jam 1,17), continues to enrich his Church.
A hymn of praise erupts spontaneously from the heart: “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1,3) for the gift, even in this century which is drawing to a close, of innumerable vocations to the priestly ministry and the consecrated life in its different forms.
God continues to show himself as Father by means of men and women who, urged by the strength of the Spirit, give witness by their word and deeds, and sometimes even by martyrdom, to their unlimited dedication to serving their brothers and sisters. Through the ordained ministry of Bishops, priests and deacons, He provides the permanent guarantee of the sacramental presence of Christ the Redeemer (cf Christifideles Laici, 22), making the Church grow, thanks to their dedicated service, in the unity of one body and in the variety of vocations, ministries and charisms.
The Father has poured out his Spirit in abundance on his adoptive children, manifesting in the various forms of consecrated life his Fatherly love, which he wishes to extend to the whole of humanity. His love is a love that awaits with patience and welcomes with rejoicing the person who has been far away; which educates and corrects; which satisfies every person’s hunger for love. He continues to point out the expectations of eternal life which open the heart to hope, even in the midst of difficulties, pain and death, especially by means of those who leave everything to follow Christ, dedicating themselves totally to the establishment of his Kingdom.
In 1999, dedicated to the heavenly Father, I wish to invite all the faithful to reflect on vocations to the ordained ministry and consecrated life, following the outline of the prayer that Jesus himself taught us, the “Our Father”.
1. “Our Father, who art in heaven”
Invoking God as Father means recognising in his love the source of life. In the heavenly Father, the people who are called to be his children become aware of being chosen “in him before the foundation of the world, that [they] should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph 1,4). The Second Vatican Council recalls that “Christ...in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling” (Gaudium et spes, 22). For the human person, fidelity to God is the guarantee of fidelity to his own being and, in this way, of the full realisation of his own project of life.
Every vocation has its roots in Baptism, when the Christian, “is born of water and the Spirit” (Jn 3,5), and becomes a participant in the event of grace that revealed Jesus, on the banks of the river Jordan, as the “beloved son” in whom the Father was well pleased (Lk 3,22). Baptism is the source of true fruitfulness for every Christian vocation. Therefore, it is necessary to take particular care to introduce catechumens and children to the rediscovery of Baptism and the establishment of an authentic filial relationship with God.
2. “Hallowed be thy name”
The vocation to be “holy, as he is holy” (Lev 11,44) is brought about when God is given the place which is his due. In our time, which is secularised yet also fascinated by the search for the sacred, there is a particular need of saints who, by living intensely the primacy of God in their lives, make visible his loving and provident presence.
Holiness, a gift to be constantly requested, constitutes the most precious and effective response to the modern world’s hunger for hope and life. Humanity needs holy priests and consecrated souls who live out daily the total gift of self to God and neighbour; of fathers and mothers who can give witness within the home to the grace of the sacrament of matrimony, reawakening in all those with whom they come into contact the wish to carry out the Creator’s plan for the family; of young people who have personally discovered Christ and have been so attracted by him as to move their contemporaries to the cause of the Gospel.
3. “Thy kingdom come”
Holiness recalls the “Kingdom of God”, which Jesus presented symbolically in the great and joyful banquet offered to all, but destined only for those who put on the “wedding garment” of grace.
The invocation “thy kingdom come” encourages conversion and reminds us that man’s earthly day must be marked by the daily search for the Kingdom of God before and above all other things. This invocation invites us to leave the world of fleeting words to take on generously, in spite of every difficulty and opposition, the commitments to which the Lord calls us.
Asking “thy kingdom come” of the Lord brings with it, among other things, choosing the house of the Father as one’s own dwelling, living and working in the style of the Gospel and loving in the Spirit of Jesus; at the same time, it means discovering that the Kingdom is a “little seed” endowed with an unexpected fullness of life, but exposed constantly to the risk of being rejected or trampled down.
Those who are called to the priesthood or consecrated life can welcome the seed of vocation that God has placed in their hearts with a generous openness. Drawing them to follow Christ with an undivided heart, the Father invites them to be joyful and free apostles of the Kingdom. In the generous response to the invitation they will find that true happiness for which their heart is longing.
4. “Thy will be done”
Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work” (Jn 4,34). With these words, he reveals that the personal project of existence is written in the provident plan of the Father. To discover it we have to abandon a too earthly interpretation of life, and place in God the foundation and meaning of our own existence. Above all, vocation is a gift of God: it is not about choosing, but being chosen; it is the response to a love that precedes and accompanies. For the one who bows to the will of the Lord, life becomes a good received, which by its very nature tends to transform itself into an offering and a gift.
5. “Give us this day our daily bread”
Jesus made his Father’s will his daily food (cf Jn 4,34), he invited his own to taste that bread by which the hunger for the spirit is satisfied: the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist.
Following the example of Mary, we must learn to educate the heart to hope, opening it to the “infinite love” of God, who makes us exult with joy and gratitude. For those who respond generously to the Lord’s invitation, the happy and sad events of life become, in such a way, the topic for confidential discussion with the Father, and the occasion for unceasing rediscovery of their own identity of beloved children called to participate with a specific and personal role in the great work of the salvation of the world, which was begun by Christ and entrusted now to his Church.
6. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”
Forgiveness and reconciliation are the great gift that exploded into the world from the moment in which Jesus, sent by the Father, openly declared “the Lord’s year of favour” (Lk 4,19). He became the “friend of sinners” (Mt 11,19), he gave his life “for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26,28) and, at the end, he sent his disciples to all the ends of the earth to proclaim repentance and forgiveness.
Knowing human fragility, God prepared for man the path of mercy and forgiveness as an experience to share - one is forgiven and one forgives - so that the authentic traits of true children of the one heavenly Father might be seen in the renewed life of grace.
7. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
The Christian life is a continuous liberation from evil and from sin. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God’s power and his holiness are communicated as new energy that leads to the liberty to love, making the good triumph.
The struggle against evil, which Christ strenuously fought, is today entrusted to the Church and to every Christian, according to the vocation, charism and ministry of each one. A fundamental role is reserved to those who have been elected to the ordained ministry: bishops, priests and deacons. But an irreplaceable and specific support is offered, among others, by the Institutes of consecrated life, whose members “make visible, in their consecration and total dedication, the loving and saving presence of Christ, the One consecrated by the Father, sent in mission” (Vita Consecrata, 76).
How can we fail to stress that the promotion of vocations to the ordained ministry and the consecrated life must become the harmonious commitment of the whole Church and of individual believers? The Lord commanded them to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Mt 9,38).
Aware of this, we turn in prayer to the heavenly Father, the giver of every good thing:
8. Good Father,
in Christ your Son
you reveal to us your love,
you embrace us as your children
and you offer us the possibility of discovering
in your will the lines
of our true face.
Holy Father,
you call us to be holy
as you are holy.
We pray you, never allow your Church
to lack holy ministers and apostles
who, with the word and the sacraments,
may open the way to the encounter with you.
Merciful Father,
give to lost humanity
men and women who,
through the witness of a life transfigured
to the image of your Son,
may walk joyfully
with their other brothers and sisters
towards our heavenly homeland.
Our Father,
with the voice of your Holy Spirit,
and trusting in the maternal intercession of Mary,
we earnestly beseech you:
send to your Church priests
who will be courageous witnesses
to your infinite bounty.
Amen!
From the Vatican, 1 October 1998, memorial of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, Doctor of the Church.
JOHN PAUL II
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Pope Benedict on the Priestly Life
From Fr. Nicholas at Roman Miscellany...
The Holy Father recently responded to questions posed by seminarians of the Seminario Romano Maggiore and Zenit has provided an English translation. Here are some extracts that I found helpful - I particularly liked his emphasis on never missing out on daily Mass and his advice on preparing the Sunday homily:
On Preparing the Sunday Homily
I have a fairly simple recipe for it: combine the preparation of the Sunday homily with personal meditation to ensure that these words are not only spoken to others but are really words said by the Lord to me myself, and developed in a personal conversation with the Lord. For this to be possible, my advice is to begin early on Monday, for if one begins on Saturday it is too late, the preparation is hurried and perhaps inspiration is lacking, for one has other things on one's mind. Therefore, I would say, already on Monday, simply read the Readings for the coming Sunday which perhaps seem very difficult: a little like those rocks at Massah and Meribah, where Moses said: "But how can water come from these rocks?". Then stop thinking about these Readings and allow the heart to digest them. Words are processed in the unconscious, and return a little more every day. Obviously, books should also be consulted, as far as possible. And with this interior process, day by day, one sees that a response gradually develops. These words gradually unfold, they become words for me. And since I am a contemporary, they also become words for others. I can then begin to express what I perhaps see in my own theological language in the language of others; the fundamental thought, however, remains the same for others and for myself. Thus, it is possible to have a lasting and silent encounter with the Word that does not demand a lot of time, which perhaps we do not have. But save a little time: only in this way does a Sunday homily mature for others, but my own heart is also touched by the Lord's Word.
On Careerism in the Church
...The Lord knows, knew from the beginning, that there is also sin in the Church, and for our humility it is important to recognize this and to see sin not only in others, in structures, in lofty hierarchical duties, but also in ourselves, to be in this way more humble and to learn that what counts before the Lord is not an ecclesial position, but what counts is to be in his love and to make his love shine forth... St Augustine said: All of us are always only disciples of Christ, and his throne is loftier, for his throne is the Cross and only this height is the true height, communion with the Lord, also in his Passion. It seems to me, if we begin to understand this by a life of daily prayer, by a life of dedicated service to the Lord, we can free ourselves of these very human temptations.
On Daily Routine and the Importance of Mass and the Divine Office
I would say that it is also important in the life of pastors of the Church, in the daily life of the priest, to preserve as far as possible a certain order. You should never skip Mass - a day without the Eucharist is incomplete - and thus already at the seminary we grow up with this daily liturgy. It seems to me very important that we feel the need to be with the Lord in the Eucharist, not as a professional obligation but truly as an interiorly-felt duty, so that the Eucharist should never be missed. Another important point is to make time for the Liturgy of the Hours and therefore, for this inner freedom: with all the burdens that exist, it frees us and helps us to be more open, to be deeply in touch with the Lord. Of course, we must do all that is required by pastoral life, by the life of a parochial vicar or of a parish priest or by another priestly office. However, I would say, never forget these fixed points, the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, so that you have a certain order in the daily routine. As I said at the outset, we learned not to have to plan the timetable ever anew; Serva ordinem et ordo servabit te. These are true words.
On Perseverence
It is good to recognize one's weakness because in this way we know that we stand in need of the Lord's grace. The Lord comforts us. In the Apostolic College there was not only Judas but also the good Apostles; yet, Peter fell and many times the Lord reprimanded the Apostles for their slowness, the closure of their hearts and their scant faith. He therefore simply shows us that none of us is equal to this great 'yes,' equal to celebrating in persona Christi, to living coherently in this context, to being united to Christ in his priestly mission. To console us, the Lord has also given us these parables of the net with the good fish and the bad fish, of the field where wheat but also tares grow. He makes us realize that he came precisely to help us in our weakness, and that he did not come, as he says, to call the just, those who claim they are righteous through and through and are not in need of grace, those who pray praising themselves; but he came to call those who know they are lacking, to provoke those who know they need the Lord's forgiveness every day, that they need his grace in order to progress. I think this is very important: to recognize that we need an ongoing conversion, that we are simply not there yet. St Augustine, at the moment of his conversion, thought he had reached the heights of life with God, of the beauty of the sun that is his Word. He then had to understand that the journey after conversion is still a journey of conversion, that it remains a journey where the broad perspectives, joys and lights of the Lord are not absent; but nor are dark valleys absent through which we must wend our way with trust, relying on the goodness of the Lord. Therefore, also the Sacrament of Reconciliation is important. It is not correct to think we must live like this, so that we are never in need of pardon. We must accept our frailty but keep on going, not giving up but moving forward and becoming converted ever anew through the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a new start, and thus grow and mature in the Lord by our communion with him. It is also important of course not to isolate oneself, not to believe one is capable of going ahead alone. We truly need the company of priest friends and also lay friends who accompany and help us. It is very important for a priest, in the parish itself, to see how people trust in him and to experience in addition to their trust also their generosity in pardoning his weaknesses. True friends challenge us and help us to be faithful on our journey. It seems to me that this attitude of patience and humility can help us to be kind to others, to understand the weaknesses of others and also help them to forgive as we forgive. I think I am not being indiscrete if I say that today I received a beautiful letter from Cardinal Martini: I had congratulated him on his 80th birthday -- we are the same age; in thanking me he wrote: "I thank the Lord above all for the gift of perseverance. Today", he writes, "good is done rather ad tempus, ad experimentum. Good, in accordance with its essence, can only be done definitively; but to do it definitively we need the grace of perseverance. I pray each day", he concluded, "that the Lord will grant me this grace". I return to St Augustine: at first he was content with the grace of conversion; then he discovered the need for another grace, the grace of perseverance, one which we must ask the Lord for each day; but since - I return to what Cardinal Martini said - "the Lord has given me the grace of perseverance until now, I hope he will also give it to me in the last stage of my journey on this earth". It seems to me that we must have trust in this gift of perseverance, but we must also pray to the Lord with tenacity, humility and patience to help and sustain us with the gift of true "definitiveness", and to accompany us day after day to the very end, even if our way must pass through dark valleys. The gift of perseverance gives us joy, it gives us the certainty that we are loved by the Lord, and this love sustains us, helps us and does not abandon us in our weakness.
