Recognize the Voice of the Lord

Every year, the Church in the United States celebrates Vocations Awareness Week in the first week of November. According to the web page of the Bishops of the United States, this celebration “has the objective of promoting, by prayer and formation, vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and the consecrated life, as well as the renewal of our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these vocations.”
 
Promoting vocations by prayer, in particular, is something that every Catholic can do. In fact, for each one of us, it is our duty. We have this responsibility to pray for vocations. Here in the Diocese of Corpus Christi, we have a great tradition of fulfilling this responsibility. For years, and decades, we have prayed as parish communities, prayer groups, as families, and individually for vocations.
 
During this week, let us renew our commitment to praying for vocations. Let us pray especially for our young people, that they may have wisdom: wisdom to recognize the call of God, and recognize the voice of the Lord amid a noisy environment. Among all the other voices that are clamoring for the attention of our young people, that they may recognize the Voice of truth that leads to peace.
 
Let us pray for our young people, that they may have courage. That they may have that courage that comes from faith, in the confidence of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. That they may know, from the depths of their hearts, that God will never ask something of them and then leave them alone to figure it out. That, even if at the moment they do not fully understand, they may be able to say, “May your will be done in me.”
 
But promoting vocations is not done by prayer alone. We also encourage vocations by formation. Perhaps the most basic way to provide this formation is to live faithfully our own vocation, whatever that may be. Each one of us can give an example of what it is to seek the will of God before all else. To live the vocation to the priesthood of religious life begins with the question, “What is God asking of me?” That should also be the central question for every parent. It is the parents who provide the first formation for their children. If we, who have already dedicated ourselves to a vocation, give the example of love for the will of God, we will help the young know the benefits of the will of God.
 
In that, we will promote vocations, help our young people, and continue this great tradition of building the Kingdom of God.