Bishop Vasa's column on Vocations

Bishop Vasa of Baker, OR, recently wrote a column on vocations. He writes "I am convinced that there is no shortage of young men being called to a life of service to Christ’s Church as priests. The shortage rests not in the number being called but only in the number responding to the invitation." He speaks of the noise that fills our culture that drowns out the voice of God calling young men to the priesthood, and the need of parents to allow their children to respond to that call. Like our own Bishop Nienstedt, Bishop Vasa calls all to pray for vocations.

"... Some of the young men in this class have considered and are considering a possible vocation to the priesthood as an option for them. Whether their initial hearing of that gentle call will ultimately result in a definitive affirmative response depends upon parental support, pastoral encouragement and prayers; lots and lots of prayers. Vocations do come from families but vocations also come from Parishes. It often happens that several vocations will come from the same Parish several years in a row. It often happens that small rural Parishes produce three of four priestly vocations in a span of as many years. It often happens that a number of religious vocations will spring from the families of one Parish. It is, in part, a mystery of God’s grace but it is also a sign that, in those Parishes where vocations are prayed for, esteemed and actively encouraged young men are more likely to hear and heed the Lord’s invitation to be priests and young women are more likely to hear and heed the Lord’s invitation to serve as Religious. The promotion of vocations to the priesthood and religious life needs to be a routine activity of every Parish, a routine activity of every parishioner."

The Annunciation

Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation, c. 1472-75
Normally, the feast that we celebrate today, the Annunciation, is celebrated on March 25, but because the 25th is on a Sunday and the Sunday of Lent has precedence. This feast is, of course, the celebration of the announcement of the Angel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was to bear the Son of the Most High. Without knowing how this was to be, she places her trust in the Lord and the message of the Angel. Her response, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me, according to your word" (Ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbus tuum in Latin.)

The Blessed Mother is the model of vocation. She places her trust, and indeed her whole life, in God. She responds, not knowing the fullness of how, the mechanics perhaps, but knowing that God's plan was good. She is willing to become a virgin mother.

We might have questions about the mechanics of what God is inviting us, but the Blessed Mother shows us that it is in responding to the will of God that we come to understand.

Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, you are full of grace.
We celebrate the message of the incarnation of your Son,
and your Fiat to the message of the angel.
Help me to respond to God's loving will as you did.
Help me to let go of the questions,
the worries that prevent me for saying yes with self-abandonment.
Be my strong advocate
as you take my intercession to know God's will
to our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Reflection on the Fifth Sunday of Lent

The story of the woman caught in adultery is a powerful story on which to reflect, especially in light of vocations. The unknown woman, 'caught in the very act of adultery', is brought before Jesus for his judgment. The Pharisees and scribes are setting a trap - is Jesus going to dismiss her to continue on her way (a misguided notion of Mercy), or is he going to consent in her death (an equally misguided notion of Justice, after all, the man was also guilty).

Jesus begins writing on the ground with his finger - what he wrote no one knows, but perhaps this does not matter. He was writing just as the Father did when He inscribed the Law on the stone tablets on Sinai. Jesus was writing a new law, tempered in love. He states simply that the one without sin is the one who is to carry out the sentence. He returns to his scribbling. All walk away, leaving the woman. Jesus does not simply dismiss her, but calls her to conversion, to sin no more. He, who is all holy and sinless, could have carried out the sentence, but calls her to repentance.

Many young men, feeling the call, allow the condemnation that results from their sins to forbid them from responding. But in the same way, Jesus invites us to trust in his mercy, to seek forgiveness of our sins and the grace to go forward. As so many have said and repeated, there is no saint without a past, and no sinner without a future. Our sins are never as great as God's mercy, and if we are willing to seek forgiveness and sin no more, we can go on, to respond to God's grace freely.

Priestly Celibacy By Cardinal Hummes

Cardinal Hummes, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy, recently released an article on priestly celibacy to mark the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's Sacerdotalis Caelibatus. In the article, the Cardinal summarizes the Pope's letter.