The Holy Father recently responded to questions posed by seminarians of the Seminario Romano Maggiore and Zenit has provided an English translation. Here are some extracts that I found helpful - I particularly liked his emphasis on never missing out on daily Mass and his advice on preparing the Sunday homily:
On Preparing the Sunday Homily
I have a fairly simple recipe for it: combine the preparation of the Sunday homily with personal meditation to ensure that these words are not only spoken to others but are really words said by the Lord to me myself, and developed in a personal conversation with the Lord. For this to be possible, my advice is to begin early on Monday, for if one begins on Saturday it is too late, the preparation is hurried and perhaps inspiration is lacking, for one has other things on one's mind. Therefore, I would say, already on Monday, simply read the Readings for the coming Sunday which perhaps seem very difficult: a little like those rocks at Massah and Meribah, where Moses said: "But how can water come from these rocks?". Then stop thinking about these Readings and allow the heart to digest them. Words are processed in the unconscious, and return a little more every day. Obviously, books should also be consulted, as far as possible. And with this interior process, day by day, one sees that a response gradually develops. These words gradually unfold, they become words for me. And since I am a contemporary, they also become words for others. I can then begin to express what I perhaps see in my own theological language in the language of others; the fundamental thought, however, remains the same for others and for myself. Thus, it is possible to have a lasting and silent encounter with the Word that does not demand a lot of time, which perhaps we do not have. But save a little time: only in this way does a Sunday homily mature for others, but my own heart is also touched by the Lord's Word.
On Careerism in the Church
...The Lord knows, knew from the beginning, that there is also sin in the Church, and for our humility it is important to recognize this and to see sin not only in others, in structures, in lofty hierarchical duties, but also in ourselves, to be in this way more humble and to learn that what counts before the Lord is not an ecclesial position, but what counts is to be in his love and to make his love shine forth... St Augustine said: All of us are always only disciples of Christ, and his throne is loftier, for his throne is the Cross and only this height is the true height, communion with the Lord, also in his Passion. It seems to me, if we begin to understand this by a life of daily prayer, by a life of dedicated service to the Lord, we can free ourselves of these very human temptations.
On Daily Routine and the Importance of Mass and the Divine Office
I would say that it is also important in the life of pastors of the Church, in the daily life of the priest, to preserve as far as possible a certain order. You should never skip Mass - a day without the Eucharist is incomplete - and thus already at the seminary we grow up with this daily liturgy. It seems to me very important that we feel the need to be with the Lord in the Eucharist, not as a professional obligation but truly as an interiorly-felt duty, so that the Eucharist should never be missed. Another important point is to make time for the Liturgy of the Hours and therefore, for this inner freedom: with all the burdens that exist, it frees us and helps us to be more open, to be deeply in touch with the Lord. Of course, we must do all that is required by pastoral life, by the life of a parochial vicar or of a parish priest or by another priestly office. However, I would say, never forget these fixed points, the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, so that you have a certain order in the daily routine. As I said at the outset, we learned not to have to plan the timetable ever anew; Serva ordinem et ordo servabit te. These are true words.
On Perseverence
It is good to recognize one's weakness because in this way we know that we stand in need of the Lord's grace. The Lord comforts us. In the Apostolic College there was not only Judas but also the good Apostles; yet, Peter fell and many times the Lord reprimanded the Apostles for their slowness, the closure of their hearts and their scant faith. He therefore simply shows us that none of us is equal to this great 'yes,' equal to celebrating in persona Christi, to living coherently in this context, to being united to Christ in his priestly mission. To console us, the Lord has also given us these parables of the net with the good fish and the bad fish, of the field where wheat but also tares grow. He makes us realize that he came precisely to help us in our weakness, and that he did not come, as he says, to call the just, those who claim they are righteous through and through and are not in need of grace, those who pray praising themselves; but he came to call those who know they are lacking, to provoke those who know they need the Lord's forgiveness every day, that they need his grace in order to progress. I think this is very important: to recognize that we need an ongoing conversion, that we are simply not there yet. St Augustine, at the moment of his conversion, thought he had reached the heights of life with God, of the beauty of the sun that is his Word. He then had to understand that the journey after conversion is still a journey of conversion, that it remains a journey where the broad perspectives, joys and lights of the Lord are not absent; but nor are dark valleys absent through which we must wend our way with trust, relying on the goodness of the Lord. Therefore, also the Sacrament of Reconciliation is important. It is not correct to think we must live like this, so that we are never in need of pardon. We must accept our frailty but keep on going, not giving up but moving forward and becoming converted ever anew through the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a new start, and thus grow and mature in the Lord by our communion with him. It is also important of course not to isolate oneself, not to believe one is capable of going ahead alone. We truly need the company of priest friends and also lay friends who accompany and help us. It is very important for a priest, in the parish itself, to see how people trust in him and to experience in addition to their trust also their generosity in pardoning his weaknesses. True friends challenge us and help us to be faithful on our journey. It seems to me that this attitude of patience and humility can help us to be kind to others, to understand the weaknesses of others and also help them to forgive as we forgive. I think I am not being indiscrete if I say that today I received a beautiful letter from Cardinal Martini: I had congratulated him on his 80th birthday -- we are the same age; in thanking me he wrote: "I thank the Lord above all for the gift of perseverance. Today", he writes, "good is done rather ad tempus, ad experimentum. Good, in accordance with its essence, can only be done definitively; but to do it definitively we need the grace of perseverance. I pray each day", he concluded, "that the Lord will grant me this grace". I return to St Augustine: at first he was content with the grace of conversion; then he discovered the need for another grace, the grace of perseverance, one which we must ask the Lord for each day; but since - I return to what Cardinal Martini said - "the Lord has given me the grace of perseverance until now, I hope he will also give it to me in the last stage of my journey on this earth". It seems to me that we must have trust in this gift of perseverance, but we must also pray to the Lord with tenacity, humility and patience to help and sustain us with the gift of true "definitiveness", and to accompany us day after day to the very end, even if our way must pass through dark valleys. The gift of perseverance gives us joy, it gives us the certainty that we are loved by the Lord, and this love sustains us, helps us and does not abandon us in our weakness.
*VIDEO* Fr. Robert Barron reviews "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"
Fr. Barron's succinct dismantling of this ridiculous "documentary"...
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XXXV WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE XXXV WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
3 MAY 1998 - IV SUNDAY OF EASTER
Topic: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'" (Ap 22,17).
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
dearest Brothers and Sisters throughout the world!
The journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, places the World Day of Prayer for Vocations this year under the "luminous cloud" of the Holy Spirit, who acts perennially in the Church, enriching her with those ministries and charisms she needs to fulfil her mission.
1. "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness..." (Mt 4,1).
The whole of Jesus' life unfolded under the influence of the Holy Spirit; at the beginning it was He who overshadowed the Virgin Mary in the inexpressible mystery of the Incarnation; in the river Jordan it was also He who gave witness to the beloved Son of the Father and led Him into the desert. In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus himself testified that: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Lk 4,18). This same Spirit He promised to His disciples as an everlasting guarantee of his presence among them. On the cross he gave the Spirit back to the Father (cf. Jn 19,30), in this way sealing the New Covenant at the dawn of Easter. On the day of Pentecost, finally, He poured out the Spirit on the early community to consolidate it in the faith and set it out on the paths of the world.
Since then the Church, the mystical body of Christ, travels along the pathways of time supported by the wind of the same Spirit, lighting up history with the burning fire of the Word of God, purifying the hearts and the lives of men with the rivers of living water which flow from his breast (cf. Jn 7,37-39).
In this way is accomplished the Church's vocation to be "a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" (St Cyprian, De Dominica Oratione, 23: CCL 3/A, 105), and "the trustee of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who consecrates for mission those whom the Father calls through his Son Jesus Christ" (Pastores dabo vobis, 35).
2. "You are a letter from Christ...written with the Spirit of the living God...on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor 3,3).
In the Church, with baptism, every Christian begins to live under "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8,2) and, under the guidance of the Spirit, he enters into dialogue with God and the brothers and sisters and knows the extraordinary greatness of his own vocation.
The celebration of this Day is an auspicious occasion for announcing that the Holy Spirit of God writes in the heart and life of every baptised person a project of love and grace, which is the only way to give full meaning to existence, opening the way to the freedom of the children of God and enabling the offering of one's personal and irreplaceable contribution to the progress of humanity on the path of justice and truth. The Spirit does not only help to place oneself sincerely before the great questions of the heart - Where do I come from? Where am I going? Who am I? What is the purpose of life? How should I spend my time? - but opens up the prospect of courageous responses. The discovery that each man and woman has his own place in God's heart and in the history of humanity constitutes the point of departure for a new culture of vocations.
3. "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come'" (Ap. 22,17).
These words of the Apocalypse lead us to consider the fertile relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church from which the different vocations have emerged, and to remember that "Pentecost" in which every Christian community is generated in unity, moulded by the fire of the Spirit in the multiplicity of gifts and sent to bear the Good News to every heart that awaits it.
If it is true in fact that the call always has its source in God, it is also true that the vocational dialogue takes place in the Church and through the Church. The energy of the Spirit has not been exhausted; that which urged Peter to go to the house of the centurion Cornelius to bring salvation to him (Acts 10,19) and which said: "Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13,2). The Gospel continues to spread "not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit" (1 Thes 1,5).
The Holy Spirit and the Church, his mystical Bride, speak again to the men and women of our time, "Come!".
Come to meet the incarnate Word, who wishes to make you participants in his own life!
Come to welcome the call of God, overcoming hesitation and obstacles! Come and discover the history of love which God has woven with humanity: He wishes to realise this with you also.
Come and savour the joy of forgiveness welcomed and given. The wall of separation which existed between God and man and among human beings has been broken down. Faults have been forgiven, the banquet of life has been set for all.
Blessed are they who, attracted by the power of the Word and moulded by the Sacraments, speak their "Here I am!". They are setting out on the path of total and radical belonging to God, strengthened by the hope which does not disappoint, "because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5,5).
4. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit" (1 Cor 12,4).
In the new life, which is born of Baptism and is developed by means of the Word and the Sacraments, charisms, ministries and the different forms of consecrated life find nourishment. It is possible to generate new vocations in the Spirit when the Christian community lives in an attitude of total fidelity to its Lord. That presupposes an intensive climate of faith and prayer, a generous witness of communion and esteem in the face of the many gifts of the Spirit, a missionary passion which, conquering easy and illusory selfishness, encourages the total gift of self for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
Each particular Church is called to commit itself to supporting the development of the gifts and charisms which the Lord rouses in the hearts of the faithful. Our attention, on this Day, is however directed in a particular way to vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, because of the fundamental role which these have in the life of the Church and the fulfilment of her mission.
Offering himself to the Father on the cross, Jesus has made his disciples "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex 19,6) and "a spiritual house...a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God" (1 Pet 2,5). To the service of this universal priesthood of the New Covenant, he called the Twelve, "to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons" (Mk 3,14-15). Today Christ continues his saving action through the Bishops and priests who "in the Church and on behalf of the Church...are a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ, the Head and Shepherd, authoritatively proclaiming his Word, repeating his acts of forgiveness and his offer of salvation" (Pastores dabo vobis, 15).
"How can we not recall with gratitude to the Spirit the many different forms of consecrated life which He has raised up throughout history and which still exist in the Church today? They can be compared to a plant with many branches, which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church's life" (Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata, 5). The consecrated life is placed in the very heart of the Church as an element decisive to her mission, since it expresses the intimate nature of the Christian vocation and the tension of the whole Church-Bride towards union with the one Spouse.
While they are necessary in every age, these vocations are even more necessary today, in a world marked by great contradictions and the temptation to relegate God to the margins in the fundamental choices of life. The words of the Gospel come to mind: "the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!" (Mt 9,37-38, cf. Lk 10,2). The Church welcomes every day this command of the Lord and, with faithful hope, raises up her invocations to the "Lord of the harvest", recognising that only He can call and send his labourers.
My wish is that the annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations raise up in the hearts of the faithful a more intense prayer to obtain new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life and reawaken the responsibility of all, especially parents and those who educate in the faith, to promote vocations.
5. Account for the hope that is in you (cf. 1 Pet 3,15).
Firstly I invite you, dearest Bishops, and with you, the priests, deacons and members of Institutes of consecrated life, to give witness unceasingly to the spiritual and human ardour which urged each one of you to make yourselves "all things to all men", so that the love of Christ might reach the greatest possible number of people.
Establish appropriate relationships with all parts of society; evaluate the ministerial and charismatic vocations which the Spirit raises up in your communities, promoting their complementarity and collaboration; give your contribution so that each may grow towards full Christian maturity. Looking at you, joyful servants of the Gospel, young men and women might perceive the attraction of a life totally dedicated to Christ in the ordained ministry or in the radical choice of the consecrated life.
You, Christian husbands and wives, be ready to account for the profound reality of your matrimonial vocation: harmony in the home, a spirit of faith and prayer, the exercise of the Christian virtues, openness to others, especially the poor, participation in the life of the Church, a quiet strength in facing up to daily difficulties, all of these constitute a favourable setting for the vocational maturing of children. Understood as the "domestic Church", the family, sustained by the sacramental grace of matrimony, is the permanent school of the civilisation of love, where it is possible to learn that only from the free and sincere gift of self does the fullness of life flow.
And you, teachers, catechists, pastoral workers, and all others entrusted with educational roles, be aware that you are co-operating with the Spirit in your important and difficult service. Help young people to free their hearts and minds from whatever is blocking the path; urge them to give the best of themselves in a constant tension of human and Christian growth; with the light and the strength of the Gospel Word, build up in them the most profound sentiments, so that, if called, they may realise their vocation for the good of the Church and the world.
Given that the journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 this year centres on the Holy Spirit, we are invited to pay particular attention to the sacrament of Confirmation. Because of this, I now wish to say a few words specifically to those who at this time are receiving this sacrament. My dearest young people, during the rite the Bishop will turn to you and say: "The gift of the Holy Spirit which you are to receive will be a spiritual sign and seal to make you more like Christ and more perfect members of his Church". And so there begins for you a privileged time, during which you are invited to question yourselves and question the Christian community of which you have been made living members, on the full meaning to be given to your existence. It is a time of discernment and vocational choice. Listen to the invitation of Jesus: "Come and see". Give your witness to Christ in the ecclesial community, according to the totally personal and unrepeatable plan which God has for you. Let the Holy Spirit, who has been poured into your hearts, guide you to the truth and make you witnesses to authentic freedom and love. Do not let yourselves be overwhelmed by easy and fallacious myths of fleeting human success and riches. On the contrary, do not be afraid to follow the demanding and courageous paths of charity and generous commitment. Learn to "account for the hope that is in you" before all men and women (1 Pet 3,15)!
6. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness" (Rom 8,26).
