Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"The kingdom of God is at hand", the message that Jesus sends these 72 out to proclaim. It is a message that is still to be proclaimed. Perhaps it was because of the urgency of the message that Jesus sends them out with the instruction to take nothing with. How we can get weighted down with too much 'stuff', and perhaps we should lighten our loads and get back to the message!

Cardinal Piacenza sends letter to seminarians

As he has in the past, the Cardinal who is head of the Congregation of the Clergy, has released a letter addressed to seminarians.

First Sunday of Lent

The Season of Lent is a season of self-denial and penance, when we, like Jesus Christ enter the desert of fasting and prayer. What will we find there? Perhaps a new temptation against which Christ is strengthening us; perhaps a new awareness of His love for us; it might be growth in a virtue. It might be a deeper commitment to our vocation. Whatever it is that Christ has prepared for us, let us walk boldly through this desert of Lent!

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

The widow, with so little means, gives freely of her want. She gives as an act of love of God, and does not do so for show our out of pride. Whatever we give, whether our time, talent, or treasure, we should give out of love of God ourselves. We should not look for accolades or any other reason.

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become like children. As children, we would need to admit our dependance on God, our own limitations, and our need. We come to Christ on His terms, not on our own.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

THe Multiplication of the Loaves is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It contains a great power - it reveals that Jesus Christ is God, and that He provides for His people. It is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. More importantly, though, for those who are discerning a vocation, the miracle reminds us on our own we can do nothing - not even 200 days wages would be enough! But when we give, even as little as five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus Christ makes it enough for the vast crowds.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord sends His apostles, two by two, into the countryside to prepare the people for His message. While they are told to travel light, they are not to travel alone. Following Christ, it would seem, is never an individual task but one that requires companions.
We, too, are called by Christ and sent by Him. We do not travel alone, either. Rather, we follow our vocations with others, even if our particular vocation is individual. We work best when we work together.

Our New website is up!!!

We are finally live with the new Website for Vocations! Check it out!!!

Newest Edition of Vocations View

I have posted the newest volume of the Vocations View Newsletter. Click to go to the page, or Right click to download!

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Father calls us to virtue, and we have to respond. Ideally, we would say yes to the Lord, and live virtuously. But even if we initially say 'no' the Lord invites us to conversion, to say 'yes'. In the end, it is not the ones who simply say yes that will be saved, but the ones who do what He requires. While there is still breath, there is still a chance for conversion. And what does a life converted to the Lord look like? It looks like Jesus Christ, who humbled himself and set aside the rights He had a the Son of God to become a slave for us. The Lord is not calling us to abandon our humanity, but rather to embrace it as Jesus Christ embraced it. He is calling us to empty ourselves of pride, and to serve one another.

Vocation Boom

I want to highlight a great website for those discerning a vocation titled Vocation Boom. It provides Resources, encouragement, mentors and friends to aid in discernment of the priesthood.

Eighth Sunday in Ordnary Time

You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Instinctively, we know this, but all too often we hedge our bets, becoming anxious about the 'stuff' that surrounds us. But Jesus gives us the example of the birds and flowers - they do not work, yet they are well feed and arrayed. They simply respond to God's will, and He provides. When we seek His Kingdom and righteousness first, and everything else follows - He will give us what we truly need. So, following the example of the birds and the flowers, we respond to God's will for us, and trust in His Providence

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Sermon on the Mount, especially the Beatitudes, form the core of what it means to follow Christ. It is in poverty of spirit that we recognize our dependance on God. In sadness, we turn to the Lord for our joy. The meek turn to the Lord for strength, the hungry to be filled by the Lord alone. Indeed, the vows and promises of the religious and priests are a means of live the Beatitudes out, and to remind others that we all live dependent on God.

Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

"Jesus, who was rich, become poor, so that through His poverty, we may become rich." This passage, the Alleluia verse this weekend, captures the divine exchange of God and man. What we have, the stuff around us, is nothing compared to the wealth that God gives us, and we are called to use those gifts prudently, and perhaps even squander them. We are all called to be detached from the stuff, the Mammon, of the world, and some do this radically by taking the vows, so that we can be filled with God's gifts.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Humility marks the life of a follower of Christ. It takes humility to admit we are sinners in need of a savior, in the first place. The Lord instructs His followers to not think to much of themselves, to promote themselves to higher honors. When others come, they will make the determination of where they belong. Humility is needed to enter fully into the liturgy, too. We hear the call of the Lord to come to worship Him, and we submit ourselves to Him.

Growth in humility will help in discerning a vocation - we will more honestly see where we stand before God, with all our talents and sins, knowing we are loved and forgiven, the more we will be able to know His will.

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

A life focused on possessions leads to a life lived apart from God. The barely veiled greed of a brother feeling slighted is the opportunity for the Lord to teach His followers to avoid greed. He shares a parable of a man so out of reality that he thinks that his bountiful harvest is all his work - with no reference to God, his workers, builders, or servants. God calls him to task.

Many people reject priesthood or religious life because of fear of the loss of possessions. Yet, as we hear this weekend, we must realize that it is God who has given all to us, and we leave it to others when we go... so we focus on what is eternal and truly important: That which is of God!