4th Sunday of Easter C - Homily 5

 

Homily 5 - 2022

The Universal Church celebrates today as World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Here in Australia and some other places, this year it is also Mothers Day. The connection is not deliberate, but it is a happy coincidence. This year, we reflect on both against the backdrop of the War in Ukraine, which is itself such an evil negation, the desecration of so much of what we want to celebrate today.

Pope Francis has written a message for World Vocations Day that, unsurprisingly, invites us to enlarge our vision. I would like to quote from it some of the passages that invite our further pondering. The thoughts may not be new to some of you — in that case, the reminder can be helpful; but they may be new to others of you, in which case, I hope you find them enlightening.

Right from the start of his message, he made clear that “…the word ‘vocation’ should not be understood restrictively, as referring simply to [priests, nuns and brothers] who follow the Lord through a life of special consecration.”

Rather, he insisted, “all of us are called to share in Christ’s mission to reunite a fragmented humanity and to reconcile it with God. Each man and woman, even before encountering Christ and embracing the Christian faith, receives with the gift of life a fundamental calling: each of us is a creature willed and loved by God; each of us has a unique and special place in the mind of God. At every moment of our lives, we are called to foster this divine spark, present in the heart of every man and woman, and thus contribute to the growth of a humanity inspired by love and mutual acceptance. We are called to be guardians of one another, to strengthen the bonds of harmony and sharing… [We are also called] to heal the wounds of creation lest its beauty be destroyed. In a word, we are called to become a single family in the marvellous common home of creation.”

A little bit further on he wrote: “Within this great common vocation, God addresses a particular call to each of us…”, which he specified as, “..[to] go forth from ourselves and become the masterpiece that we are called to be.”

He then illustrated his point by naming two of those particular vocations, the two that we are celebrating today, where individuals can become the masterpieces they are called to be — “in the vocation to the ordained priesthood, to be instruments of Christ’s grace and mercy… In the vocation to marriage, to be mutual gift and givers and teachers of life.”

Francis sees the framework for all this happening within what he calls “synodality”. The word means “journeying together”. It is a process that is learnt and can become more perfect over time. Ultimately it allows communities, whatever their size, whether parish community or family community, to reach decisions together — after careful listening to as many voices as possible and searching out the most suitable outcome that all involved can accept freely and willingly. He expressed the vision generally in these terms: “This is the mystery of the Church: a celebration of differences, a sign and instrument of all that humanity is called to be. For this reason, the Church must become increasingly synodal: capable of walking together, united in harmonious diversity, where everyone can actively participate and where everyone has something to contribute.”

He concluded his message, tying all things together, in these words: “Priests, consecrated men and women, lay faithful: let us journey and work together in bearing witness to the truth that one great human family united in love is no utopian vision, but the very purpose for which God created us.”