The World Day of Prayer for Vocations is identified primarily by prayer for vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, a culminating expression of a habitual climate of prayer, from which the
Christian community cannot dispense itself. This year, too, we wish to turn with trust to the Holy Spirit, that he may obtain for the Church of today the gift of many, holy vocations:
Spirit of eternal Love,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
we thank You for all the vocations
of apostles and saints which have enriched the Church.
Continue, we pray, this work of Yours.
Remember when, at Pentecost,
You descended on the Apostles gathered together in prayer
with Mary, the mother of Jesus,
and look upon your Church which today has
particular need of holy priests,
of faithful and authoritative witnesses of your grace;
she needs consecrated men and women,
who show the joy of those who live only for the Father,
who make their own the mission and the offering of Christ,
who build up in charity the new world.
Holy Spirit, eternal Spring of joy and peace,
it is You who open the heart and the mind to the divine call;
it is You who make effective every impetus
towards good, towards truth, towards charity.
Your "inexpressible groans"
rise up to the Father from the heart of the Church,
which suffers and struggles for the Gospel.
Open the hearts and minds of young men and women,
so that a new flowering of holy vocations
may show forth the fidelity of your love,
and all may know Christ,
the true light come into the world
to offer to every human being
the sure hope of eternal life. Amen.
To all I affectionately impart a special Apostolic Blessing.
From Castel Gandolfo, 24 September 1997
FOR THE XXXV WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
3 MAY 1998 - IV SUNDAY OF EASTER
Topic: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'" (Ap 22,17).
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
dearest Brothers and Sisters throughout the world!
The journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, places the World Day of Prayer for Vocations this year under the "luminous cloud" of the Holy Spirit, who acts perennially in the Church, enriching her with those ministries and charisms she needs to fulfil her mission.
1. "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness..." (Mt 4,1).
The whole of Jesus' life unfolded under the influence of the Holy Spirit; at the beginning it was He who overshadowed the Virgin Mary in the inexpressible mystery of the Incarnation; in the river Jordan it was also He who gave witness to the beloved Son of the Father and led Him into the desert. In the synagogue at Nazareth Jesus himself testified that: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Lk 4,18). This same Spirit He promised to His disciples as an everlasting guarantee of his presence among them. On the cross he gave the Spirit back to the Father (cf. Jn 19,30), in this way sealing the New Covenant at the dawn of Easter. On the day of Pentecost, finally, He poured out the Spirit on the early community to consolidate it in the faith and set it out on the paths of the world.
Since then the Church, the mystical body of Christ, travels along the pathways of time supported by the wind of the same Spirit, lighting up history with the burning fire of the Word of God, purifying the hearts and the lives of men with the rivers of living water which flow from his breast (cf. Jn 7,37-39).
In this way is accomplished the Church's vocation to be "a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" (St Cyprian, De Dominica Oratione, 23: CCL 3/A, 105), and "the trustee of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who consecrates for mission those whom the Father calls through his Son Jesus Christ" (Pastores dabo vobis, 35).
2. "You are a letter from Christ...written with the Spirit of the living God...on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor 3,3).
In the Church, with baptism, every Christian begins to live under "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8,2) and, under the guidance of the Spirit, he enters into dialogue with God and the brothers and sisters and knows the extraordinary greatness of his own vocation.
The celebration of this Day is an auspicious occasion for announcing that the Holy Spirit of God writes in the heart and life of every baptised person a project of love and grace, which is the only way to give full meaning to existence, opening the way to the freedom of the children of God and enabling the offering of one's personal and irreplaceable contribution to the progress of humanity on the path of justice and truth. The Spirit does not only help to place oneself sincerely before the great questions of the heart - Where do I come from? Where am I going? Who am I? What is the purpose of life? How should I spend my time? - but opens up the prospect of courageous responses. The discovery that each man and woman has his own place in God's heart and in the history of humanity constitutes the point of departure for a new culture of vocations.
3. "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come'" (Ap. 22,17).
These words of the Apocalypse lead us to consider the fertile relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Church from which the different vocations have emerged, and to remember that "Pentecost" in which every Christian community is generated in unity, moulded by the fire of the Spirit in the multiplicity of gifts and sent to bear the Good News to every heart that awaits it.
If it is true in fact that the call always has its source in God, it is also true that the vocational dialogue takes place in the Church and through the Church. The energy of the Spirit has not been exhausted; that which urged Peter to go to the house of the centurion Cornelius to bring salvation to him (Acts 10,19) and which said: "Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them" (Acts 13,2). The Gospel continues to spread "not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit" (1 Thes 1,5).
The Holy Spirit and the Church, his mystical Bride, speak again to the men and women of our time, "Come!".
Come to meet the incarnate Word, who wishes to make you participants in his own life!
Come to welcome the call of God, overcoming hesitation and obstacles! Come and discover the history of love which God has woven with humanity: He wishes to realise this with you also.
Come and savour the joy of forgiveness welcomed and given. The wall of separation which existed between God and man and among human beings has been broken down. Faults have been forgiven, the banquet of life has been set for all.
Blessed are they who, attracted by the power of the Word and moulded by the Sacraments, speak their "Here I am!". They are setting out on the path of total and radical belonging to God, strengthened by the hope which does not disappoint, "because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5,5).
4. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit" (1 Cor 12,4).
In the new life, which is born of Baptism and is developed by means of the Word and the Sacraments, charisms, ministries and the different forms of consecrated life find nourishment. It is possible to generate new vocations in the Spirit when the Christian community lives in an attitude of total fidelity to its Lord. That presupposes an intensive climate of faith and prayer, a generous witness of communion and esteem in the face of the many gifts of the Spirit, a missionary passion which, conquering easy and illusory selfishness, encourages the total gift of self for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
Each particular Church is called to commit itself to supporting the development of the gifts and charisms which the Lord rouses in the hearts of the faithful. Our attention, on this Day, is however directed in a particular way to vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, because of the fundamental role which these have in the life of the Church and the fulfilment of her mission.
Offering himself to the Father on the cross, Jesus has made his disciples "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex 19,6) and "a spiritual house...a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God" (1 Pet 2,5). To the service of this universal priesthood of the New Covenant, he called the Twelve, "to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons" (Mk 3,14-15). Today Christ continues his saving action through the Bishops and priests who "in the Church and on behalf of the Church...are a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ, the Head and Shepherd, authoritatively proclaiming his Word, repeating his acts of forgiveness and his offer of salvation" (Pastores dabo vobis, 15).
"How can we not recall with gratitude to the Spirit the many different forms of consecrated life which He has raised up throughout history and which still exist in the Church today? They can be compared to a plant with many branches, which sinks its roots into the Gospel and brings forth abundant fruit in every season of the Church's life" (Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata, 5). The consecrated life is placed in the very heart of the Church as an element decisive to her mission, since it expresses the intimate nature of the Christian vocation and the tension of the whole Church-Bride towards union with the one Spouse.
While they are necessary in every age, these vocations are even more necessary today, in a world marked by great contradictions and the temptation to relegate God to the margins in the fundamental choices of life. The words of the Gospel come to mind: "the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!" (Mt 9,37-38, cf. Lk 10,2). The Church welcomes every day this command of the Lord and, with faithful hope, raises up her invocations to the "Lord of the harvest", recognising that only He can call and send his labourers.
My wish is that the annual celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations raise up in the hearts of the faithful a more intense prayer to obtain new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life and reawaken the responsibility of all, especially parents and those who educate in the faith, to promote vocations.
5. Account for the hope that is in you (cf. 1 Pet 3,15).
Firstly I invite you, dearest Bishops, and with you, the priests, deacons and members of Institutes of consecrated life, to give witness unceasingly to the spiritual and human ardour which urged each one of you to make yourselves "all things to all men", so that the love of Christ might reach the greatest possible number of people.
Establish appropriate relationships with all parts of society; evaluate the ministerial and charismatic vocations which the Spirit raises up in your communities, promoting their complementarity and collaboration; give your contribution so that each may grow towards full Christian maturity. Looking at you, joyful servants of the Gospel, young men and women might perceive the attraction of a life totally dedicated to Christ in the ordained ministry or in the radical choice of the consecrated life.
You, Christian husbands and wives, be ready to account for the profound reality of your matrimonial vocation: harmony in the home, a spirit of faith and prayer, the exercise of the Christian virtues, openness to others, especially the poor, participation in the life of the Church, a quiet strength in facing up to daily difficulties, all of these constitute a favourable setting for the vocational maturing of children. Understood as the "domestic Church", the family, sustained by the sacramental grace of matrimony, is the permanent school of the civilisation of love, where it is possible to learn that only from the free and sincere gift of self does the fullness of life flow.
And you, teachers, catechists, pastoral workers, and all others entrusted with educational roles, be aware that you are co-operating with the Spirit in your important and difficult service. Help young people to free their hearts and minds from whatever is blocking the path; urge them to give the best of themselves in a constant tension of human and Christian growth; with the light and the strength of the Gospel Word, build up in them the most profound sentiments, so that, if called, they may realise their vocation for the good of the Church and the world.
Given that the journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 this year centres on the Holy Spirit, we are invited to pay particular attention to the sacrament of Confirmation. Because of this, I now wish to say a few words specifically to those who at this time are receiving this sacrament. My dearest young people, during the rite the Bishop will turn to you and say: "The gift of the Holy Spirit which you are to receive will be a spiritual sign and seal to make you more like Christ and more perfect members of his Church". And so there begins for you a privileged time, during which you are invited to question yourselves and question the Christian community of which you have been made living members, on the full meaning to be given to your existence. It is a time of discernment and vocational choice. Listen to the invitation of Jesus: "Come and see". Give your witness to Christ in the ecclesial community, according to the totally personal and unrepeatable plan which God has for you. Let the Holy Spirit, who has been poured into your hearts, guide you to the truth and make you witnesses to authentic freedom and love. Do not let yourselves be overwhelmed by easy and fallacious myths of fleeting human success and riches. On the contrary, do not be afraid to follow the demanding and courageous paths of charity and generous commitment. Learn to "account for the hope that is in you" before all men and women (1 Pet 3,15)!
6. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness" (Rom 8,26).
The World Day of Prayer for Vocations is identified primarily by prayer for vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, a culminating expression of a habitual climate of prayer, from which the
Christian community cannot dispense itself. This year, too, we wish to turn with trust to the Holy Spirit, that he may obtain for the Church of today the gift of many, holy vocations:
Spirit of eternal Love,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
we thank You for all the vocations
of apostles and saints which have enriched the Church.
Continue, we pray, this work of Yours.
Remember when, at Pentecost,
You descended on the Apostles gathered together in prayer
with Mary, the mother of Jesus,
and look upon your Church which today has
particular need of holy priests,
of faithful and authoritative witnesses of your grace;
she needs consecrated men and women,
who show the joy of those who live only for the Father,
who make their own the mission and the offering of Christ,
who build up in charity the new world.
Holy Spirit, eternal Spring of joy and peace,
it is You who open the heart and the mind to the divine call;
it is You who make effective every impetus
towards good, towards truth, towards charity.
Your "inexpressible groans"
rise up to the Father from the heart of the Church,
which suffers and struggles for the Gospel.
Open the hearts and minds of young men and women,
so that a new flowering of holy vocations
may show forth the fidelity of your love,
and all may know Christ,
the true light come into the world
to offer to every human being
the sure hope of eternal life. Amen.
To all I affectionately impart a special Apostolic Blessing.
From Castel Gandolfo, 24 September 1997
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
*VIDEO* from Clericus Cup soccer tournament in Rome
From the seminarians at the North American College, Rome, we have this video from the Clericus Cup. According to them it is "as expected, an over the top NAC production. Remember, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing..."
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XXXIII WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXIII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the world!
1. Vocations in the Christian Community
Just as the seed produces abundant fruit in good soil, so vocations arise and mature in good number in the Christian community.
It is indeed in the Christian community that there is made manifest the mystery of the Father who calls, of the Son who sends, and of the Spirit who consecrates: "The vocation, the call of God, is born in an experience of community, and generates a commitment to the universal Church and to a certain community" (Final Declaration of the First Latin American Continental Congress on Vocations, n. 24).
It is necessary, therefore, that on every level there be manifest, that there develop and grow a deep sense of the Church, a generous openness to the pastoral needs of the People of God, a mutual and honest collaboration between diocesan and religious clergy, in order to support the journey of faith of the men and women who decide to follow Christ, consecrating themselves to him with undivided heart.
2. "And like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house" (1 Pt 2:5)
We must begin again with the communities in order to prepare the fertile soil in which God's action will be able to expand with power and his call be welcomed and understood. "Without doubt a mending of the Christian fabric of society is urgently needed in all parts of the world. But for this to come about what is needed is to first remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community itself" (Christifideles laici, n. 34.).
Truly, the vast field of pastoral action for fostering vocations has yet to be fully appreciated in some of its aspects, even though there is a greater awareness of this dimension of the Christian life and a greater number of initiatives in its regard. The discovery of one's own vocation, whatever it may be, cannot leave one unaware of the other evangelical choices necessary for the Church's identity as instrument and image of the kingdom of God in the world.
Only living Christian communities are able to carefully welcome vocations and then accompany them in their development, as mothers attentive to the growth and happiness of their offspring. "The pastoral work of promoting vocations has as its active agents, as its protagonists, the ecclesial community as such, in its various expressions: from the universal Church to the particular Church and, by analogy from the particular Church to each of its parishes and to every part of the people of God" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
Our communities, however, must have a stronger belief in the importance of various plans of Christian life and of ecclesial roles, ministries, charisms, which are stirred up by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries and recognized by the Pastors of the Church as legitimate and authentic. Even now, while society is undergoing rapid and profound transformation, in the community of believers the proposal of the Christian way of life must conquer every kind of passive resignation, and with confidence and courage give full meaning to existence by announcing the presence and action of God in the life of human persons.
Today, in the face of the challenges of the contemporary world, a greater amount of evangelical boldness is needed in order to arrive at the commitment to promoting vocations in accordance with the Lord's injunction to ask ceaselessly for labourers for the spread of the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 9:37-38).
