Year III, Number 45

Jesus, Servant and Lord, is also the one who calls. He calls us to be like him, because only in service do human beings discover their own dignity and the dignity of others. He calls to serve as he has served. When interpersonal relationships are inspired to reciprocal service, a new world is created and, in it, an authentic vocational culture is developed.

With this message, I should like, in a way, to give voice to Jesus, so as to propose to young people the ideal of service, and to help them to overcome the temptations of individualism and the illusion of obtaining their happiness in that way. Notwithstanding certain contrary forces, present also in the mentality of today, in the hearts of many young people there is a natural disposition to open up to others, especially to the most needy. This makes them generous, capable of empathy, ready to forget themselves in order to put the other person ahead of their own interests.

Dear young people, service is a completely natural vocation, because human beings are by nature servants, not being masters of their own lives and being, in their turn, in need of the service of others. Service shows that we are free from the intrusiveness of our ego. It shows that we have a responsibility to other people. And service is possible for everyone, through gestures that seem small, but which are, in reality, great if they are animated by a sincere love. True servants are humble and know how to be "useless" (cf. Lk 17:10). They do not seek egoistic benefits, but expend themselves for others, experiencing in the gift of themselves the joy of working for free. Dear young people, I hope you can know how to listen to the voice of God calling you to service. This is the road that opens up to so many forms of ministry for the benefit of the community: from the ordained ministry to various other instituted and recognized ministries, such as catechesis, liturgical animation, education of young people and the various expressions of charity (cf. Novo millennio ineunte, 46). At the conclusion of the Great Jubilee, I reminded you that this is "the time for a new 'creativity' in charity" (ibidem, 50). Young people, in a special way it is up to you to ensure that charity finds expression, in all its spiritual and apostolic richness.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Well, it’s typical to say that I’m like every other young Catholic man because I’ve been discerning my vocation, and felt pulled towards both the married life and the religious life. I’ve always wrestled and gone back and forth over what I should do (or rather, what God has blessed me to be). I also know that prayer and an open heart are the keys to finding out.

This is where it gets interesting, though. Though I’ve felt I could be both a priest and a husband, I’ve always felt closer to the married life, but I still had a desire to serve at the altar. And it just seriously occurred to me the other morning that I could be a deacon. I mean, what better way to have a loving Catholic family, serve at the altar, and expose my kids to the religious and the married life? Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

God bless.

- Sid

A. Dear Sid,

The diaconate seems to be the perfect solution, the best of both worlds. Several things you should consider, though:

If you marry, you will have to wait many years in order to become a deacon; it is usual to have to wait until your family is mostly grown up. This is a practical consideration.

Another thought goes a little deeper into what the priesthood is. It is not just “serving at the altar” in a slightly different capacity than a deacon. The priesthood is something that grips and takes over all you are, it is a sacrament that “turns you into Christ” in a special way, giving you the power to consecrate and to forgive sins, and this power is given to you in order to serve the people. You are also called to pray and to spread the Kingdom with special dedication. Celibacy comes from these elements implied in your becoming “another Christ”: acting in his name and with his power, preaching his word, and at the service of all. Having a family is a good and beautiful thing, especially if you try to live God’s plan for marriage. But the Church has discovered (it discovered it very early on; Christ himself set the example) that marriage is one of those pearls that you have to sell if you are to receive the one that is worth more, the priesthood. Sid, more than anything I think you have to look at what the priesthood is. You will always have your natural desire for marriage, and that is not going to go away, but when you receive a vocation, God calls you to love him more than any one of his creatures, sacrificing all human love in order to answer his call. It is a great and marvelous thing to be a priest, but it is also a sacrifice. And why shouldn’t it be, if Christ’s love leads him to die on the cross for our sake? Celibacy is part of the real dying to himself that a priest is called to, and it makes him more like Christ and more available to the souls he serves. God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I feel God’s calling me to be a priest, but I have recently met a girl who I have grown fond of. I feel I am in love with her, although if I’m honest it’s the intimacy that I desire and the comfort of the possible relationship. The only thing is whenever I am with her I push aside my faith and my relationship with Christ. I attend Mass every day at college, which I have found to be a great blessing and help in my vocation. For the last few days I have not been able to face Christ at Mass. I feel so bad that I have removed Christ from my heart and filled it with someone else. What makes me feel worse is that all the time when I am with her in the back of my mind, the voice of Christ is constantly remaining telling me all the time that he wants me to be a priest and that the possible relationship I have in mind is not his will. I feel so unhappy having left Christ in my heart. I have never gone to Mass and not had Christ at the center of my heart and my life. I feel that if I am to go to Mass in my present situation, it would all be artificial: just an act, but not an act of love. I have been to confession. I am just finding it difficult to face Christ in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament because I feel so guilty. All this has only happened since last week. So maybe it's just a phase. I know Cardinal Hume said “at the heart of celibacy is pain”, but how do I deal with that pain? I desire nothing more than to do the will of God. I know deep within my heart that only when I am giving myself to God in my vocation am I truly happy.