The Cardinal writes: "Celibacy is a gift that Christ offers to men called to the priesthood. This gift must be accepted with love, joy and gratitude. Thus, it will become a source of happiness and holiness. Paul VI gave three reasons for sacred celibacy: its Christological, ecclesiological and eschatological significance." It is a great summary, easy to read, and well-footnoted. Check it out.

The Necessity of Assent

Diogenes, republishes an address by C.S. Lewis to Anglican clergymen regarding the necessity for assent to Church teaching among the clergy for proper Church order. Lewis and Diogenes lead us to the edge to understanding that to attempt to be a dissenter from within the Church is to place oneself outside the Church, usually above the Church in judgment.

For this reason, the Church teaches what she believes, and requires her priests to profess it. If God is calling a man to the priesthood, the man is being called to the fullness of the truth, and to teach it to the best of his ability. This does not mean, perhaps, that the priest knows everything and understands with perfect clarity the faith, but that he gives his full assent to the faith, and willingly submits to the Church. Anything else is less, and certainly to say that one can know better than the 2000 years of Tradition is to yield to a spirit of arrogance!

Pope Benedict on Pope St. Clement of Rome

In the recent months, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has been focusing his Wednesday Audiences on the apostles and early witnesses to the Christian faith. On March 7, 2007, his audience address focused on St. Clement of Rome, the third successor of Peter. Pope Benedict states that St. Clement's letter to the Corinthians was addressing a recent controversy regarding the role of priests in the community. He wrote:

"The clear distinction between the "laymen" and the hierarchy does not mean, in any way, a contraposition but only the organic connection of a body, of an organism with different functions. In fact, the Church is not a place for confusion and anarchy, where someone can do whatever he wants at any time; each one in this organism with an articulated structure practices his ministry according to the vocation received.
As pertains to the heads of the communities, Clement specifies clearly the doctrine of apostolic succession. The laws that regulate this derive from God himself in an ultimate analysis. The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the apostles. These then sent out the first heads of the communities, and established that they would be followed by worthy men. Therefore, all proceeds in "an orderly way, according to the will of the word of God"
With these words, with these phrases, St. Clement underlines that the Church has a sacramental structure, not a political structure. God's actions that come to us in the liturgy precede our decisions and our ideas. The Church is above all a gift of God and not a creature of ours and therefore this sacramental structure not only guarantees the common order but also the precedence of the gift of God that we all need. "

We can take at least a little comfort to know that the modern day struggles with those who think that the priesthood is outmoded due to the heightened awareness of the role of the laity is not so modern. Some men are ordained to the priesthood for the service of God and His Church. They are configured to Christ in such a way that they are in persona Christi capitis, and as such is 'ordered in his very being' to provide the sacraments. This not a slight to the laity - each and every human being has a vocation, and will be held responsible for putting that vocation to use in the Church.

Baptism requires a decision to Follow!

Diogenes, in his fine blog Off the Record linked on Catholic World News, provides commentary on a recent interview with Fr. Ron Rohlheiser by US Catholic. In the interview, Fr. Rohlheiser addresses the two 'schools' of thought in the Church today, the school of what I would call "the Church is for those who desire to follow Christ" versus "the Church is for all who hope for salvation whether they know Christ or not". By way of example, Fr. Rohlheiser references an Episcopalian parish that baptized anyone who wished to be, with numbers a "couple hundred", out of which they gained 60-70 "good Episcopalians". Such a practice is completely out of sync with the Catholic Church's understanding of Baptism. Baptism requires a conscious decision to follow Christ and to adhere to the teachings of the Church of baptism. Yes, as Catholics, we believe in infant baptism, but it is the parents who choose for the child, and stand in proxy of sorts, that this child will follow Christ. Baptism is not a magic formula that provides a free pass to heaven, but rather a Sacrament which covenants one to God and the Church. That covenant must be lived out. While this Episcopalian Church may have gained a few good members, they also gained quite a few members that perhaps have no idea of the gift and vocation they just received in being baptized! Are the newly baptized going to be invited to respond to God's will?

As we approach Easter and the great Mystery of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, we are to see this as a great time of grace to renew our commitment to Christ and the Church, to respond to God's will for our lives, and to move beyond ourselves into greater faith.