3. "Once you were no people but now you are God's people" (1 Pt 2:10)
The Christian vocation a gift of God is the heritage of all. Whether married or ordained, priests or religious, all are chosen by God to proclaim the Gospel and to communicate salvation; not alone, however, but in the Church and with the Church. "The work of evangelization is not an individual activity; it is essentially ecclesial" (Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 60). Along with God's universal call to live and witness to the proclamation of salvation there are particular vocations with specific responsibilities within the Church; these are fruit of a special grace and require an additional moral and spiritual commitment. They are the vocations to the priesthood, the religious life, to the work of the missions and to the contemplative life.
These particular vocations call for respect and acceptance, for the full availability of bringing one's own existence into play, for an unremitting prayer of petition. They also presuppose a loving attention to and a wise and prudent discernent of the seeds of vocation present in the hearts of so many children and young people. "There is an urgent need, especially nowadays, for a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all the members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
Some think that because God knows whom to call and when to call, there is nothing more for us to do than to wait. But they forget that the sovereign divine initiative does not dispense man from the task of responding to it. In fact, many who are called arrive at the awareness of the divine choice by means of favourable circumstances, determined also by the life of the Christian community.
In many young people, disoriented by consumerism and by the crisis in ideals, the search for an authentic life-style can mature, if it is sustained by a coherent and joyful witness of the Christian community in its openness to listen to the cry of a world thirsting for truth and justice. In this case, it is easy for the heart to open itself to welcome with generosity the gift of a consecrated vocation.
4. "Brothers, consider your call" (1 Cor 1:26)
The Church must show its proper and authentic face in the daily striving for fidelity to God and to men. When it accomplishes such a mission with profound consistency, it becomes the favourable terrain for the birth of courageous choices of unreserved commitment for the Gospel and for the people of God.
By means of the special vocations the Lord assures the Church's continuity and strength and, at the same time, he opens it to the old and the new needs of the world, so that the Church can be a sign of the living God and contribute to the building of the city of man as the "civilization of love".
Every vocation is born, is nourished and develops in the Church and is linked to the Church in its origin, growth, purpose and mission. For this reason diocesan and parish communities are called to strengthen their commitment to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, especially with the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments and the witness of charity. They should also keep in mind some of the necessary conditions for an authentic pastoral care of vocations.
In the first place, one condition is that the community know how to listen to the Word of God in order to receive the divine light which gives direction to the heart of man. Sacred Scripture is a sure guide, when it is read, welcomed and meditated upon in the Church. Coming to know the events involving the major figures of the Bible and, above all, the reading of the Gospels provide moments of unexpected insights and permit radical personal choices. When the Bible becomes the book of the community then it is easier to hear and comprehend the voice of God who calls.
It is necessary, furthermore, that communities know how to pray intensely for fulfilment of the will of God, accenting the primacy of the spiritual life in daily existence. Prayer offers precious energies towards giving a positive welcome to the Lord's invitation to put oneself at the service of the spiritual, moral and material good of humanity. Liturgical experience is the principal way to educate for prayer. When the liturgy remains isolated it risks impoverishment; but if it is joined with prolonged periods of personal prayer and silence, passed in the presence of the Lord, it becomes the high road which leads to communion with God. The liturgy must become the centre of Christian existence, in order that through it there be created an atmosphere favourable to the making of important decisions.
The community should also be sensitive to the missionary dimension, taking upon itself the burden of the salvation of those who do not yet know Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. In a living and widespread missionary sensitivity there is found another basis for the coming to be and the strengthening of vocations. If the community lives intensely the Lord's commandment "Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19), there will not be lacking within it generous young persons who will offer to take upon themselves the task of proclaiming to the people of our time, not infrequently disheartened or indifferent, the proclamation of the Gospel which is old and yet ever new.
Finally the community must be open to the service of the poor. In presenting the most authentic face of the Christian community committed in all its members to helping brothers and sisters who are tried by need and by suffering, a style of humility, of self-denial, proper to a choice in favour of the poor, contributes towards the creation of an environment particularly favourable to welcoming the gift of a vocation. In fact, "the service of love is the fundamental meaning of every vocation... Consequently, an authentic pastoral work on behalf of vocations will never tire of training boys, adolescents and young men to appreciate commitment, the meaning of free service, the value of sacrifice and unconditional self-giving". (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 40).
5. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21)
Pastoral work on behalf of vocations involves all members of the Church. First of all, the Bishops, who make the Lord Jesus present in the community by means of their ministry as Pastors, and who are the guarantors of the authenticity of the gifts of the Spirit by means of the discernment of charisms. It is their role to promote every appropriate action on behalf of vocations, reminding all the faithful of this fundamental commitment, the principal expression of which remains prayer. In the Church, which is the memorial and sacrament of the presence and the action of Jesus Christ who calls us to follow him, let the Bishops announce, in preaching and in other acts of their teaching, the grace of the ordained ministry and of the various forms of consecrated life; let them invite all the faithful to respond to their particular calls with generous docility to the divine will; let them maintain alive the spirit of prayer and urge the joint responsibility of persons and groups; let them sustain, guide and co-ordinate, by means of the work of the diocesan Directors and other competent persons, the diocesan Centre for the pastoral work of promoting vocations.
Alongside that of the Bishop, the role of priests, diocesan and religious, is of primary importance. Animating the ecclesial communities, there is much they can do in arousing and guiding vocations by means of spiritual counsel and a life joyfully given on behalf of others. To them is often given the delicate task of encouraging girls and boys whom God is calling; these young people must be able to find in them sure and competent spiritual guides as well as authentic witnesses to a life given completely to the Lord.
Important also is the work of catechists, who often have direct and prolonged contact with children, adolescents and young people, above all during their preparation for the sacraments of Christian initiation. To these also is entrusted the task of explaining the value and importance of the special vocations in the Church, thus helping to bring it about that believers live fully the call which God is addressing to them for the good of all.
I wish, finally, to address you, dear young people, and to repeat these words to you with affection: be generous in giving your life to the Lord. Do not be afraid! You have nothing to fear, because God is the Lord of history and of the universe. Let grow in you the desire for great and noble projects. Nourish a sense of solidarity: these are the sign of the divine action in your hearts. Place at the use of your communities the talents which Providence has lavished on you. The more ready you are to give yourselves to God and to others, the more you will discover the authentic meaning of life. God expects much of you!
6. "Pray the Lord of the harvest..." (Mt 9:38)
I conclude my reflections, inviting you, dear brothers and sisters, to commit your communities to the Lord in prayer, so that united according to the example of the first Christian community in an assiduous listening to the Word of God and in the invocation of the Holy Spirit, with the aid of the Virgin Mary, they may be blessed with an abundance of vocations to the priestly and religious life.
To the Lord Jesus I raise my fervent prayer to obtain the precious gift of many and holy vocations:
Lord, you have willed to save men
and have founded the Church as a communion
of brothers and sisters united in your Love.
Continue to walk in our midst
and call those whom you have chosen
to be the voice of your Holy Spirit
and leaven of a more just and fraternal society.
Obtain for us from the heavenly Father
the spiritual guides which our communities need:
true priests of the living God who,
illuminated by your Word, will be able to speak
of you and teach others to speak with you.
Make your Church grow by means
of a flourishing of consecrated persons,
who will give all things over to you
so that you might save all.
May our communities celebrate the Eucharist
in song and praise, as thanksgiving to your glory and goodness,
and may they know how to walk the paths
of the world to communicate joy and Peace,
precious gifts of your salvation.
Look, O Lord, upon the whole human family
and show your mercy to the men and women who
in prayer and righteous living seek you without
yet having encountered you:
show yourself to them as the way
which leads to the Father, as the truth which makes us free,
as the life which has no end.
Grant to us, Lord, to live in your Church
in a spirit of faithful service and of total gift,
so that our witness will be credible and bear fruit. Amen!
To all I send with affection a special Apostolic Blessing.
Castel Gandolfo, 15 August 1995, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXIII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the world!
1. Vocations in the Christian Community
Just as the seed produces abundant fruit in good soil, so vocations arise and mature in good number in the Christian community.
It is indeed in the Christian community that there is made manifest the mystery of the Father who calls, of the Son who sends, and of the Spirit who consecrates: "The vocation, the call of God, is born in an experience of community, and generates a commitment to the universal Church and to a certain community" (Final Declaration of the First Latin American Continental Congress on Vocations, n. 24).
It is necessary, therefore, that on every level there be manifest, that there develop and grow a deep sense of the Church, a generous openness to the pastoral needs of the People of God, a mutual and honest collaboration between diocesan and religious clergy, in order to support the journey of faith of the men and women who decide to follow Christ, consecrating themselves to him with undivided heart.
2. "And like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house" (1 Pt 2:5)
We must begin again with the communities in order to prepare the fertile soil in which God's action will be able to expand with power and his call be welcomed and understood. "Without doubt a mending of the Christian fabric of society is urgently needed in all parts of the world. But for this to come about what is needed is to first remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community itself" (Christifideles laici, n. 34.).
Truly, the vast field of pastoral action for fostering vocations has yet to be fully appreciated in some of its aspects, even though there is a greater awareness of this dimension of the Christian life and a greater number of initiatives in its regard. The discovery of one's own vocation, whatever it may be, cannot leave one unaware of the other evangelical choices necessary for the Church's identity as instrument and image of the kingdom of God in the world.
Only living Christian communities are able to carefully welcome vocations and then accompany them in their development, as mothers attentive to the growth and happiness of their offspring. "The pastoral work of promoting vocations has as its active agents, as its protagonists, the ecclesial community as such, in its various expressions: from the universal Church to the particular Church and, by analogy from the particular Church to each of its parishes and to every part of the people of God" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
Our communities, however, must have a stronger belief in the importance of various plans of Christian life and of ecclesial roles, ministries, charisms, which are stirred up by the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries and recognized by the Pastors of the Church as legitimate and authentic. Even now, while society is undergoing rapid and profound transformation, in the community of believers the proposal of the Christian way of life must conquer every kind of passive resignation, and with confidence and courage give full meaning to existence by announcing the presence and action of God in the life of human persons.
Today, in the face of the challenges of the contemporary world, a greater amount of evangelical boldness is needed in order to arrive at the commitment to promoting vocations in accordance with the Lord's injunction to ask ceaselessly for labourers for the spread of the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 9:37-38).
3. "Once you were no people but now you are God's people" (1 Pt 2:10)
The Christian vocation a gift of God is the heritage of all. Whether married or ordained, priests or religious, all are chosen by God to proclaim the Gospel and to communicate salvation; not alone, however, but in the Church and with the Church. "The work of evangelization is not an individual activity; it is essentially ecclesial" (Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 60). Along with God's universal call to live and witness to the proclamation of salvation there are particular vocations with specific responsibilities within the Church; these are fruit of a special grace and require an additional moral and spiritual commitment. They are the vocations to the priesthood, the religious life, to the work of the missions and to the contemplative life.
These particular vocations call for respect and acceptance, for the full availability of bringing one's own existence into play, for an unremitting prayer of petition. They also presuppose a loving attention to and a wise and prudent discernent of the seeds of vocation present in the hearts of so many children and young people. "There is an urgent need, especially nowadays, for a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all the members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
Some think that because God knows whom to call and when to call, there is nothing more for us to do than to wait. But they forget that the sovereign divine initiative does not dispense man from the task of responding to it. In fact, many who are called arrive at the awareness of the divine choice by means of favourable circumstances, determined also by the life of the Christian community.
In many young people, disoriented by consumerism and by the crisis in ideals, the search for an authentic life-style can mature, if it is sustained by a coherent and joyful witness of the Christian community in its openness to listen to the cry of a world thirsting for truth and justice. In this case, it is easy for the heart to open itself to welcome with generosity the gift of a consecrated vocation.
4. "Brothers, consider your call" (1 Cor 1:26)
The Church must show its proper and authentic face in the daily striving for fidelity to God and to men. When it accomplishes such a mission with profound consistency, it becomes the favourable terrain for the birth of courageous choices of unreserved commitment for the Gospel and for the people of God.
By means of the special vocations the Lord assures the Church's continuity and strength and, at the same time, he opens it to the old and the new needs of the world, so that the Church can be a sign of the living God and contribute to the building of the city of man as the "civilization of love".
Every vocation is born, is nourished and develops in the Church and is linked to the Church in its origin, growth, purpose and mission. For this reason diocesan and parish communities are called to strengthen their commitment to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, especially with the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments and the witness of charity. They should also keep in mind some of the necessary conditions for an authentic pastoral care of vocations.
In the first place, one condition is that the community know how to listen to the Word of God in order to receive the divine light which gives direction to the heart of man. Sacred Scripture is a sure guide, when it is read, welcomed and meditated upon in the Church. Coming to know the events involving the major figures of the Bible and, above all, the reading of the Gospels provide moments of unexpected insights and permit radical personal choices. When the Bible becomes the book of the community then it is easier to hear and comprehend the voice of God who calls.
It is necessary, furthermore, that communities know how to pray intensely for fulfilment of the will of God, accenting the primacy of the spiritual life in daily existence. Prayer offers precious energies towards giving a positive welcome to the Lord's invitation to put oneself at the service of the spiritual, moral and material good of humanity. Liturgical experience is the principal way to educate for prayer. When the liturgy remains isolated it risks impoverishment; but if it is joined with prolonged periods of personal prayer and silence, passed in the presence of the Lord, it becomes the high road which leads to communion with God. The liturgy must become the centre of Christian existence, in order that through it there be created an atmosphere favourable to the making of important decisions.
The community should also be sensitive to the missionary dimension, taking upon itself the burden of the salvation of those who do not yet know Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. In a living and widespread missionary sensitivity there is found another basis for the coming to be and the strengthening of vocations. If the community lives intensely the Lord's commandment "Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19), there will not be lacking within it generous young persons who will offer to take upon themselves the task of proclaiming to the people of our time, not infrequently disheartened or indifferent, the proclamation of the Gospel which is old and yet ever new.
