Fostering Vocations

As announced last weekend, our parish is launching the Vocational Formation Program for our children: an ambitious program designed to help foster a culture of vocations in the parish and cultivate a desire to discern priesthood and religious life in the program's participants. It was completely unintentional, but the day we are launching the Program, November 1, just so happens to be the start of National Vocation Awareness Week in the Catholic Church in the United States. When things like this seemingly too perfectly coincide, it's sometimes referred to as "God-instances".

A vocation is not merely a job; it is a calling of the Lord to each and every person to serve Him and His Church. Beyond the common vocation of Marriage, some young men and women receive the extraordinary call to build up the church, the body of Christ, helping bring more souls to Heaven. From Priests celebrating the sacraments, to Religious working in the "vineyard" and serving the people of God, to the Nuns and Monks living separate from the world but offering unceasing prayer for every soul on Earth, each vocation is indispensable for the life of the Church and the salvation of the world. It is a daunting endeavor, but just as throughout the pages of Sacred Scripture where God calls the youngest or least assuming child, so too does He call our children to rise to the challenge and embrace the path He has laid before them.

Earlier this year, Pope Leo beckoned: "Dear young people, listen to [Jesus'] voice! Listen to the voice of the Lord who invites you to a full and fruitful life, calling you to put your talents to use (cf. Mt 25:14-30) and to unite your limitations and weaknesses with the glorious cross of Christ."

Through the Vocational Formation Program here at OLMC, we hope to help our children understand what a vocation is, why it is important, what it may look like, and how to discern and respond to the call that God has specifically for them. This program is a significant investment of time and resources in our children's formation and represents a large change to how they are involved, especially at Mass, and the seeds we are planting may not bloom until 10 years from now, but we do so regardless because God deeply desires for His children to answer His call.

"God our Father, we thank you for calling men and women to serve in your Son's Kingdom as priests, deacons, and consecrated persons. Send your Holy Spirit to help others to respond generously and courageously to your call. May our community of faith support vocations of sacrificial love in our youth and young adults. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen."