HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – VOCATIONS SUNDAY

Fr Billy Swan

Dear friends. The Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as ‘Vocations Sunday’. It is a day of prayer for all vocations in the Church and a day that brings us back to the truth that every baptised Christian has a vocation or a calling. This means that all of us have been created by God for a purpose and a mission to fulfil. To those who feel on their own to figure out what their life is about or who are confused about what direction their life is going, Vocations Sunday sends out a powerful message that no one is on their own in discerning their calling. Rather instead of remaining in the small, cramped space of our own desires and fears of what to do with ‘my life’, the idea of having a vocation opens us up to a far wider and adventurous path. It means that there is a love that goes before us, that leads us and prompts us to do what love demands.

This love has a face. It has a name. It has a voice. It is personal and powerful. It is the face and the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who ‘guides us along the right path, never leaves us alone and who is the guardian of our souls’ as the Psalm and Second Reading state. He is the Good Shepherd whose voice we recognise, who calls us by name and who has come to give us the fullness of life – a life that we could never dream on our own.

In his message for this ‘Vocations Sunday’, Pope Leo XIV has written a beautiful letter in which he reflects on the interior discovery of God’s gift that is our vocation. Here I point to the three features of this gift of a vocation and how to live it – by pausing, listening and trusting.

Pausing: To discover and re-discover the gift of our vocation, it is first necessary to enter deep within ourselves. St Augustine once advised: ‘Go back to your heart. Where do you want to go far from yourself?  In our interiority lives Christ. In the depths of the heart, we meet the Lord and are transformed’. God is waiting to meet us in the intimacy of our deepest selves. A vocation entails an intimate dialogue with the One who calls and invites us to respond, despite the deafening noise of the world, with true joy and generosity.

Listening: Once we go deeper within ourselves, we meet the Lord there and if we listen, he speaks. Pope Leo writes: ‘Dear young people, listen to his voice! Listen to the voice of the Lord who invites you to a full and fruitful life, calling you to put your talents to use and to unite your limitations and weaknesses with the glorious cross of Christ… Through the intimacy of his friendship, you will discover how to give of yourselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life. Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy. To know the Lord means above all learning to entrust oneself to him and to his providence, which is abundant in every vocation’.

Trusting: Once we enter deep within, the voice of the Good Shepherd always leads us forward, always to a new place and to a new mission. This invitation to move from where we are requires trust on our part and abandoning ourselves to him, even when his plans unsettle our own. Often, we need help to discern where this path is leading. Again, we are not alone. This is where we all need good friends of faith to talk things through. Everyone deserves a faith friend who opens up a safe space for us to talk about where our lives are heading. ‘How precious it is to have a true spiritual guide to accompany us in the discovery and growth of our vocation! How important it is to discern and test the promptings of the Holy Spirit, so that a vocation can be brought to fruition in all its beauty!’ (From Pope Leo’s Message).

Friends, today we rejoice in the gift of our vocations. Together let us create a culture of vocations where we can help each other to know our calling and where all who are confused and lost can receive help. Pause, listen and entrust yourselves. In this way, the gift of your vocation will mature, bringing you happiness and yielding abundant fruit for the Church and the world.

May Mary our Mother, who paused, listened and trusted, pray for us and accompany us to know, accept, live and love the vocation for which God created us. Amen.