Encourage those whom the Good Shepherd calls to service

Over 40 years ago Pope Paul VI designated Good Shepherd Sunday as "World Day of Prayer for Vocations."

This Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, has been known as Good Shepherd Sunday because each year the Gospel selection for Mass presents an aspect of the powerful and gentle image of Jesus as the faithful shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. This image is not simply the invention of human imagination. Jesus repeatedly refers to himself as the good shepherd, the fulfillment of the hope expressed in Psalm 23. This year, the Gospel passage is brief and clear. The Lord's sheep hear his voice. He knows them. They follow him. He gives them eternal life by his power as the Son of God.

On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we recall that it is in the church, the community of the baptized, that the voice of the Lord is heard and eternal life is mediated, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Each baptized person has put on Christ, so each of us has both the privilege of communicating his Gospel message and the obligation to do so.

From the beginning, Jesus chose apostles and special disciples whom he asked to take particular responsibility to teach and act in his name, to bring others to know him, even as he knows them, and to follow him. It is the responsibility of the whole church, and of each of the members, to encourage those whom the Lord is now calling to serve the flock by word and action in the priesthood and in the consecrated life.

While we may struggle with just how to give this encouragement in the particulars, we begin with prayer. Our prayer acknowledges that we do belong to the good shepherd and are always in his care.

Recently, I participated in a gathering in Alton that was sponsored by our diocesan vocations office. Young men and women were invited to come on a Sunday afternoon to listen to religious sisters and brothers, and to diocesan and religious priests, as they spoke about hearing the call of Jesus and learning how to respond. I never tire of hearing this type of personal witness, and I am happy to offer my own. But I try to put myself in the place of a young adult who is listening. I sometimes wonder if he or she has a context in which to hear the voice of the good shepherd in the story of a call given to someone a generation or two older.

At our recent vocation gathering, the priest who spoke briefly at the end of the afternoon provided an insight that helped us all focus our listening and speaking about vocations. He reminded the young people (and the rest of us) of the call we have received from baptism to be holy, to be saints. To the extend that this call is recognized and nurtured, further calls to priesthood and religious life will be able to take root, be recognized and bear fruit for the individual and for the church.

On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we might ask ourselves what we want most for the young men and women who are in our care and under our influence. Is our first concern that they hear the voice of the good shepherd and that they have the means to grow in holiness, in response to his call? Is the desire for their salvation the thing that shapes our families, our schools, our youth programs, our Newman apostolates and our parishes?

We do not doubt that the Lord is calling members of his flock to follow him as priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, husbands, wives and as those dedicated to generous Gospel living. Normally he does not shout. In communities centered on growing in holiness, the call can be recognized and a response can be made in generosity and faith.