(The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde during the Diocesan Vocations Mass celebrated at Holy Spirit Church in Annandale on March 8, and is offered this week as a reflection on vocations following the World Day of Prayer for Vocations last Sunday.)
Is there some secret to living life well? Is there a key to being happy? Yes, there is! However, it is not a secret. It is not a thing. It is a Person! The Person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who came down to earth to save us. He has saved us by His dying on the Cross and by His rising from the dead. Yes, Jesus Christ is the key to living life well here " with purpose and meaning, and to living life hereafter " with endless joy forever!
Now, centuries ago St. Paul understood that Jesus is the key to living life well here and hereafter. He understood that Jesus is our all! That is what he was telling us a short time ago in today's second reading from his Letter to the Philippians. “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them as so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him….” Yes, for St. Paul, the Lord Jesus was all he needed to live life with purpose and meaning here and to inherit eternal life hereafter. I shall never forget how another person, centuries later, expressed what St. Paul just told us. His name was Rick Husband, the Commander of the space shuttle Columbia, which broke apart on re-entering the earth's atmosphere a little more than a year ago, on February 1, 2003. In a message Commander Husband left for his pastor, he wrote: “…tell them about Jesus. He means everything to me.”
Yes, this is the good news: Jesus is the key to living life both here and hereafter. This is why you are attending Catholic schools; to learn how and why Jesus is our all and to come to know and to love Him.
This good news is no secret; God wants everyone to come to know and to love Jesus! People need a Savior. Recall the scene in today's gospel account. “At the sight of the crowds, His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” People in our world, people around us, experience many difficulties and problems, they too feel “troubled and abandoned.” Jesus is the key to their going on through life with hope and strength. He is their Lord and Savior.
But, how will these people know Jesus and come to love Him? How will they discover that Jesus is the key to their lives here and hereafter?
People need to announce the good news about Jesus and to model this good news! In other words, we need to evangelize and to witness. Yes, all of us must do this now as members of our family and among our peers and teachers. All of us must do this later in the individual vocation or specific calling God will give us.
Moreover, God chooses and calls some people to make Jesus known and loved in very special ways, by being priests and religious sisters and brothers. Priests make Jesus uniquely present by preaching, celebrating the Sacraments — especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation — and leading God's people in their faith journey. Religious sisters and brothers make Christ present and visible among God's people in His roles as Teacher, Healer and Reconciler.
God is choosing and calling some of you present here this morning to these vocations of service within the Church: priesthood and consecrated life. I do not know which ones of you He is calling. God knows, and you will know if you are open to His choice and call. Isn't that what Samuel models for us in today's first reading? Samuel was chosen and called by God to be His prophet. Although initially Samuel did not realize that it was the Lord Who was calling him, notice how ready and willing he was to respond. “Here I am. You called me.” Then, after realizing that it was not the old priest Eli who was calling, but rather God Himself, Samuel responds: “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
I urge you to be like Samuel, open to God's choice and call and willing to respond with the total “yes” of your being. Remember, when you do what God chooses you to do, you will live life well here and hereafter and help others to do the same.
