Homily 1
THE HOPE OF THE HARVEST IS IN THE SEED
Homily given by Archbishop Curtiss at the convention of Serra International, Minneapolis, July 6, 1996.
The prophet Amos in today's first reading (Amos 9, 11-15) shares with us a revelation from the Lord regarding the restoration of David's kingdom. In the same spirit, I would like to share with you a vision for the future that we have from Pope John Paul regarding the strengthening of priesthood and religious life in our own countries and throughout the world. At the end of his apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (I will give you Shepherds) concerning priestly formation in the Church, Pope John Paul reminds us that God continues to keep His promises to us. Quoting Jeremiah 3:15, in which Yahweh tells His people that He will continue to give them shepherds after His own heart, the pope tells us that we must believe with deep faith that God is in the process of doing what He says He will do.
In the United States we are in the beginning stages of implementing a national strategy to focus our ecclesial attention and energy on vocations to priesthood and vowed religious life. It is a proven experience that when a concentrated and prolonged effort is made to identify and nurture vocations, they surface in amazing numbers. The Bishops of the United States are convinced that if local diocesan churches are able to pull together in a unified way to concentrate on the promotion of vocations, then there will be adequate numbers of priests and religious and vowed laity to support Catholic life in the future.
Sharing our successes
We know we must share with each other strategies in vocation ministry which are proving successful. We know that our vocation directors must be in dialogue with other vocation personnel who are achieving desirable results from their efforts. We know that bishops must encourage other bishops to become personally and dynamically involved in vocation ministry in their respective dioceses. We know all this needs to be coordinated locally, regionally and nationally.
In dioceses and religious communities which are already having a marked increase in vocations, there are a variety of explanations which they offer us:
A major factor, and this is directly related to Serra and its mission, is a significant group of lay people who have made vocation ministry a priority in their lives. They pray constantly for vocations; they encourage young people to think about vocations; they personally invite worthy candidates to seriously consider the seminary or novitiate; they give constant support and encouragement to those who indicate they have a vocation; they keep contact with these young people when they finally enter seminaries and novitiates; they pray constantly for them later as priests and religious.
Supporting vocations
Young people today have to be personally invited to think about priesthood and religious life. They have to be encouraged to intensify their prayer lives and to spend time with Jesus in his Eucharist. They have to be personally supported when they run into opposition from family members and peers. They have to be convinced sometimes that the Lord is calling them even if they feel unworthy, even if they have made mistakes along the line, even if they have to recover their chastity and then commit their sexuality in loving service to the Lord and his people. They have to be patiently and lovingly encouraged, sometimes over a period of several years, to listen to the Lord's call in their lives and to make the decision to give the seminary or novitiate a try.
Despite negative statistics in some parts of the world, a premise for vocation ministry in the Church today, and for the mission of Serra, is that the Lord is calling adequate numbers of people to priesthood and religious life for the needs of the Church. The task for all of us is to help identify and nurture these vocations. The cultural opposition to priesthood and religious life is formidable today, especially in the West. It is so easy for the Lord's call to young people to be drowned out by many other voices. It is so easy for the seeds of a vocation to be left dormant because there is no one to help nurture them into life.
We must pray constantly that the Lord of the Harvest will send laborers into the harvest because it is constantly increasing and the laborers are too few. But then we must get off our knees and out of our meeting rooms to seek out worthy candidates who should be thinking about a vocation to priesthood and religious life. Each of us must invite many young people every month to consider a vocation, and then we must follow up with them if there are any signs our inquiry has stirred their spirits.
Vocation arm of Church
This is the way Serra will become in fact the vocation arm of the Church -- not because we will become better organized or we will have more members or more clubs or because we will relish our special relationship with Pope John Paul and the whole Church -- but because we have become, each in our own ways, personal agents of the Lord in supporting those He is calling to priesthood and vowed religious life.
The vision of Amos about the restoration of David's kingdom is much the same as our vision today, and his judgment against those who failed to support the covenant is our judgment against those who fail to support vocations in the Church.
Because of our faith and our personal participation in the vocation ministry of the Church, we become keenly aware of the Lord's desire to raise up worthy shepherds after His own heart. He is calling many young people to priesthood and religious life in our midst. He needs us to help them respond to the call so that the revelation we have from Him will be fulfilled. The strengthening of priesthood and religious life in our own countries and throughout the world will take place if we support the Lord in doing what He says He will do.
He needs us as His agents to reach out to young people, but we cannot have vocations without the Lord's invitation, so we have to do it together. The Lord and we together!