Finally the community must be open to the service of the poor. In presenting the most authentic face of the Christian community committed in all its members to helping brothers and sisters who are tried by need and by suffering, a style of humility, of self-denial, proper to a choice in favour of the poor, contributes towards the creation of an environment particularly favourable to welcoming the gift of a vocation. In fact, "the service of love is the fundamental meaning of every vocation... Consequently, an authentic pastoral work on behalf of vocations will never tire of training boys, adolescents and young men to appreciate commitment, the meaning of free service, the value of sacrifice and unconditional self-giving". (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 40).
5. "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (Jn 20:21)
Pastoral work on behalf of vocations involves all members of the Church. First of all, the Bishops, who make the Lord Jesus present in the community by means of their ministry as Pastors, and who are the guarantors of the authenticity of the gifts of the Spirit by means of the discernment of charisms. It is their role to promote every appropriate action on behalf of vocations, reminding all the faithful of this fundamental commitment, the principal expression of which remains prayer. In the Church, which is the memorial and sacrament of the presence and the action of Jesus Christ who calls us to follow him, let the Bishops announce, in preaching and in other acts of their teaching, the grace of the ordained ministry and of the various forms of consecrated life; let them invite all the faithful to respond to their particular calls with generous docility to the divine will; let them maintain alive the spirit of prayer and urge the joint responsibility of persons and groups; let them sustain, guide and co-ordinate, by means of the work of the diocesan Directors and other competent persons, the diocesan Centre for the pastoral work of promoting vocations.
Alongside that of the Bishop, the role of priests, diocesan and religious, is of primary importance. Animating the ecclesial communities, there is much they can do in arousing and guiding vocations by means of spiritual counsel and a life joyfully given on behalf of others. To them is often given the delicate task of encouraging girls and boys whom God is calling; these young people must be able to find in them sure and competent spiritual guides as well as authentic witnesses to a life given completely to the Lord.
Important also is the work of catechists, who often have direct and prolonged contact with children, adolescents and young people, above all during their preparation for the sacraments of Christian initiation. To these also is entrusted the task of explaining the value and importance of the special vocations in the Church, thus helping to bring it about that believers live fully the call which God is addressing to them for the good of all.
I wish, finally, to address you, dear young people, and to repeat these words to you with affection: be generous in giving your life to the Lord. Do not be afraid! You have nothing to fear, because God is the Lord of history and of the universe. Let grow in you the desire for great and noble projects. Nourish a sense of solidarity: these are the sign of the divine action in your hearts. Place at the use of your communities the talents which Providence has lavished on you. The more ready you are to give yourselves to God and to others, the more you will discover the authentic meaning of life. God expects much of you!
6. "Pray the Lord of the harvest..." (Mt 9:38)
I conclude my reflections, inviting you, dear brothers and sisters, to commit your communities to the Lord in prayer, so that united according to the example of the first Christian community in an assiduous listening to the Word of God and in the invocation of the Holy Spirit, with the aid of the Virgin Mary, they may be blessed with an abundance of vocations to the priestly and religious life.
To the Lord Jesus I raise my fervent prayer to obtain the precious gift of many and holy vocations:
Lord, you have willed to save men
and have founded the Church as a communion
of brothers and sisters united in your Love.
Continue to walk in our midst
and call those whom you have chosen
to be the voice of your Holy Spirit
and leaven of a more just and fraternal society.
Obtain for us from the heavenly Father
the spiritual guides which our communities need:
true priests of the living God who,
illuminated by your Word, will be able to speak
of you and teach others to speak with you.
Make your Church grow by means
of a flourishing of consecrated persons,
who will give all things over to you
so that you might save all.
May our communities celebrate the Eucharist
in song and praise, as thanksgiving to your glory and goodness,
and may they know how to walk the paths
of the world to communicate joy and Peace,
precious gifts of your salvation.
Look, O Lord, upon the whole human family
and show your mercy to the men and women who
in prayer and righteous living seek you without
yet having encountered you:
show yourself to them as the way
which leads to the Father, as the truth which makes us free,
as the life which has no end.
Grant to us, Lord, to live in your Church
in a spirit of faithful service and of total gift,
so that our witness will be credible and bear fruit. Amen!
To all I send with affection a special Apostolic Blessing.
Castel Gandolfo, 15 August 1995, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Franciscan Friars of the Renewal Vocations E-letter
Interested in receiving a vocations E-letter from the Franciscan Friars Renewal? Click on the picture above, enter your email address, and soon enough you'll be receiving them from Fr. Luke Mary Fletcher, CFR - Vocations Director for the Friars.New Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Raleigh
As of today, the Diocese of Raleigh has a new Director of Vocations, Fr. Ned Shlesinger. Under the leadership of Bishop Burbidge, Fr. Shlesinger will usher in a new era for vocations work in the Diocese. There have already been fruitful signs in the six months since Bishop Burbidge's arrival that we will see an increase in vocations.
To see Fr. Shlesinger's homily from the recent First Friday Vocations Holy Hour click here. This past VHH was preceded by Stations of the Cross, led by Bishop Burbidge. Once again the Cathedral was full, as the faithful of the Diocese continue to invest prayerful time before the Most Blessed Sacrament in an effort to create a culture of vocations. No question that is already happening.
Bishop Burbidge and Fr. Shlesinger at the "Men in Black" vocations basketball game.
Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Three
By Fr. Kyle Schnippel
Marital Imagery of the Priesthood
Michael Novak, writing in the Journal First Things, comments on the meeting between Pope John Paul II and Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in May 1992. In the interim period between Inter Insigniores and this meeting, the Anglican Communion had progressed on its movement towards the acceptance of women into the sacramental priesthood. In response, he noted an unnamed Vatican official as saying that "the Catholic Church, for fundamental theological reasons, does not believe it has a right to authorize such ordination." Novak continues:
For fundamental theological reasons. One wonders what these reasons are. Apart from a splendid essay ("Priestesses in the Church?") by C. S. Lewis, one scarcely ever encounters a theological argument against the proposition that women should be ordained priests. One hears about "tradition," and about the "example" of Jesus Christ — these are solid reasons, but not wholly persuasive. The inquiring mind is restless until it comes to understand the theological reasons why Jesus did as He did, and why the tradition is as it is.
Until the Church is able to articulate a consistent, deep and prayerful theological approach to this question, it will continue to be debated by those who wish, against the wisdom of the ages, for the teaching to change.
Novak formulates the answer to this challenge in three parts: first, the Catholic priest has not only a ministerial duty, but also a representative, liturgical role; second, the maleness of the priesthood is consistent with the metaphors of gender through which, predominantly, God has chosen to reveal Himself; and finally, in the Incarnation, God did not chose to come as a gender-neutral 'person,' he chose to come in male flesh, as a Son. While none of these arguments is persuasive, when taken as a whole, they begin to have a weight of persuasion.
Unfortunately, in the time since Novak's article was published in April of 1993, this question has lain mostly dormant. Advances in theological understanding, specifically with respect to John Paul's groundbreaking approach in The Theology of the Body have yet to be adequately applied to the priesthood. It may seem strange to apply a teaching on love and marriage to the priesthood, but when one considers the spousal nature of the priest as wedded to the Church, and hence also to the community that the priest has been chosen to lead, this becomes a necessary aspect of any theology of the priesthood.
As I preach on Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life, one of the topics I mention is celibacy, or those who "renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 19:12). This call to the celibate life is a counsel, not a command, and is therefore a choice that is proper to a rather exceptional vocation, and not a call that is universal and ordinary for all the faithful. There is a supernatural dimension to this choice as well, for it is done "for the sake of the Kingdom," and not for the glory of the one chosen.
In response to this, the priest becomes, in a spiritual sense, wedded to the Church. He is called to give his life completely for the life of his people, so that he gives life not just to one specific nuclear family, but to the family of the Church. In this, he is to the lead the People of God closer to their home in heaven. The priest is not just a functionary, but is a representative of Christ himself, leading the people closer to Himself. Back to Pope Paul VI:
The Christian priesthood is therefore of a sacramental nature: the priest is a sign, the supernatural effectiveness of which comes from the ordination received, but a sign that must be perceptible and which the faithful must be able to recognize with ease. The whole sacramental economy is in fact based upon natural signs, on symbols imprinted upon the human psychology: "Sacramental signs," says Saint Thomas, "represent what they signify by natural resemblance". The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this "natural resemblance" which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man. (Inter Insigniores 5)
There must be a resonance between what we say and do, a natural convergence between our beliefs and our practices. Because Christ is inescapably a man, in order to more fully act in persona Christi, the priesthood also is appropriately reserved to men.
In the Economy of Salvation, the process of how our salvation was won by Christ's saving death on the Cross, Jesus is the author of the Covenant, the Bridegroom and Head of the Church, and his saving death is made most real to us today in the Sacrificial Banquet of the Eucharist. Therefore, as Christ continues to lead and guide His Church, that role of leadership is properly filled by a man. It is important to note, however, that this role of leadership does not signify a personal superiority over others, but that the priest has a unique role to play in the way the Salvation won by Christ is meted out to the world today.
Finally, it is important to reiterate the point made at the beginning of this article: no one has a right to the priesthood. The authentic call to the Vocation is a call that is based in service to God and His Church, it is a desire to lay down one's life for something that is greater than the individual, for he gives himself completely to Christ. In this, the priest becomes a sign and symbol of Christ himself, wedded to the Church, and giving life to the faithful.
Fr. Kyle Schnippel is the vocations director for the diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio.
From CatholicExchange.com
Why Does the Catholic Church Ordain Only Men to the Priesthood? Part Two
By Fr. Kyle Schnippel
In our discussion of Inter Insigniores, we have so far examined why the teaching needed to be emphasized, as well as some of the Biblical roots for the teaching.
As we continue, two questions arise: is the attitude of Jesus and the Apostles important, and does this attitude have a permanent value? Some traditions, like requiring women to wear veils, have been changed, while others, especially those related to sacraments, have permanent value and cannot be changed. For example, the Church cannot change from using bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Pope Paul lifts up that the all-male hierarchical priesthood is not merely functionary, but also has a sacramental sign-value, which is much deeper than merely a conventional sign: "This norm, based on Christ's example, has been and is still observed because it is considered to conform to God's plan." An all-male priesthood is accepted as God's design; therefore the Church lacks the power or right to change it. For the priesthood is a connection not only for the community of believers themselves, but also a connection to the history of our salvation in Christ. The priesthood is, in fact, the way the community of believers is connected to The Event of our salvation, Christ's Crucifixion. Pope Paul surmises:
In the final analysis it is the Church, through the voice of her Magisterium, that, in these various domains, decides what can change and what must remain immutable. When she judges that she cannot accept certain changes, it is because she knows that she is bound by Christ's manner of acting. Her attitude, despite appearances, is therefore not one of archaism but of fidelity: it can be truly understood only in this light. The Church makes pronouncements in virtue of the Lord's promise and the presence of the Holy Spirit, in order to proclaim better the mystery of Christ and to safeguard and manifest the whole of its rich content.
The changing of the question back to one of fidelity to the promise that Christ has given allows for a freedom for the Church to continue to grow in our awareness of how Christ continues to lead and guide His Church through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Paul VI's hope that this document would quiet the movement for women's ordination in the Catholic Church went unfounded. As the movement progressed in the various Christian sects, there were renewed calls for this question to be reexamined in the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II addressed the question in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (On the Reserving of Priestly Ordination to Men Alone (1994)). In this document, the Holy Father quotes extensively from his predecessor, but adds the following:
Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.
Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful. (4)
In matters of such a strong statement, recourse must be made to see what implications this wording has for the faithful. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger issued a clarifier that this definitively settled the question of women's ordination for the Catholic Church. The dogma of Papal Infallibility, decreed at the First Vatican Council, and reaffirmed at the Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium:
In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra.
... And therefore [The Pope's] definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment.
...To these definitions the assent of the Church can never be wanting. (LG 25)
Over the last thirty years, the teaching of the Church on this subject has been necessarily clarified due to the confusion among the faithful. To this teaching, we are to gladly give our assent.
Fr. Kyle Schnippel is the vocations director for the diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio.
From CatholicExchange.com
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the World,
"Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:38). With these words of the Lord I address myself to the whole Church, which on next 7 May, the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, will celebrate the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations on the theme: "Pastoral care of young people and pastoral care of vocations are complementary".
1. Ten years have now passed since the United Nations Organization proclaimed 1985 as "International Year of Youth". On that occasion I sent a letter to the young men and women of the world to fix with them the joyful annual appointment of the World Youth Day.
At the conclusion of the decade I wish to give thanks to the Lord for the hope which that initiative sowed and caused to grow in the hearts of young people, and, on the occasion of the next World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I invite all to reflect on the close relationship which connects the pastoral care of young people and the pastoral care of vocations.
Having, on various occasions, called upon young people throughout the world to meditate on Christ's meeting with the young man (cf. Mk 10:17-22; Mt 19:16-22; Lk 18:18-23), I have already had the opportunity to underline that youth attains its true richness when it is seen principally as a time of vocational reflection.
The young man's question: "What must I do to have eternal life?" uncovers a constitutive dimension of youth itself. The young man means, in fact: "What must I do so that my life may have meaning? What is God's plan for my life? What is his will?".
The dialogue which grows out of the young man's question offers Jesus the occasion to reveal the special intensity with which God loves those who are able to pose for themselves in vocational terms the question about their own future: "Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him". The one who lives with this vocational tension, taking it seriously, finds in the heart of Christ a care which is full of tenderness. A little later Jesus also reveals God's response to whoever lives his or her own youth as a favourable time of spiritual orientation. The response is: "Follow me!".
It is in following Jesus that youth displays all the richness of its potentiality and acquires its full meaning.
It is in following Jesus that the young discover the sense of a life lived as a gift of self, and experience the beauty and truth of growing in love.
It is in following Jesus that they feel themselves called to communion with him as living members of a single body, which is the Church.
It is in following Jesus that it will be possible for them to understand the personal call to love: in matrimony, in the consecrated life, in the ordained ministry, in the mission ad gentes.
2. That dialogue shows however that Jesus' care and tenderness can remain unanswered. And what is sad is the inheritance of life choices which distance us from him.
How many motives, even today, hold back adolescents and young people from living the truth of their age in generous adherence to Christ. How many still do not know of whom to ask that question the "rich young man" put to Jesus! How many people's young days are at risk of losing out on an authentic growth!
