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A couple of
years ago, the Long Island Catholic featured an article about a
young man named Ryan McDonald.
When Ryan was
thirteen, he wanted to serve as a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House
near Schneider Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. However,
because of his age, Ryan couldn’t be an “official” volunteer and so he
spent several months stocking shelves and mopping floors as an
“unofficial” volunteer. Then, Ryan was “promoted” to perform data entry
on the computer.
Over the next
several years, Ryan secured the assistance of Polytechnic University’s
graduate students and facilities. Together, they developed “Kid’s
Bridge,” an online computer network which enables seriously and
terminally ill children to communicate with student volunteers from
1,400 high schools across the United States.
When Ryan turned
eighteen, he established the Kids Bridge Foundation to foster ways to
use technology to help seriously and terminally ill children. Discover
Card recognized Ryan’s achievements by awarding him a $25,000
scholarship to help pay his college tuition.
What is
noteworthy about Ryan’s story is neither his spirit of volunteerism nor
his initiative, praiseworthy as both are. What is truly noteworthy is
what motivated Ryan to volunteer and why he took the initiative that
ended up with Ryan starting a charitable foundation. When Ryan was five
years old, tragedy struck Ryan and his parents as his younger brother,
who was three and one-half years old, died after many hospitalizations.
Looking back upon that tragedy, Ryan said: “I know that our faith is
what got my family through the time with my brother. In my own way, I’m
carrying out Jesus’ teaching.”
Ryan possesses a
sense of his personal vocation. He knows that God has given him special
gifts and talents that he can use not simply for himself but, more
importantly, to change the world, even if it only means making it
possible for hospitalized children who are very sick to communicate with
online with other children.
As part of the
Prayers of the Faithful every week, we pray for vocations, especially
vocations to the priesthood. You know the drill. On our behalf, the
lector comes to the lectern and asks God to call young men, to inspire
them, or to increase their generosity so that they might one day serve
as ordained priests. Then, we all respond, “Lord, hear our prayer” or
whatever that week’s response may be.
Thinking about
this recently, I thought that perhaps it is good we pray for vocations
to the ordained state each week because, after all, the evidence is very
clear and it paints a rather bleak picture. The average age of priests
serving in the United States is skyrocketing and there is an entirely
insufficient number of young men responding to God’s call who will take
the place of these priests. In the not too distant future, many if not
most parishes will not have resident pastors, all Catholic schools will
have no full-time priests serving in them and, as is already the case,
every Catholic social service agency will be organized and led by
dedicated laypersons.
Now I did say “perhaps
it is good” that we pray each week for vocations to the ordained state
because in light of Ryan McDonald’s story, I’m wondering whether
narrowing our focus to pray for this particular vocational lifestyle
does sufficient justice to the much more particular concept of a
personal vocation—what God calls each and every one of us to be—and our
call to holiness of life as well as what this means for how we live our
lives each and every day. It is not that I am against praying for
vocations to the ordained state; it is that I am worried that we are not
praying for the most important of vocations, namely, personal vocations.
At the risk of
oversimplifying matters, let me summarize what the term “vocation” means
in its three aspects.
The first aspect
is that all baptized persons share a common “vocation.” This is
God’s call that comes from our baptismal commitment to live the
Christian faith, that is, to love and serve God above all things, to
love one’s neighbor as oneself, and in being a person who loves God and
neighbor, to participate actively in the mission of the Church. As a
community of the baptized, this is our shared vocation—each and every
one of us.
So, when we pray
for vocations each week, we should ask God to give us people who respond
fully to this first aspect of vocation. After all, we do need fellow
Catholics who are strong in their commitment to the faith. We do need
women and men who deeply love and serve God above all things and who
love their neighbor as they love themselves. And, we do need people who
actively participate in the mission of the Church.
Now, while this
aspect of vocation is very generic, were God to give us these vocations,
our community of faith would be greatly blessed, wouldn’t it? We would
be surrounded by people whose lives would challenge us to be stronger in
our own faith commitment. Their example of love of God and neighbor
would inspire each of us to do the same in our own lives. And, their
presence in our parish community would encourage us to participate more
actively and meaningfully in the Church’s mission.
Yet, there is a
second aspect of “vocation” that we mustn’t neglect.
