The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on May 11, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Mother's Day.
Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Mother's Day: each of these claims our attention on this day. Each of these has a specific focus, yet there is a reality which links all three: committed love. When I use these words “committed love,” I use them to describe not a passing emotion or feeling, but, rather, a conscious decision to desire the good of another person within the framework of Gospel love.
In the Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the focus of our attention. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus tells us. And why is He the Good Shepherd? Because of His committed love for the flock, for us. Msgr. James Turro puts it this way: “Jesus, however, is the good shepherd because of his unwavering love for the flock " he loves them unto death” (Magnificat, May 2003, vol. 5, no. 3, p. 146).
Yes, Jesus' love for us is forever faithful and enduring. During this Easter season, over and over again, we are reminded in a special way of Jesus' Death on the Cross and His Rising to new and unending life: the Paschal Mystery. At the core of Jesus' Dying and Rising is His love: His love for God the Father, whose will He always fulfilled, and His love for each of God's children, including ourselves, whom He saved by His Dying and Rising. Recall how Jesus told us just moments ago: “I will lay down my life for the sheep " This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.”
Jesus' love for us is clearly a committed love. He desires only that we be open to receive His love and the divine life He wishes to give us. Our response to His love means that we love Him truly by keeping His word and doing His will, avoiding sin and letting His life within us grow, and that we love our sisters and brothers by always seeking their real and total welfare. Yes, on Good Shepherd Sunday, as we focus on Jesus' love for us, we recommit ourselves to love as He does: both God and one another " faithfully and perseveringly.
Today, we join our sisters and brothers throughout the Universal Church in praying for more vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. In his message for this year's observance, our Holy Father underscores the reality of service as being fundamental to the Christian vocation in its various concrete expressions. “In the Bible, service is always linked to a specific call that comes from God” (no. 1). He then describes Jesus as “the perfect model of the 'servant' of whom the scripture speaks” (no. 3). Pointing to both the priesthood and consecrated life, Pope John Paul II states: “"In fact, the priestly vocation or the religious vocation are always, by their very nature, vocations to the generous service of God and neighbor” (no. 3).
We need to pray that those whom God is calling to priesthood and consecrated life will respond with a generous and willing “yes!” Committed love marks the priest and the religious " a love which resembles Christ's, a love which implies laying down one's life in service for the total welfare of others, and in a unique way, for their spiritual welfare. We have been blessed in this diocese with vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. However, given our continuing rapid growth, we do not have now nor will we in the future have sufficient priests, religious sisters and religious brothers to reflect the love of the Good Shepherd to God's people within our diocese. Now is the time to pray, to identify potential candidates and to encourage and support them, beginning within the family circle. Permit me to ask you to pray this way: “Lord, if it be Your holy will, please choose someone from my family to be a priest, sister or brother. And if you do, I will support that person with my prayer and encouragement.” The answer to tomorrow's need for persons who live committed love in priesthood and consecrated life begins today " in prayer!
Today is also Mother's Day " a day to remember and to honor our mothers, whose committed love to us has been shown in so many tangible ways. Mothers, natural, adoptive and foster, reveal a love rooted in the commitment to nurture and to guide their children in the ways of holiness and truth. During this celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, even as we pray to respond in love to the Good Shepherd and seek from the Lord many more vocations to priesthood and consecrated life, we also pray for our mothers, whether they be still with us in this life or have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. As you know, our Mother's Day observance is rooted in prayer.
In 1907, Ana Jervis, a Philadelphia, Pa., school teacher, persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, W.Va., to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, which happened to be on the Second Sunday of May that year. Later, Ana Jervis became very displeased over the commercialization of this national observance: her desire was that it be a day of gratitude and prayer. We, in fact, do that in this Mass, praying gratefully for the gift of each of our mothers and asking the Lord to bless her for her committed love.
Yes, committed love links all three celebrations: Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Mother's Day. May each of us, clinging to Jesus, live our individual vocation in just that way " in committed love rooted in the Gospel of life and love!