And yet how many expectations! The desire to give a meaning to its existence remains strong in the heart of every new generation. In the course of their journey young people look for someone who will know how to speak with them about the problems which worry them and to propose solutions, values, perspectives which are worth staking one's future on.
What is needed today is a Church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his Body which is the Church, to propose the possibility of a choice which will require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the Church must become today the traveling companion of young people, who are often marked by confusion, resistance and contradictions, in order to announce to them the ever-astonishing "news" of the risen Christ.
This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.
3. This commitment of the Church for young people, with the necessary attention to elements of a pedagogical and methodological order, can in no way fail to acknowledge that pastoral care of the various vocations is a primary duty. Nor can it fail to pay constant and specific attention to vocations to the ordained ministry and to the life of special consecration, which of their nature require a particular care.
A plan of pastoral care of young people cannot but have as its ultimate objective the maturation of a deep, decisive personal dialogue of the young man or young woman with the Lord. The vocational dimension is thus an integral part of the pastoral care of the young, to the point that one can say in synthesis: the specific pastoral care of vocations finds its vital context in the pastoral care of youth, and this pastoral care of young people is complete and efficacious when it is open to the vocational dimension.
A natural predisposition for the discovery of what is new, what is true, beautiful and good manifests itself with adolescence; at this age the first experiences which will mark the stages of growth towards the interiorization of faith take place. The Christian community has much to say and to give to the young people who are living these new experiences, precisely because the Gospel of vocation can give a response to the questions, to the expectations and to adolescent and youthful restlessness. The Christian community is the guardian and messenger of this response, because it is sent by the Lord to reveal the ultimate meaning of life to the adolescent and the young person, thereby directing him to the discovery of his own vocation within the context of daily life. Every life, in fact, shows itself to be a vocation to be known and followed, because an existence without a vocation can never be authentic.
The Christian community is called to make possible the meeting of the young person with Jesus, making itself the mediator of the call and the teacher of the response which he awaits. It has the mission of bringing young people to the discovery of their personal call to be Church. The Christian community is thus the natural setting in which young people can complete their educational journey, discovering the greatest riches of their particular age and responding to that vocation which the God of life, from the creation of the world, has provided for each one.
4. The paths of the pastoral care of the young, conceived and put into effect in the particular Churches, in parish communities, in Church organizations and in institutes of consecrated life cannot fail to take into account this objective and these ideas.
It is the task of educators, in the fulfilment of their respective roles, to guide the maturation of different vocations, giving particular attention to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Even if their activity does not directly bring about a response, it can, however, faciliate it, at times to the point of making it possible. The fruit is always something new, original and fundamentally gratuitous: in the course of its coming into being, this fruit is exposed to all the uncertainties of any growth. In this regard, one must reject the temptation to a hurried impatience and an anxious worrying about the outcome and the rhythm of the growth of the seed.
From time to time the educator is called to be diligent in sowing the seed abundantly and wisely and then in fulfilling his duty without forcing the rhythm of growth. His greatest aspiration will be that of creating educational journeys which can bring about the young person's discovering the heart of God, so that fulfilling the will of God, he may succeed in perceiving the immense joy of the gift that is life and of the life that makes itself a gift.
Sustained by the certitude that the heavenly Father continues to call very many young people to follow more closely in the footsteps of Christ his Son in the sacred ministry, in the profession of the evangelical counsels and in missionary life, I entrust to all the responsible authorities and to those engaged in the pastoral care of youth and of vocations the task, at the same time fascinating and demanding, of stirring up vocations. This must be done in such a way that there be "a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
5. I am certain that in this World Day of Prayer for Vocations the first place will be given to prayer. Let the whole Church pray with trusting hope, aware that vocations are a gift to be begged for with prayer and to be merited with holiness of life.
To Mary, who in her youth lived out the extraordinary call to be all for God and all for man in the wondrous mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, I entrust all the young people of the world and all those who, journeying with them, make themselves their guides on the path to perfection.
May "the Mother of the Redeemer" make intercession so that in the Church life might beget new life and all members of the Body of Christ may know how to show the world that there is no true humanity unless there is commitment to live as God wills.
Let us pray
O Virgin of Nazareth,
the "yes" spoken in youth marked your
existence and it grew as did your life itself.
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful "yes"
and in your active faith so many generations
and so many educators have found inspiration
and strength for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling his will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce the "yes"
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden "name" of God
in the heart of every person.
O Queen of the Apostles, give us wise educators,
who will know how to love young people and help them grow,
guiding them to the encounter with Truth which makes one free and happy.
Amen!
With these wishes, from my heart I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, you priests, deacons, religious men and women and to all the lay faithful, in particular to the young men and young women, who with a docile heart, listen to the voice of God and are ready to welcome it with a generous and faithful adherence.
From Vatican City, 18 October 1994, the seventeenth year of my Pontificate.
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the World,
"Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:38). With these words of the Lord I address myself to the whole Church, which on next 7 May, the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, will celebrate the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations on the theme: "Pastoral care of young people and pastoral care of vocations are complementary".
1. Ten years have now passed since the United Nations Organization proclaimed 1985 as "International Year of Youth". On that occasion I sent a letter to the young men and women of the world to fix with them the joyful annual appointment of the World Youth Day.
At the conclusion of the decade I wish to give thanks to the Lord for the hope which that initiative sowed and caused to grow in the hearts of young people, and, on the occasion of the next World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I invite all to reflect on the close relationship which connects the pastoral care of young people and the pastoral care of vocations.
Having, on various occasions, called upon young people throughout the world to meditate on Christ's meeting with the young man (cf. Mk 10:17-22; Mt 19:16-22; Lk 18:18-23), I have already had the opportunity to underline that youth attains its true richness when it is seen principally as a time of vocational reflection.
The young man's question: "What must I do to have eternal life?" uncovers a constitutive dimension of youth itself. The young man means, in fact: "What must I do so that my life may have meaning? What is God's plan for my life? What is his will?".
The dialogue which grows out of the young man's question offers Jesus the occasion to reveal the special intensity with which God loves those who are able to pose for themselves in vocational terms the question about their own future: "Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him". The one who lives with this vocational tension, taking it seriously, finds in the heart of Christ a care which is full of tenderness. A little later Jesus also reveals God's response to whoever lives his or her own youth as a favourable time of spiritual orientation. The response is: "Follow me!".
It is in following Jesus that youth displays all the richness of its potentiality and acquires its full meaning.
It is in following Jesus that the young discover the sense of a life lived as a gift of self, and experience the beauty and truth of growing in love.
It is in following Jesus that they feel themselves called to communion with him as living members of a single body, which is the Church.
It is in following Jesus that it will be possible for them to understand the personal call to love: in matrimony, in the consecrated life, in the ordained ministry, in the mission ad gentes.
2. That dialogue shows however that Jesus' care and tenderness can remain unanswered. And what is sad is the inheritance of life choices which distance us from him.
How many motives, even today, hold back adolescents and young people from living the truth of their age in generous adherence to Christ. How many still do not know of whom to ask that question the "rich young man" put to Jesus! How many people's young days are at risk of losing out on an authentic growth!
And yet how many expectations! The desire to give a meaning to its existence remains strong in the heart of every new generation. In the course of their journey young people look for someone who will know how to speak with them about the problems which worry them and to propose solutions, values, perspectives which are worth staking one's future on.
What is needed today is a Church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his Body which is the Church, to propose the possibility of a choice which will require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the Church must become today the traveling companion of young people, who are often marked by confusion, resistance and contradictions, in order to announce to them the ever-astonishing "news" of the risen Christ.
This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.
3. This commitment of the Church for young people, with the necessary attention to elements of a pedagogical and methodological order, can in no way fail to acknowledge that pastoral care of the various vocations is a primary duty. Nor can it fail to pay constant and specific attention to vocations to the ordained ministry and to the life of special consecration, which of their nature require a particular care.
A plan of pastoral care of young people cannot but have as its ultimate objective the maturation of a deep, decisive personal dialogue of the young man or young woman with the Lord. The vocational dimension is thus an integral part of the pastoral care of the young, to the point that one can say in synthesis: the specific pastoral care of vocations finds its vital context in the pastoral care of youth, and this pastoral care of young people is complete and efficacious when it is open to the vocational dimension.
A natural predisposition for the discovery of what is new, what is true, beautiful and good manifests itself with adolescence; at this age the first experiences which will mark the stages of growth towards the interiorization of faith take place. The Christian community has much to say and to give to the young people who are living these new experiences, precisely because the Gospel of vocation can give a response to the questions, to the expectations and to adolescent and youthful restlessness. The Christian community is the guardian and messenger of this response, because it is sent by the Lord to reveal the ultimate meaning of life to the adolescent and the young person, thereby directing him to the discovery of his own vocation within the context of daily life. Every life, in fact, shows itself to be a vocation to be known and followed, because an existence without a vocation can never be authentic.
The Christian community is called to make possible the meeting of the young person with Jesus, making itself the mediator of the call and the teacher of the response which he awaits. It has the mission of bringing young people to the discovery of their personal call to be Church. The Christian community is thus the natural setting in which young people can complete their educational journey, discovering the greatest riches of their particular age and responding to that vocation which the God of life, from the creation of the world, has provided for each one.
4. The paths of the pastoral care of the young, conceived and put into effect in the particular Churches, in parish communities, in Church organizations and in institutes of consecrated life cannot fail to take into account this objective and these ideas.
It is the task of educators, in the fulfilment of their respective roles, to guide the maturation of different vocations, giving particular attention to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Even if their activity does not directly bring about a response, it can, however, faciliate it, at times to the point of making it possible. The fruit is always something new, original and fundamentally gratuitous: in the course of its coming into being, this fruit is exposed to all the uncertainties of any growth. In this regard, one must reject the temptation to a hurried impatience and an anxious worrying about the outcome and the rhythm of the growth of the seed.
From time to time the educator is called to be diligent in sowing the seed abundantly and wisely and then in fulfilling his duty without forcing the rhythm of growth. His greatest aspiration will be that of creating educational journeys which can bring about the young person's discovering the heart of God, so that fulfilling the will of God, he may succeed in perceiving the immense joy of the gift that is life and of the life that makes itself a gift.
Sustained by the certitude that the heavenly Father continues to call very many young people to follow more closely in the footsteps of Christ his Son in the sacred ministry, in the profession of the evangelical counsels and in missionary life, I entrust to all the responsible authorities and to those engaged in the pastoral care of youth and of vocations the task, at the same time fascinating and demanding, of stirring up vocations. This must be done in such a way that there be "a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
5. I am certain that in this World Day of Prayer for Vocations the first place will be given to prayer. Let the whole Church pray with trusting hope, aware that vocations are a gift to be begged for with prayer and to be merited with holiness of life.
To Mary, who in her youth lived out the extraordinary call to be all for God and all for man in the wondrous mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, I entrust all the young people of the world and all those who, journeying with them, make themselves their guides on the path to perfection.
May "the Mother of the Redeemer" make intercession so that in the Church life might beget new life and all members of the Body of Christ may know how to show the world that there is no true humanity unless there is commitment to live as God wills.
Let us pray
O Virgin of Nazareth,
the "yes" spoken in youth marked your
existence and it grew as did your life itself.
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful "yes"
and in your active faith so many generations
and so many educators have found inspiration
and strength for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling his will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce the "yes"
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden "name" of God
in the heart of every person.
O Queen of the Apostles, give us wise educators,
who will know how to love young people and help them grow,
guiding them to the encounter with Truth which makes one free and happy.
Amen!
With these wishes, from my heart I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, you priests, deacons, religious men and women and to all the lay faithful, in particular to the young men and young women, who with a docile heart, listen to the voice of God and are ready to welcome it with a generous and faithful adherence.
From Vatican City, 18 October 1994, the seventeenth year of my Pontificate.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the World,
"Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:38). With these words of the Lord I address myself to the whole Church, which on next 7 May, the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, will celebrate the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations on the theme: "Pastoral care of young people and pastoral care of vocations are complementary".
1. Ten years have now passed since the United Nations Organization proclaimed 1985 as "International Year of Youth". On that occasion I sent a letter to the young men and women of the world to fix with them the joyful annual appointment of the World Youth Day.
At the conclusion of the decade I wish to give thanks to the Lord for the hope which that initiative sowed and caused to grow in the hearts of young people, and, on the occasion of the next World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I invite all to reflect on the close relationship which connects the pastoral care of young people and the pastoral care of vocations.
Having, on various occasions, called upon young people throughout the world to meditate on Christ's meeting with the young man (cf. Mk 10:17-22; Mt 19:16-22; Lk 18:18-23), I have already had the opportunity to underline that youth attains its true richness when it is seen principally as a time of vocational reflection.
The young man's question: "What must I do to have eternal life?" uncovers a constitutive dimension of youth itself. The young man means, in fact: "What must I do so that my life may have meaning? What is God's plan for my life? What is his will?".
The dialogue which grows out of the young man's question offers Jesus the occasion to reveal the special intensity with which God loves those who are able to pose for themselves in vocational terms the question about their own future: "Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him". The one who lives with this vocational tension, taking it seriously, finds in the heart of Christ a care which is full of tenderness. A little later Jesus also reveals God's response to whoever lives his or her own youth as a favourable time of spiritual orientation. The response is: "Follow me!".
It is in following Jesus that youth displays all the richness of its potentiality and acquires its full meaning.
It is in following Jesus that the young discover the sense of a life lived as a gift of self, and experience the beauty and truth of growing in love.
It is in following Jesus that they feel themselves called to communion with him as living members of a single body, which is the Church.
It is in following Jesus that it will be possible for them to understand the personal call to love: in matrimony, in the consecrated life, in the ordained ministry, in the mission ad gentes.
2. That dialogue shows however that Jesus' care and tenderness can remain unanswered. And what is sad is the inheritance of life choices which distance us from him.
How many motives, even today, hold back adolescents and young people from living the truth of their age in generous adherence to Christ. How many still do not know of whom to ask that question the "rich young man" put to Jesus! How many people's young days are at risk of losing out on an authentic growth!
