Renew prayers during National Vocations Awareness Week
Deacon Sunday Espinoza
National Vocation Awareness Week, which this year will be Nov. 6-12, is dedicated to promoting, through prayer and education, vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life. As Catholics, we are called to inspire young people to be open in their response as they discern a call to service in the Church. Our involvement is paramount in helping them to recognize our Lord’s call so that, in their prayers of discernment, they become intimate with him in their lives. A vocational call of one young person to the religious or priestly life involves all of us.
“Knowing and answering one’s vocational call can feel overwhelming at times, especially when one’s own discernment can offer us so many different options for the future,” said seminarian Deacon André Sicard, a student at Catholic Theological College who will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City in June. “But I would say discernment is really all about taking the time to be aware and listen to that still, quiet ‘Voice’ that speaks to your heart calling you ‘my beloved.’ And then it is taking the next step to jump with the Holy Spirit into the adventure of a lifetime in order to be more truly and fully who God has called you to be.”
Kenneth Rey Parsad, a seminarian at Mount Angel Seminary, notes that each person is called to a vocation. “The Lord loves us so intimately and infinitely that he calls us to share in his life. Since love never dominates, he proposes to us a life of holiness (through the religious life, priestly life, married life or single blessedness), which we can accept or reject,” Parsad said. “Responding to our vocational call is our humble and grateful response of ‘Yes’ to that loving invitation to be woven into God’s very own life. Isn’t this deeply meaningful and truly life-giving?”
Seminarian Anthony Shumway, also at Mount Angel, agreed.
“We are all called to live out our vocation in union with God, be that in marriage, religious or single state,” Shumway said. “Answering ‘Yes’ to God in the vocation to which he is calling you takes patience and lots of prayer. You don’t walk up to someone and suddenly know all about them; so, too, with God. Pray often, asking what he has in mind for you, and then be open to answering the call to the life to which he calls you. This will bring you the most peace in your life.”
When we open our hearts to God’s love there are no limits to what we can do in service to him and to the Church. If we open our hearts to seek God’s will, to ask the Holy Spirit to discern God’s will, accept it and live it, God will work through us to do his great work.
It is also essential during Vocation Awareness Week to celebrate the many women and men who live holy and virtuous lives in their daily vocations. Throughout this week, we must focus on the diverse vocations in the Church. This week also reminds us we have all been called to faithfully live out our vocations – whether it is the priesthood, religious life, the permanent diaconate, marriage or the single life.
National Vocation Awareness Week is meant to inspire us to pray for those who are discerning a vocational call. May our prayers open their hearts and minds to say “Yes” to Our Lord when he calls us. As we pray for them and all those already committed to their vocation, may our prayers also strengthen and renew them. Vocations fulfill our service to God, the Church and one another in the broader community. May these encounters of vocational work inspire others to answer their call. There is no limit to the love God has poured out upon us and the vocational work enabled by the Holy Spirit.
If God has called one to be a priest, there is but one holy answer. It is “Yes.” No matter the vocational service to which God calls, the answer is “Yes.” This week let us renew our prayers for vocations inspired by the example and willing spirit of Mother Mary who offered herself completely, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Deacon Sunday Espinoza is manager of the Diocese of Salt Lake City Office of Vocations.
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