Please help me, Father. And pray for me.

Thank you.

- DeRon

A. Dear DeRon,

Your conscience is really telling you something that you would prefer not to hear but cannot push aside because, thanks to his grace, you truly love God.

Rather than shy away from Christ right now because you feel weak and unworthy, you need to go to him - because you are weak and unworthy. He understands what you are going through more than you think, he knows from experience what it is to be asked by God for something that our human nature is not naturally inclined to. Remember, he was not under the influence of sin or unruly passions, yet his human nature still was not attracted to suffer death on the Cross - only his love for us and for his Father could bring him to do that.

He also showed us how to bring our human nature into line with God’s will: by prayer (he prayed long and hard in Gethsemane). If you have been taking him away from the center, you need to go to him, moved not so much by guilt as by your awareness of your weakness. "Lord, I want to put you at the center but I am so weak that I get sidetracked by the other good things you gave me in life."

You are absolutely right in saying that only when we give ourselves to God in the vocation he has for us will we be truly happy. But it takes faith, and before that resurrection to joy there has to be the dying to ourselves that is so costly. However, keep you eyes on the reward!

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Among its many lessons, the mystery of Bethlehem drives home to us almost brutally a principle that we will need to apply often in our lives if we don't want them to unfold in a fog of dreams and vague desires, never developing into deeds and concrete action. This principle is realism. I don't know what we would have done if we had found ourselves in the same situation as Mary and Joseph that night. The Gospel is very frugal, but we can sense that Joseph and Mary did the only thing they could under the circumstances: They searched for someplace where the Son of God could be born far from indiscreet eyes; they wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. The angels would give these concrete actions of Mary as a sign to the shepherds: "You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12).

There is much more to this than hard luck or unfortunate coincidence. Our wise and all-powerful God had planned it from all eternity. The Gospel will relay no more than these simple, natural actions, the only ones necessary and possible in such a situation. Further on it tells us that Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19). Mary, a contemplative and practical soul, consecrated to God's will and filled with the Holy Spirit, accepted from the very depths of her being the concrete circumstances in which the mystery had taken place - very difficult circumstances for a sensitive and delicate motherly heart like hers. Right then moment Mary was living the concrete, tangible consequences of her "yes" to God, just as she had done at other times in her past.

Gospel: Lk 1:26–38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, oh full of grace! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, in your desire to see man reunited with the Father, you became man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Help me to respond to such as great sign of your love as did your Mother, with an unconditional acceptance of your will in my life.

Petition: Lord, please help me to be as generous to your will for my life as your Mother Mary was.

1. "Greetings, oh full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

Mary had dedicated herself fully to God. Now God was revealing the marvelous plan he had for her from all eternity. It is always God who takes the initiative in our lives, and it is God who gives us the grace necessary to fulfill the mission he has in store for us.

2. "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son … (he) will be called the Son of the Most High."

God’s plans always go above and beyond our expectations. Israel was waiting for the Messiah, waiting for its salvation. Now, in the fullness of time, God wanted to fulfill His promise: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak” (Ez 34:15–16).