And yet how many expectations! The desire to give a meaning to its existence remains strong in the heart of every new generation. In the course of their journey young people look for someone who will know how to speak with them about the problems which worry them and to propose solutions, values, perspectives which are worth staking one's future on.
What is needed today is a Church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his Body which is the Church, to propose the possibility of a choice which will require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the Church must become today the traveling companion of young people, who are often marked by confusion, resistance and contradictions, in order to announce to them the ever-astonishing "news" of the risen Christ.
This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.
3. This commitment of the Church for young people, with the necessary attention to elements of a pedagogical and methodological order, can in no way fail to acknowledge that pastoral care of the various vocations is a primary duty. Nor can it fail to pay constant and specific attention to vocations to the ordained ministry and to the life of special consecration, which of their nature require a particular care.
A plan of pastoral care of young people cannot but have as its ultimate objective the maturation of a deep, decisive personal dialogue of the young man or young woman with the Lord. The vocational dimension is thus an integral part of the pastoral care of the young, to the point that one can say in synthesis: the specific pastoral care of vocations finds its vital context in the pastoral care of youth, and this pastoral care of young people is complete and efficacious when it is open to the vocational dimension.
A natural predisposition for the discovery of what is new, what is true, beautiful and good manifests itself with adolescence; at this age the first experiences which will mark the stages of growth towards the interiorization of faith take place. The Christian community has much to say and to give to the young people who are living these new experiences, precisely because the Gospel of vocation can give a response to the questions, to the expectations and to adolescent and youthful restlessness. The Christian community is the guardian and messenger of this response, because it is sent by the Lord to reveal the ultimate meaning of life to the adolescent and the young person, thereby directing him to the discovery of his own vocation within the context of daily life. Every life, in fact, shows itself to be a vocation to be known and followed, because an existence without a vocation can never be authentic.
The Christian community is called to make possible the meeting of the young person with Jesus, making itself the mediator of the call and the teacher of the response which he awaits. It has the mission of bringing young people to the discovery of their personal call to be Church. The Christian community is thus the natural setting in which young people can complete their educational journey, discovering the greatest riches of their particular age and responding to that vocation which the God of life, from the creation of the world, has provided for each one.
4. The paths of the pastoral care of the young, conceived and put into effect in the particular Churches, in parish communities, in Church organizations and in institutes of consecrated life cannot fail to take into account this objective and these ideas.
It is the task of educators, in the fulfilment of their respective roles, to guide the maturation of different vocations, giving particular attention to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Even if their activity does not directly bring about a response, it can, however, faciliate it, at times to the point of making it possible. The fruit is always something new, original and fundamentally gratuitous: in the course of its coming into being, this fruit is exposed to all the uncertainties of any growth. In this regard, one must reject the temptation to a hurried impatience and an anxious worrying about the outcome and the rhythm of the growth of the seed.
From time to time the educator is called to be diligent in sowing the seed abundantly and wisely and then in fulfilling his duty without forcing the rhythm of growth. His greatest aspiration will be that of creating educational journeys which can bring about the young person's discovering the heart of God, so that fulfilling the will of God, he may succeed in perceiving the immense joy of the gift that is life and of the life that makes itself a gift.
Sustained by the certitude that the heavenly Father continues to call very many young people to follow more closely in the footsteps of Christ his Son in the sacred ministry, in the profession of the evangelical counsels and in missionary life, I entrust to all the responsible authorities and to those engaged in the pastoral care of youth and of vocations the task, at the same time fascinating and demanding, of stirring up vocations. This must be done in such a way that there be "a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
5. I am certain that in this World Day of Prayer for Vocations the first place will be given to prayer. Let the whole Church pray with trusting hope, aware that vocations are a gift to be begged for with prayer and to be merited with holiness of life.
To Mary, who in her youth lived out the extraordinary call to be all for God and all for man in the wondrous mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, I entrust all the young people of the world and all those who, journeying with them, make themselves their guides on the path to perfection.
May "the Mother of the Redeemer" make intercession so that in the Church life might beget new life and all members of the Body of Christ may know how to show the world that there is no true humanity unless there is commitment to live as God wills.
Let us pray
O Virgin of Nazareth,
the "yes" spoken in youth marked your
existence and it grew as did your life itself.
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful "yes"
and in your active faith so many generations
and so many educators have found inspiration
and strength for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling his will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce the "yes"
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden "name" of God
in the heart of every person.
O Queen of the Apostles, give us wise educators,
who will know how to love young people and help them grow,
guiding them to the encounter with Truth which makes one free and happy.
Amen!
With these wishes, from my heart I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, you priests, deacons, religious men and women and to all the lay faithful, in particular to the young men and young women, who with a docile heart, listen to the voice of God and are ready to welcome it with a generous and faithful adherence.
From Vatican City, 18 October 1994, the seventeenth year of my Pontificate.
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXII WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters throughout the World,
"Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:38). With these words of the Lord I address myself to the whole Church, which on next 7 May, the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, will celebrate the annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations on the theme: "Pastoral care of young people and pastoral care of vocations are complementary".
1. Ten years have now passed since the United Nations Organization proclaimed 1985 as "International Year of Youth". On that occasion I sent a letter to the young men and women of the world to fix with them the joyful annual appointment of the World Youth Day.
At the conclusion of the decade I wish to give thanks to the Lord for the hope which that initiative sowed and caused to grow in the hearts of young people, and, on the occasion of the next World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I invite all to reflect on the close relationship which connects the pastoral care of young people and the pastoral care of vocations.
Having, on various occasions, called upon young people throughout the world to meditate on Christ's meeting with the young man (cf. Mk 10:17-22; Mt 19:16-22; Lk 18:18-23), I have already had the opportunity to underline that youth attains its true richness when it is seen principally as a time of vocational reflection.
The young man's question: "What must I do to have eternal life?" uncovers a constitutive dimension of youth itself. The young man means, in fact: "What must I do so that my life may have meaning? What is God's plan for my life? What is his will?".
The dialogue which grows out of the young man's question offers Jesus the occasion to reveal the special intensity with which God loves those who are able to pose for themselves in vocational terms the question about their own future: "Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him". The one who lives with this vocational tension, taking it seriously, finds in the heart of Christ a care which is full of tenderness. A little later Jesus also reveals God's response to whoever lives his or her own youth as a favourable time of spiritual orientation. The response is: "Follow me!".
It is in following Jesus that youth displays all the richness of its potentiality and acquires its full meaning.
It is in following Jesus that the young discover the sense of a life lived as a gift of self, and experience the beauty and truth of growing in love.
It is in following Jesus that they feel themselves called to communion with him as living members of a single body, which is the Church.
It is in following Jesus that it will be possible for them to understand the personal call to love: in matrimony, in the consecrated life, in the ordained ministry, in the mission ad gentes.
2. That dialogue shows however that Jesus' care and tenderness can remain unanswered. And what is sad is the inheritance of life choices which distance us from him.
How many motives, even today, hold back adolescents and young people from living the truth of their age in generous adherence to Christ. How many still do not know of whom to ask that question the "rich young man" put to Jesus! How many people's young days are at risk of losing out on an authentic growth!
And yet how many expectations! The desire to give a meaning to its existence remains strong in the heart of every new generation. In the course of their journey young people look for someone who will know how to speak with them about the problems which worry them and to propose solutions, values, perspectives which are worth staking one's future on.
What is needed today is a Church which knows how to respond to the expectations of young people. Jesus wants to enter into dialogue with them and, through his Body which is the Church, to propose the possibility of a choice which will require a commitment of their lives. As Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus, so the Church must become today the traveling companion of young people, who are often marked by confusion, resistance and contradictions, in order to announce to them the ever-astonishing "news" of the risen Christ.
This is what is needed: a Church for young people, which will know how to speak to their heart and enkindle, comfort, and inspire enthusiasm in it with the joy of the Gospel and the strength of the Eucharist; a Church which will know how to invite and to welcome the person who seeks a purpose for which to commit his whole existence; a Church which is not afraid to require much, after having given much; which does not fear asking from young people the effort of a noble and authentic adventure, such as that of the following of the Gospel.
3. This commitment of the Church for young people, with the necessary attention to elements of a pedagogical and methodological order, can in no way fail to acknowledge that pastoral care of the various vocations is a primary duty. Nor can it fail to pay constant and specific attention to vocations to the ordained ministry and to the life of special consecration, which of their nature require a particular care.
A plan of pastoral care of young people cannot but have as its ultimate objective the maturation of a deep, decisive personal dialogue of the young man or young woman with the Lord. The vocational dimension is thus an integral part of the pastoral care of the young, to the point that one can say in synthesis: the specific pastoral care of vocations finds its vital context in the pastoral care of youth, and this pastoral care of young people is complete and efficacious when it is open to the vocational dimension.
A natural predisposition for the discovery of what is new, what is true, beautiful and good manifests itself with adolescence; at this age the first experiences which will mark the stages of growth towards the interiorization of faith take place. The Christian community has much to say and to give to the young people who are living these new experiences, precisely because the Gospel of vocation can give a response to the questions, to the expectations and to adolescent and youthful restlessness. The Christian community is the guardian and messenger of this response, because it is sent by the Lord to reveal the ultimate meaning of life to the adolescent and the young person, thereby directing him to the discovery of his own vocation within the context of daily life. Every life, in fact, shows itself to be a vocation to be known and followed, because an existence without a vocation can never be authentic.
The Christian community is called to make possible the meeting of the young person with Jesus, making itself the mediator of the call and the teacher of the response which he awaits. It has the mission of bringing young people to the discovery of their personal call to be Church. The Christian community is thus the natural setting in which young people can complete their educational journey, discovering the greatest riches of their particular age and responding to that vocation which the God of life, from the creation of the world, has provided for each one.
4. The paths of the pastoral care of the young, conceived and put into effect in the particular Churches, in parish communities, in Church organizations and in institutes of consecrated life cannot fail to take into account this objective and these ideas.
It is the task of educators, in the fulfilment of their respective roles, to guide the maturation of different vocations, giving particular attention to vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Even if their activity does not directly bring about a response, it can, however, faciliate it, at times to the point of making it possible. The fruit is always something new, original and fundamentally gratuitous: in the course of its coming into being, this fruit is exposed to all the uncertainties of any growth. In this regard, one must reject the temptation to a hurried impatience and an anxious worrying about the outcome and the rhythm of the growth of the seed.
From time to time the educator is called to be diligent in sowing the seed abundantly and wisely and then in fulfilling his duty without forcing the rhythm of growth. His greatest aspiration will be that of creating educational journeys which can bring about the young person's discovering the heart of God, so that fulfilling the will of God, he may succeed in perceiving the immense joy of the gift that is life and of the life that makes itself a gift.
Sustained by the certitude that the heavenly Father continues to call very many young people to follow more closely in the footsteps of Christ his Son in the sacred ministry, in the profession of the evangelical counsels and in missionary life, I entrust to all the responsible authorities and to those engaged in the pastoral care of youth and of vocations the task, at the same time fascinating and demanding, of stirring up vocations. This must be done in such a way that there be "a more widespread and deeply felt conviction that all members of the Church, without exception, have the grace and responsibility to look after vocations" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 41).
5. I am certain that in this World Day of Prayer for Vocations the first place will be given to prayer. Let the whole Church pray with trusting hope, aware that vocations are a gift to be begged for with prayer and to be merited with holiness of life.
To Mary, who in her youth lived out the extraordinary call to be all for God and all for man in the wondrous mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word, I entrust all the young people of the world and all those who, journeying with them, make themselves their guides on the path to perfection.
May "the Mother of the Redeemer" make intercession so that in the Church life might beget new life and all members of the Body of Christ may know how to show the world that there is no true humanity unless there is commitment to live as God wills.
Let us pray
O Virgin of Nazareth,
the "yes" spoken in youth marked your
existence and it grew as did your life itself.
O Mother of Jesus,
in your free and joyful "yes"
and in your active faith so many generations
and so many educators have found inspiration
and strength for welcoming the Word of God
and for fulfilling his will.
O Teacher of life,
teach young people to pronounce the "yes"
that gives meaning to existence
and brings them to discover the hidden "name" of God
in the heart of every person.
O Queen of the Apostles, give us wise educators,
who will know how to love young people and help them grow,
guiding them to the encounter with Truth which makes one free and happy.
Amen!
With these wishes, from my heart I impart the Apostolic Blessing to you, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, you priests, deacons, religious men and women and to all the lay faithful, in particular to the young men and young women, who with a docile heart, listen to the voice of God and are ready to welcome it with a generous and faithful adherence.
From Vatican City, 18 October 1994, the seventeenth year of my Pontificate.
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XXXI WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXI WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and
Dear Faithful of the whole world,
The celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations coincides, this year, with an important ecclesial event. It is the inauguration of the "First Continental Latin American Congress on Pastoral Care for Vocations of Special Consecration on the Continent of Hope".
This Assembly has set for itself an ind-epth task of examining, encouraging and promoting vocations. As I express a keen appreciation for this pastoral initiative, which aims at the spiritual good not only of Latin America but of the whole Church, I call upon everyone to support it in common and confident prayer.
The World Day of Prayer takes place, besides, during the International Year of the Family. This affords the opportunity of calling attention to the close relationship which exists between family, education and vocation, and particularly between family and priestly and religious vocations.
In addressing myself to Christian families, I wish thereby to confirm them in their mission of educating the young generations, which are the hope and future of the Church.
1. "This is a great mystery" (Eph 5:32)
In spite of profound historical changes, the family remains the most complete and the richest school of humanity, in which one lives the most significant experience of unselfish love, fidelity, mutual respect and the defence of life. Its particular task is to protect and hand on virtues and values, by means of the education of the children, in such a way as to build up and promote the good of individuals and of the community.
This same responsibility involves, with greater reason, the Christian family, because its members, already consecrated and sanctified in virtue of their Baptism, are called to a particular apostolic vocation by the sacrament of Matrimony (cf. Familiaris consortio, nn. 52, 54).