Beyond the common
vocation which all of us share through baptism, God calls each of us to
live our vocation out in one of three different “states” or
“lifestyles.” First, there’s the married state where a man and a woman
vow themselves to love, honor, and obey each other all the days of their
lives. Second, there’s the ordained state, where a man vows himself to
serve the Church as a priest or deacon. And, third, there’s the single
state, which is an oftentimes very misunderstood vocation.
When we pray each
week for vocations, we should pray for women and men who understand what
it means to build their marital relationship upon love of God, to grow
in devotion and commitment to each other, and to reflect to their
children, relatives, friends and, indeed, to the whole world, the
dignity God has bestowed upon them in the married state.
Were God to give
us these vocations, our community of faith would be greatly blessed,
wouldn’t it? Our parish would flourish with husbands and wives whose
commitment and devotion to each other would provide a visible
representation of God’s love. Their presence in our community would set
a standard that would inspire those young members of our community whom
God calls to the married state to consider more thoughtfully what
devotion and commitment really require. And, I believe, their presence
would challenge those spouses who may be wavering in their marital
commitment and devotion to take second, much more deep and honest look
at themselves and their marriages to see what God is calling them to do
so that they will fulfill the demands of their vocation.
We already pray
for vocations to the ordained state and that is a very good thing. In
every generation, Catholics need good priests and deacons whose
commitment to serve the Church reflects itself as priests and deacons
pour themselves out on behalf God’s people.
Without doubt,
were God to give us these vocations, our community of faith would be
greatly blessed. Parishes would not only have resident pastors but also
pastoral associates who’d be present to parishioners in the important
moments of their lives. They’d preach God’s Word effectively, reminding
parishioners about God’s love for them and how they may have fallen
short in fulfilling their common vocation. The presence of good priests
and deacons would help women and men in all parishes to be better people
of faith and to lead better lives as well.
Then, there’s
that third lifestyle, that of the single state. This vocation, as I
said earlier, is oftentimes very misunderstood.
I believe that
part of this is due to the fact that, according to the Book of Genesis,
when God created woman to provide man a helpmate, God said, “It is not
good for man to be alone.” (In these days where equality is so
important and, in order to avoid any charge of sexism, I also suspect
it’s not good for woman to be alone.) Based upon this understanding of
human nature which has a scriptural referent, many people throughout the
centuries have looked upon single people with a sense of sadness tinged
with regret, as if these women and men are missing something very
important in life.
Just consider
Tula’s father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Driving in that big
Cadillac and headed southbound on North Halstead Avenue in Chicago,
Tula’s father turns and says to his daughter with a tear in his eye and
tinge of remorse in his voice, “Tula…oh, Tula…my Tula, you’re
getting...older, you know. When are you going to get married and have
kids?” No doubt, Tula’s father loves his daughter and, in this scene,
he gives expression to his love in stating his fear that Tula won’t get
married and have children. She will be destined to live alone.
Consider, too,
all of those people you may know who have gone so far as to play “Cupid”
the matchmaker. They desperately work
to find that
“special” other for family members, relatives, friends, and even
co-workers who are single persons. Sometimes, these efforts pay off
happily; and, at other times, these efforts fail miserably.
What this
understanding neglects is that the single state is also a vocational
lifestyle. While it isn’t good for anyone to be alone—after all,
scripture does say so!—that doesn’t mean the single state is populated
by people who are alone and lonely! In fact, God doesn’t call everyone
to the married or ordained states but does call some women and men to
live in the single state. (Or, to put it another way, I know of plenty
of people—and you do, too, I’m sure!—who’ve gotten married but didn’t
have a vocation to the married state or who’ve been ordained but didn’t
have a vocation to the priesthood or diaconate. Sadly, they’ve
only discovered this fact all too late.)
Despite what we
may think, God doesn’t call man and woman to be married! And, believe
it or not, there are many married and ordained persons who must also
contend at times with being alone and feeling lonely.
So, when we pray
each week for vocations, we should also pray for women and men who
forsake marriage and ordination because God calls them to lead their
lives in the single state so they can more freely dedicate themselves
fully to love of God and neighbor, to service of one’s fellow human
beings and to the Church, and to their careers as well. Think about it:
how many people do you know or have heard about who are married to their
careers though legally to their spouses or priests who look upon their
ministry as if it were an “office job” not a life of service to God’s
people? Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone concerned had these
people discerned early on that the single state was the vocational
lifestyle to which God had called them?