God, in the incarnated person of the divine Son, was to come to his people - Emmanuel, God among us.

“From one point of view it is right to say that God revealed too much of Himself to man, too much of that which is most divine, that which is His intimate life; He revealed Himself in His Mystery” (Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 41).

3. "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

God invites man to collaborate in his plan of salvation, but he doesn’t oblige us. He wants our free collaboration, because it is in that free self–giving to God and others that we achieve our greatest act.

“Thus, giving her consent to God’s word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 494).

Dialogue: Lord Jesus, you are without limits and all-powerful, yet you became small for the sake of my salvation. Thank you for loving me like that. Help me to imitate Mary's response of faith and love in my daily life.

Questionnaire:

1. How has God worked in my life?

2. What has been my response up to this moment?

3. How can I give myself more to God?

The fundamental truth about a vocation is that its source is not us, but God. God calls. From the moment he creates us, God has a specific dream for each one of us. It follows that God in his providence and intelligence will make sure we receive sufficient indication of what it is he wants of us. We need not worry about that.

The other side to the equation is that for God’s plan to come true we have to perceive it and act upon it. This perception and acceptance has to happen at all levels of our nature, not only the intellectual, but also the spiritual and the emotional.

Though a person will pray about it, what is commonly understood as discernment is a process of trying to satisfy our skeptical intellect as to the existence of our call, purely and simply. This involves many an omission.

We do not normally take into consideration, for example, our willingness to accept the call, nor do we consider the influence of this willingness on our ability to perceive it, nor the obstacles that there may be within us to perceiving and acting upon a call. Yet all of these are of enormous consequence in our vocational search, and frequently are the hidden factors in determining its success or lack thereof.

Upcoming Events & Retreats

(( Listed here are retreats directed by the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members. For a listing of diocesan activities and other events, click here to go to the vocation.com website ))

LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

Dallas, TX, December 20-22, Young Men's Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Donna Rueby, (281) 361-3708. dmrueby@hotmail.com.

Cheshire, CT, December 26-30, Test Your Call! retreat. Contact Br Branigan Sherman, (800) 420-5409. vocation@legionaries.org.

Rome, Italy, Christmas break, December 27, 2002 - January 5, 2003, Mega-Pilgrimage. For college-aged men and high school seniors. Contact Karolee Stauduhar, (407) 869-8263. kstauduhar@msn.com.

Rome, Italy, December 27, 2002 - January 5, 2003, Youth Pilgrimage. Ages 11-15. Price: $1,495 (includes airfare). Contact Ray Arsenault, (902) 854-2808. arsenaultacres@pei.sympatico.ca.

Sacramento, CA, January 11-12, Young Men’s Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Br Robert DeCesare, (916) 716-5506. sgomez@legionaries.org.

Washington, DC, January 17-22, Mission for Life. Cost: $90. Help the nation's capitol prepare for the national March for Life by participating in a retreat and evangelization mission. Contact Tony MacDonnell, (301) 365-3205. mission@ytm.org.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

Rome, Italy, December 26, 2002 - January 4, 2003. Rome Pilgrimage. Ages 17-30. Contact Fernanda Paez, (877) 866-7738. matere@ids.net.

Rome, Italy, December 26, 2002 - January 4, 2003. Rome Pilgrimage. High school girls. Contact Fernanda Paez, (877) 866-7738. matere@ids.net.

Los Angeles, CA, January 12, 2003, Young Women's Spiritual Growth Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Magdalena Faine, (562) 597-6352. mfaine@inteducators.org.

Washington, DC, January 17-22, Mission for Life. Cost: $90. Help the nation's capitol prepare for the national March for Life by participating in a retreat and evangelization mission. Contact MariCarmen Maheu, (301) 365-3205. mission@ytm.org.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony MacDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. info@ytm.org.

ShoreLines welcomes your questions and comments at questions@shorelines.org. If you do not specify otherwise, your question may be posted in the Vocations Q&A section.

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