With 70% of the newly ordained saying they first heard the call to the priesthood between birth and 18 years of age, what we do at the parish level to intentionally promote vocations is vitally important to the health of a diocese!
It is not just for increased numbers of seminarians, sisters and brothers that we do this work. Our goal is to help each person ask God regularly, "What is Your will in my life?" If we do this, more souls will end up in heaven!
I love this quote from St. John Neumann:
“Everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; we are not here, that we may go to bed at night, and get up in the morning, toil for our bread, eat and drink, laugh and joke, sin when we have a mind, and reform when we are tired of sinning, rear a family and die. God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, . . . for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.” (St. John Neumann, from the sermon: “God’s Will the End of Life”)
I pray that you are taking this week to do something at your parish to bring awareness that everyone has a call to holiness!
St. John Neumann, pray for us!