The family, to the extent to which it becomes conscious of this singular vocation and measures up to it, becomes a community of sanctification in which one learns to live meekness, justice, mercy, chastity, peace, purity of heart (cf. Eph 4:1-4; Familiaris consortio, n. 21). It becomes, in other words, what Saint John Chrysostom called "the domestic church", that is, a place in which Jesus Christ lives and works for the salvation of men and for the growth of the kingdom of God. The members of the family, called to faith and to eternal life, are "sharers in the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:4), they are nourished at the table of the Word of God and of the Sacraments, and they express themselves in that evangelical way of thinking and acting which opens them up to a life of holiness on earth and of eternal happiness in heaven (cf. Eph 1:4-5).
Christian parents, demonstrating a loving care for their children from their earliest years, communicate to them, by word and example, a sincere and lived-out relationship with God, made up of love, fidelity, prayer and obedience (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 35; Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 11). In this way, parents encourage the holiness of their children and render their hearts docile to the voice of the Good Shepherd, who calls every man to follow him and to seek first the kingdom of God.
In the light of this horizon of divine grace and human responsibility, the family can be considered a "garden" or a "first seminary" in which the seeds of vocation, which God sows generously, are able to blossom and grow to full maturity (cf. Optatam totius, n. 2).
2. "Do not conform yourself to this age" (Rom 12:2)
The task of Christian parents is as important as it is sensitive, because they are called to prepare, cultivate and protect the vocations which God stirs up in their family. They must, therefore, enrich themselves and their family with spiritual and moral values, such as a deep and convinced religious spirit, an apostolic and ecclesial consciousness, and a clear idea of what a vocation is.
In fact, for every family, the decisive step to be taken is that of accepting the Lord Jesus as the centre and pattern of life, and in him and with him, becoming conscious of being the privileged place for authentic vocational growth.
The family will fulfil this task if it is constant in its commitment and if it relies always on the grace of God. For Saint Paul declares that "God is the one who, for his good purpose, works... both the will and the deed" (Phil 2:13) and that "the One who began a good work... will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (ibid., 1:6).
But what happens when the family lets itself become involved in consumerism, hedonism and secularism, which upset and block the fulfilment of God's plan?
How sad it is to learn of situations, unfortunately numerous, of families overwhelmed by such phenomena and of the devasting effects! This is certainly one of the greatest concerns of the Christian community. It is above all the families themselves who pay the price of the widespread disorder of ideas and of moral behaviour. But the Church also suffers from this, just as the entire society feels its effects.
How can children, rendered morally orphans, without educators and without models, grow in their esteem for human and Christian values? How can those seeds of vocations, which the Holy Spirit continues to put into the hearts of the young generations, develop in such a climate?
The strength and stability of the fabric of the Christian family represent the primary condition for the growth and maturation of sacred vocations, and they constitute the most pertinent response to the crisis of vocations. As I wrote in the Exhortation Familiaris consortio: "Every local Church and, in more particular terms, every parochial community must become more vividly aware of the grace and reponsibility that it receives from the Lord, so that it might promote the pastoral care of the family. No plan for organized pastoral work at any level must ever fail to take into consideration the pastoral area of the family" (n. 70).
3. "Ask the Master of the harvest, therefore, to send out labourers for his harvest" (Mt 9:38)
The pastoral care of vocations finds its first and natural setting in the family. Indeed, parents should know how to welcome as a grace the gift which God gives them in calling one of their sons or daughters to the priesthood or religious life. Such a grace must be asked for in prayer and received actively, by means of an education which allows the young people to perceive all the richness and joy of consecrating oneself to God.
Parents who welcome the call of a son or daughter to a special consecration for the kingdom of heaven with a sense of gratitude and joy, receive a special sign of the spiritual fruitfulness of their union, as they see it enriched by the experience of love lived out in celibacy and virginity.
These parents discover with amazement that the gift of their love is, as it were, multiplied, thanks to the sacred vocation of their children, beyond the limited dimensions of human love.
To bring families to the awareness of this important aspect of their mission requires a pastoral activity aimed at leading spouses and parents to be "witnesses and co-operators of the fruitfulness of mother Church, as a sign of, and a share in that love with which Christ loved his bride and gave himself for her" (Lumen gentium, n. 41).
The family is the natural "nursery" of vocations. Pastoral care of the family, therefore, should direct a very special attention to the properly vocational aspect of its task.
4. "Let the one who has responsibility in the community show care and diligence" (Rom 12:8)
Walking together, following Christ, towards the Father is the most appropriate vocational programme. If priests, religious men and women, missionaries and committed laity concern themselves with the family and intensify the forms of dialogue and of a common seeking to live the Gospel, the family will be enriched with those values which will help it to be the first "seminary" of vocations and of consecrated life.
Let priests, diocesan and religious, take to the problems of family life, so that, by means of the proclamation of the Gospel, they might give light to Christian spouses about their peculiar responsibilities, and thus the parents, well formed in the faith, will be able to guide their sons and daughters who might be called to give themselves unreservedly to God.
Let all consecrated persons, who are particularly close to and accepted by families because of their apostolic service in schools, hospitals, institutions of assistance and parishes offer joyful witness of their total gift to Christ. Let them, with their lives lived according to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, be a sign of and call to eternal values for Christian spouses.
Let the parish community sense itself responsible for this mission to the family and support it with long-term projects, without being too concerned about immediate results.
I entrust to committed Christians, catechists and young couples the task of catechesis in the family. With their generous and faithful service they will help children to have their first taste of a religious and ecclesial experience.
My thought goes in a special way towards my venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, as the ones first responsible for the promotion of vocations, and I recommend that they make every effort to see to it that the pastoral care of vocations be systematically joined with that of the family.
Let us pray
O Holy Family of Nazareth, community of love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, model and ideal of every Christian family, to you we entrust our families.
Open the heart of every family to the faith, to welcoming the word of God, to Christian witness, so that it become a source of new and holy vocations.
Touch the hearts of parents, so that with prompt charity, wise care, and loving devotion they be for their sons and daughters sure guides towards spiritual and eternal values.
Stir up in the hearts of young people a right conscience and a free will, so that growing in "wisdom, age and grace", they might welcome generously the gift of a divine vocation.
Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that all of us, contemplating and imitating the assiduous prayer, generous obedience, dignified poverty and virginal purity lived out in your midst, might set about fulfilling the will of God and accompanying with far-sighted sensitivity those among us who are called to follow more closely the Lord Jesus, who "has given himself for us" (cf. Gal 2:20).
Amen!
Given at the Vatican, 26 December, Feast of the Holy Family, in the year 1993, the sixteenth of my Pontificate.
OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
FOR THE XXXI WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and
Dear Faithful of the whole world,
The celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations coincides, this year, with an important ecclesial event. It is the inauguration of the "First Continental Latin American Congress on Pastoral Care for Vocations of Special Consecration on the Continent of Hope".
This Assembly has set for itself an ind-epth task of examining, encouraging and promoting vocations. As I express a keen appreciation for this pastoral initiative, which aims at the spiritual good not only of Latin America but of the whole Church, I call upon everyone to support it in common and confident prayer.
The World Day of Prayer takes place, besides, during the International Year of the Family. This affords the opportunity of calling attention to the close relationship which exists between family, education and vocation, and particularly between family and priestly and religious vocations.
In addressing myself to Christian families, I wish thereby to confirm them in their mission of educating the young generations, which are the hope and future of the Church.
1. "This is a great mystery" (Eph 5:32)
In spite of profound historical changes, the family remains the most complete and the richest school of humanity, in which one lives the most significant experience of unselfish love, fidelity, mutual respect and the defence of life. Its particular task is to protect and hand on virtues and values, by means of the education of the children, in such a way as to build up and promote the good of individuals and of the community.
This same responsibility involves, with greater reason, the Christian family, because its members, already consecrated and sanctified in virtue of their Baptism, are called to a particular apostolic vocation by the sacrament of Matrimony (cf. Familiaris consortio, nn. 52, 54).
The family, to the extent to which it becomes conscious of this singular vocation and measures up to it, becomes a community of sanctification in which one learns to live meekness, justice, mercy, chastity, peace, purity of heart (cf. Eph 4:1-4; Familiaris consortio, n. 21). It becomes, in other words, what Saint John Chrysostom called "the domestic church", that is, a place in which Jesus Christ lives and works for the salvation of men and for the growth of the kingdom of God. The members of the family, called to faith and to eternal life, are "sharers in the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:4), they are nourished at the table of the Word of God and of the Sacraments, and they express themselves in that evangelical way of thinking and acting which opens them up to a life of holiness on earth and of eternal happiness in heaven (cf. Eph 1:4-5).
Christian parents, demonstrating a loving care for their children from their earliest years, communicate to them, by word and example, a sincere and lived-out relationship with God, made up of love, fidelity, prayer and obedience (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 35; Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 11). In this way, parents encourage the holiness of their children and render their hearts docile to the voice of the Good Shepherd, who calls every man to follow him and to seek first the kingdom of God.
In the light of this horizon of divine grace and human responsibility, the family can be considered a "garden" or a "first seminary" in which the seeds of vocation, which God sows generously, are able to blossom and grow to full maturity (cf. Optatam totius, n. 2).
2. "Do not conform yourself to this age" (Rom 12:2)
The task of Christian parents is as important as it is sensitive, because they are called to prepare, cultivate and protect the vocations which God stirs up in their family. They must, therefore, enrich themselves and their family with spiritual and moral values, such as a deep and convinced religious spirit, an apostolic and ecclesial consciousness, and a clear idea of what a vocation is.
In fact, for every family, the decisive step to be taken is that of accepting the Lord Jesus as the centre and pattern of life, and in him and with him, becoming conscious of being the privileged place for authentic vocational growth.
The family will fulfil this task if it is constant in its commitment and if it relies always on the grace of God. For Saint Paul declares that "God is the one who, for his good purpose, works... both the will and the deed" (Phil 2:13) and that "the One who began a good work... will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (ibid., 1:6).
But what happens when the family lets itself become involved in consumerism, hedonism and secularism, which upset and block the fulfilment of God's plan?
How sad it is to learn of situations, unfortunately numerous, of families overwhelmed by such phenomena and of the devasting effects! This is certainly one of the greatest concerns of the Christian community. It is above all the families themselves who pay the price of the widespread disorder of ideas and of moral behaviour. But the Church also suffers from this, just as the entire society feels its effects.
How can children, rendered morally orphans, without educators and without models, grow in their esteem for human and Christian values? How can those seeds of vocations, which the Holy Spirit continues to put into the hearts of the young generations, develop in such a climate?
The strength and stability of the fabric of the Christian family represent the primary condition for the growth and maturation of sacred vocations, and they constitute the most pertinent response to the crisis of vocations. As I wrote in the Exhortation Familiaris consortio: "Every local Church and, in more particular terms, every parochial community must become more vividly aware of the grace and reponsibility that it receives from the Lord, so that it might promote the pastoral care of the family. No plan for organized pastoral work at any level must ever fail to take into consideration the pastoral area of the family" (n. 70).
3. "Ask the Master of the harvest, therefore, to send out labourers for his harvest" (Mt 9:38)
The pastoral care of vocations finds its first and natural setting in the family. Indeed, parents should know how to welcome as a grace the gift which God gives them in calling one of their sons or daughters to the priesthood or religious life. Such a grace must be asked for in prayer and received actively, by means of an education which allows the young people to perceive all the richness and joy of consecrating oneself to God.
Parents who welcome the call of a son or daughter to a special consecration for the kingdom of heaven with a sense of gratitude and joy, receive a special sign of the spiritual fruitfulness of their union, as they see it enriched by the experience of love lived out in celibacy and virginity.
These parents discover with amazement that the gift of their love is, as it were, multiplied, thanks to the sacred vocation of their children, beyond the limited dimensions of human love.
To bring families to the awareness of this important aspect of their mission requires a pastoral activity aimed at leading spouses and parents to be "witnesses and co-operators of the fruitfulness of mother Church, as a sign of, and a share in that love with which Christ loved his bride and gave himself for her" (Lumen gentium, n. 41).
The family is the natural "nursery" of vocations. Pastoral care of the family, therefore, should direct a very special attention to the properly vocational aspect of its task.
4. "Let the one who has responsibility in the community show care and diligence" (Rom 12:8)
Walking together, following Christ, towards the Father is the most appropriate vocational programme. If priests, religious men and women, missionaries and committed laity concern themselves with the family and intensify the forms of dialogue and of a common seeking to live the Gospel, the family will be enriched with those values which will help it to be the first "seminary" of vocations and of consecrated life.
Let priests, diocesan and religious, take to the problems of family life, so that, by means of the proclamation of the Gospel, they might give light to Christian spouses about their peculiar responsibilities, and thus the parents, well formed in the faith, will be able to guide their sons and daughters who might be called to give themselves unreservedly to God.
Let all consecrated persons, who are particularly close to and accepted by families because of their apostolic service in schools, hospitals, institutions of assistance and parishes offer joyful witness of their total gift to Christ. Let them, with their lives lived according to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, be a sign of and call to eternal values for Christian spouses.
Let the parish community sense itself responsible for this mission to the family and support it with long-term projects, without being too concerned about immediate results.
I entrust to committed Christians, catechists and young couples the task of catechesis in the family. With their generous and faithful service they will help children to have their first taste of a religious and ecclesial experience.
My thought goes in a special way towards my venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, as the ones first responsible for the promotion of vocations, and I recommend that they make every effort to see to it that the pastoral care of vocations be systematically joined with that of the family.
Let us pray
O Holy Family of Nazareth, community of love of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, model and ideal of every Christian family, to you we entrust our families.
Open the heart of every family to the faith, to welcoming the word of God, to Christian witness, so that it become a source of new and holy vocations.
Touch the hearts of parents, so that with prompt charity, wise care, and loving devotion they be for their sons and daughters sure guides towards spiritual and eternal values.
Stir up in the hearts of young people a right conscience and a free will, so that growing in "wisdom, age and grace", they might welcome generously the gift of a divine vocation.
Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that all of us, contemplating and imitating the assiduous prayer, generous obedience, dignified poverty and virginal purity lived out in your midst, might set about fulfilling the will of God and accompanying with far-sighted sensitivity those among us who are called to follow more closely the Lord Jesus, who "has given himself for us" (cf. Gal 2:20).
Amen!
Given at the Vatican, 26 December, Feast of the Holy Family, in the year 1993, the sixteenth of my Pontificate.
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