4th Sunday in Easter, Vocation Sunday April 21, 2024

Father Rick’s Three-Minute Homily for the 4th Sunday in Easter, Vocation Sunday

April 21, 2024, John 10:11-18

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042124.cfm

When I began thinking about vocations Sunday and my vocation, I immediately thought of ministry – what I do every day. I pray with people and celebrate the Sacraments, meet with staff, answer phone calls and emails, visit the sick, give spiritual direction, visit children in school and their activities, sing at Mass and choir practice when I can, and teach. You never know what’s going to come up in the day. Some people think we write a few homilies and celebrate Mass on Sunday.

And then I thought, actitity is not where my vocation as a priest and member of a religious order begins. First, it’s not about what I do, even when celebrating Mass and hearing confessions. My vocation, your vocation, and everyone’s begins with our personal relationship with Jesus. It’s all about Him loving us, working through us, and living our lives with us. In other words, a vocation for a priest, religious, marriage, and single life is a call to personal holiness – to be a saint.

Consider the 1st reading in today’s Mass. Peter heals a disabled man, and both are arrested and end up in jail. This doesn’t phase Peter. He addresses the people and assures them that the miracle they witnessed was done through the power of the Lord Jesus.

Notice that both Peter and the healed cripple experience a transformation. The cripple who lived a lowly but good life is miraculously healed. And Peter, a fisherman, is bolstered to tell everyone about Jesus, who was crucified as a common criminal and has now risen from the dead.

God transforms whomever he so desires. Peter denied Jesus three times. The cripple was a beggar for who knows how long. Please don’t think you have to be good enough or even perfect to have a call to be a priest, brother, or sister in a religious order. When God calls us, God transforms us, but always respecting our wills and our desire to be another Christ, even in our weakest moments.

Men and women seeking marriage need to appreciate that God calls them to a life of holiness, that is, a life that is pleasing to God, for they receive a Sacrament of Marriage. Their human love is transformed into the divine love that Jesus has for them. They are the Sacrament of Jesus to each other. I pray for the conversion of couples who choose to live their lives without the Sacramental Presence of Jesus. Pray with me for them, will you?

God is a good Father whom we can trust to lead us and help us become the very best we can be, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, always with Him, never alone.

When you take time to thank the Lord for your vocation during this Mass, let Jesus show you how special you are to Him. Pray for each other that we all may be saints of Jesus and please Him in our vocation. Pray this every morning for your family.

I can sum up our vocation in one line: “Lord Jesus, all I want is for you to be happy with me this moment.” My friends, this moment never leaves us.

Peace to you,

Fr. Rick