Today is the 63rd Anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Pope Leo XIV invites the whole Church – and especially young people – to rediscover vocation as a deeply interior experience, rooted in a personal encounter with God.
At the heart of his message is a powerful and evocative image: Jesus as the “beautiful shepherd,” the one who attracts and transforms the lives of those who follow him. “Life is truly beautiful if we follow Him,” the Pope affirms, emphasizing that vocation is not an imposition, but “a plan of love and happiness.”
The Holy Father strongly highlights the urgency of returning to interiority, as the privileged place where every calling is born and matures: “The care of interior life: this is where vocational ministry must begin again.”
In a world often marked by noise and distraction, Pope Leo XIV encourages the creation of spaces of silence, prayer, and listening, in order to recognize the voice of God calling each person to a unique path of holiness and service:
“God dwells in our hearts: vocation is an intimate dialogue with Him.” The message also emphasizes that every vocation grows over time, as a journey of maturation marked by trust and accompaniment: “Vocation is not a static achievement, but a dynamic process of growth.”
Finally, the Pope invites communities, families, and Church realities to become fertile environments, capable of welcoming and accompanying the gift of vocations, so that they may bear fruit for the Church and the world.
A vocation is a call from God to live our life in a certain way. We all have a vocation to follow Jesus in His way of life and to be with him in His eternal kingdom. There are two aspects to all of our vocations: the call and the response. God calls all of us in some way or another. He is calling us right here and now. A vocation is not really a past event; it is an ongoing event in our life. God is always calling us to live out our life according to His plan and design. What is God’s plan and design for us and how will I know what it is? God’s plan is laid out for us in His Word to us and His Word is made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. We look to the words of Jesus in the Gospel and in His Church. Jesus is speaking to us and we for our part must take the time to listen and that is what we do in prayer.
In prayer we lift our minds and hearts to God. We speak and listen to God. This is why the Mass is the greatest prayer. The Mass is where we encounter Jesus, the Word of God made flesh. We listen to His Word and praise Him as He comes down from heaven and enters into our life. He again becomes flesh in us as we love Him and others in our own bodies by the way that we treat others, talk to others, talk about others, the way that we respond to others in their time of need and the way we love God and our neighbor. This is God’s plan for us. This is what He has called us to do. This is our vocation.
We pray that more of our young people will respond prayerfully and generously to the Lord’s invitation to follow Him in serving His people by giving their life for service in the Church as a priest, deacon, religious sister or brother. For many years, our parish family has been praying a Hail Mary after Mass for vocations and there have been countless holy hours made in our Chapel of Divine Mercy for this intention. Please continue to pray for vocations from our parish.
We do have a few men discerning priesthood and diaconate vocations. Quinn McNeill, son of Ryan and Leah McNeill, is studying for the priesthood at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. Jon Woost and Michael Niese are in the diaconate formation program. Please keep them and their families in your prayers.
Jon Woost is to be ordained a permanent deacon on Saturday, May 2. His Mass of Thanksgiving will be here on May 10, at the 10:30am Mass. All are invited to a light reception in McMahon Hall following the Mass.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS. The Feast of the Sacred Heart this year is on Friday, June 12. Since the Feast of the Sacred Heart occurs on a Friday we are permitted to move the celebration to the weekend because it is our patronal feast. So, we will celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the weekend of June 13 and 14 at all the Masses. Following the 5 PM Mass on Sunday, June 14, we will hold our parish picnic. The Family Life Commission and the Parish Council will be working to plan the event, but more help and ideas would be most welcome. So, if you would like to help plan this parish gathering, please call the parish office as soon as you can. In the meantime, we can all pray for good weather.