The single state
is a much misunderstood vocation because if God were to give us these
vocations, our community of faith would be greatly blessed not
saddened. Our parish would be populated with a goodly number of single
women and men whose commitment and devotion to God and neighbor would
enrich the pool of talent and time for our many parish-based
ministries. The presence of dedicated single laypersons in our
community would inspire some of the young members of our community to
see how lives of generous service and dedication to our fellow human
beings and a career are a special gift to the our community of faith…not
people to be pitied. And, I believe, their presence would provide hope
to those who God calls to the single life or those who the circumstances
of their lives have placed them in the single state not to be seduced by
the ideology that the vocation to the single state means being alone and
lonely.
But, beyond the
vocation all of the baptized share as well as the particular lifestyle
to which each of the baptized dedicate themselves, there is a third
aspect of vocation that most Roman Catholics not only oftentimes do not
consider but also don’t pray for. That is our “personal vocation.”
God has a
particular, personal plan for each of our lives and our happiness and
freedom is entirely dependent upon finding out what that plan is and
living that plan in our daily lives. It isn’t something mysterious nor
is it reserved to an elite group of those God has called to the ordained
state. To discover this personal plan, all we have to do is ask
ourselves not “What do I want out of life?” but “What is God’s plan for
my life?” and to pray “Lord, what do you ask of me?”
Believe it or
not, God will answer that question and prayer if we are sincere and
persevere in seeking the answer. And, when we discover and live out
the answer as a personal vocation, each of us will attain our true
happiness and true freedom.
But, we’d all
better be careful, if only because a personal vocation requires laying
down one’s life for others. We might do so by laying down our lives for
a spouse, for the Church, or for the needs of our faith community or
those of other people. No matter how we lay down our lives, a personal
vocation requires that we be a “martyr”…that is, in a perfect act of
freedom, that we lay down our lives for others.
Our personal
vocation transforms the common baptismal vocation and one’s state of
life into a unique and unrepeatable element of God’s saving plan.
Providing each of us with the necessary gifts and talents as well as
with the opportunities to fulfill our part in His plan, God has made it
possible for each of us to contribute our part to making the world a
better place. And, as tragedies thrust themselves into our lives, as
obstacles arise, and as personal weaknesses emerge as we live out our
personal vocation, these needn’t be viewed as failures but as challenges
which can bring out the best in us as we make more concrete our
commitment to do God’s work in our own special way, just as young Ryan
McDonald has.
Now you may
better understand why I said at the beginning that “perhaps it is
good” to pray weekly for vocations to the ordained state. When we focus
our prayers each week upon praying for vocations solely to the
priesthood, we not only neglect the vocation we all share through
baptism and the two other important vocational lifestyles but, most of
all, we also fail to recollect, to appreciate, and to pray for our
personal vocations. Each week, we need to pray that each of us pay
better attention to and heed God’s personal call to us so that—whether
as a married person, an ordained person, or a single person—each of us
would know, accept, and live out God’s will each and every day.
Let me be clear:
there is no shortage of personal vocations. God hasn’t given up on
calling women and men to embrace holiness of life. There may, however,
be a serious shortage of a full-hearted response and full-faith effort
on our part.
As each of us
asks “What is God’s plan for my life?” and prays “Lord, what do you want
of me?”, we will discern our personal vocation. But it is then up
to us to determined exactly how we will devote our particular talents,
gifts, backgrounds and experiences to enriching the Body of Christ,
just as Ryan McDonald has. There will be those who discern that they
would best witness to their personal vocation in the married and single
states. And, there will also be those who discern that their true
freedom will be found as they give witness to the faith in the ordained
state. As St. Paul reminded us in today’s epistle:
As a body is one
though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many,
are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized
into one body….Now the body is not a single part, but many. You are
Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
Our weekly
prayer, no our daily prayer, must be that each and every one of
us will better understand, appreciate, and live out our personal
vocation each and every day. In this way, all of us will imitate Jesus
because we recognize as he did that
The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord. |
HOMILY
