IV Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Act 13:14,43-52
Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5
Rev 7:9, 14b-17
Jn 10:27-30


The Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter always speaks of Christ as the Good Shepherd.  And so fittingly, today is often called Good Shepherd Sunday.  It is also the fiftieth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Earlier this week, we had the Marian Dinner where women gathered from around the diocese to learn more about the vocation to the religious life.  And just yesterday the Diocese of Dallas ordained four men to the order of Deacons.  They will go on in their studies and next year, God willing, will be ordained priests for the Diocese of Dallas.  Last night, we had a St. Andrew’s Dinner at St. Ann’s in Coppell where we had over 35 men from all around the diocese come to learn just a little bit more about what it means to be called to the priesthood.  There has really been a lot of activity in vocations this past week and I am really excited about the future of our Church.

However, this past week we have also had a week of tragedy and it seems out of place to be talking about such things that are far from our minds as vocations.  Our nation has been rocked with the Boston Bombing and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas; and abroad – earthquakes, civil unrest, and threats of war in Asia.  I am sure you watched these events with eyes glued to the television, getting the latest news and unfolding of what happened next.  And yet in the midst of our grief, our shock, and sadness, events like these always prompt us to ask the tough questions in our lives:  Where is God in all of this?  What is happening to this world? Why does life seem so bleak?  And yet quietly we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd:  My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…. 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ – it is precisely because of events like these in this past week that we need to promote vocations and for all young men and women to think about, to pray about the priesthood and the religious life.  Our world needs these super heroes to be a witness of God’s ever-loving care and mercy.  In the book of revelation, we read:

They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands…. the elders said to me, ‘These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb….’ 

Since the beginning of the Church, men and women have offered their life and their lives to the preaching of the Gospel being a light to the nations.  They have washed their baptismal robes in the blood of the Lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  The martyrs and saints that have gone before us have won the victory and so they hold their palm branches in joy. Though we may be more “civilized” today than back then, we know the atrocities and the potential for destruction is incredibly more dangerous than ever before.  The world today needs men and women to open their hearts to the calling of the Good Shepherd to literally lay down their life for Him.

I hear quite often that there is a “vocations crisis” and that we just need to allow priests to get married and that will solve all our problems.  I agree that we do have a shortage of priests but I strongly disagree about changing the discipline of the married priesthood.  Here is a very simple reason why:  If the priesthood and the religious life is about living an extraordinary life – the radical call to discipleship through evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience – if that life is about living extraordinarily how does making available the option of marriage (which occurs day in and day out) challenge others to this extraordinary vocation?  It would simply make the consecrated vocation to be folded within the married vocation.  At a time when the married vocation is suffering so much, couples look to the priests and the religious to help them in their marriage vocation.  They see the inspiration in priests and religious – to see how one should have that personal relationship with Christ.  The priests and religious look to the married to see the communal relationship in the Trinity.  Why change the game or lower the bar - just so more people can get in?  Let’s not forget we already have ordinary heroes day in and day out.  The challenge of chastity says something.  It says that this man is worth listening to because he is willing to sacrifice something that is so personal and so natural for something supernatural.  We need super heroes for the ordinary everyday heroes – all of you.

Yes, I believe there is a vocations crisis; but not a crisis in the sense that we have a shortage of priests and religious.  But a crisis in our first and primary call of vocation: holiness.  We have a crisis in that secularism, materialism, the corruption of power, and the infidelity in the family has caused so much hurt, suffering and anguish because we have failed to promote the vocation to holiness.  We have failed to live out the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage.  Our prayer life – our relationship with God has suffered, and that has caused the loss of faith and hope, and when we are lukewarm we lose the drive to love.  Then all the other virtues, one by one fall to the wayside.  I cannot say what exactly was the cause of the tragedy in Boston and West, but I can say that the heroes that responded and rushed in to help were the ones that heard the call of the Good Shepherd to do extraordinary things.  It is a devastating cycle, but one that can be broken through discovering great and awesome shepherds – ones that are willing to lead and guide the flock of Jesus Christ, especially in the priesthood and the religious life.  One of the less talked about solutions to this vocational crisis to holiness is when men and women step up in courage and hear the call of the Good Shepherd and serve Him in the priesthood and consecrated life.

Where do vocations come from?  They come from you: the family; they come from our own neighborhoods and community.  Look around you – the young person sitting near you could be the next priest, the next religious brother or sister.  The seeds of the faith and the cultivating of the vocation come from you parents. Encourage your children to consider the priesthood and the religious life and be open to a life of holiness yourself.  Consider that a life dedicated to God for we the faithful so that we may have a sign of hope, a sign of extraordinary faith, and a sign of extraordinary love.  Our super heroes of priests, deacons, religious brothers and sisters have all been incredibly inspiring in our lives have they not?  They have helped shaped us and formed to who we are today.  Why not promote and/or consider your children or yourself as being an instrument of God’s peace and love in the world?  My parents did not lose grandchildren when they offered me to the Church – they gained an incredible family.   In the same way, I did not lose my wife and kids when I chose to follow Christ in the priesthood I gained all of ya’ll:  I didn’t have twins, I had five thousand-tupulets!!

For me, in my 323rd day as a priest – there is not a day that goes by that I have not been thankful for God’s calling in my life.  Who am I – why did He choose me?  There are so many more qualified men out there to do His work. When I stand here at this altar holding the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in my hand, when I assume the person of Jesus Christ – the one who suffered that horribly beautiful passion, that ignominious death, and that glorious Resurrection – I ask who am I to do something so powerful, so beautiful, so wonderful, and so incredible for one who has loved me so much?  The truth is: No one is truly worthy of it and yet He still asks and commands us to do so in Mass.

As Jesus offered Himself to the Father as the high priest and the victim of sacrifice, I assume that role too.  I offer my life and that which is most sacred in me and that has been gifted to me: my obedience, my way of life, and my celibacy to the Father.  Among priests, it is said that the day of your ordination is your Palm Sunday – the rest of your life as a priest is your Good Friday.  The day before my ordination, I prayed as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  I desired to intimately unite my future life as a priest with Christ’s priesthood:  Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.  Who I am today – as a priest of Jesus Christ – is not because of my own merit (I know my failings and my unworthiness) it is because I was open to whatever He had in store for me.  I pursued a relationship with Christ and He gave me the courage, strength, and perseverance to do it.

Today I encourage you to consider the priesthood, consider the religious life.  It is a radical call, it is a tough call, but it is one that has a boundless reward filled with blessing.  Not a day goes by where I do not feel His blessings and see His blessings come down on others.  This is an incredible gift and one that I desire to share with you too.  Consider it, pray for it, and listen to our Good Shepherd:  My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.