Year IV, Number 29

To remain faithful to the grace received! This gift of God does not cancel human freedom; instead it gives rise to freedom, develops freedom and demands freedom.

For this reason, the total trust in God’s unconditional faithfulness to his promise is accompanied in the Church by the grave responsibility to cooperate in the action of God who calls, and to contribute toward creating and preserving the conditions in which the good seed, sown by God, can take root and bring forth abundant fruit. The Church must never cease to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into his harvest, (cf. Mt. 9:38). She must propose clearly and courageously to each new generation the vocational call, help people to discern the authenticity of their call from God and to respond to it generously, and give particular care to the formation of candidates for the priesthood.

The formation of future priests, both diocesan and religious, and lifelong assiduous care for their personal sanctification in the ministry and for the constant updating of their pastoral commitment is considered by the Church one of the most demanding and important tasks for the future of the evangelization of humanity.

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I have been feeling a call to be a priest for quite some time, and I am only 15. Though it could of course change with continuing discernment, I think that I am called to be a diocesan priest and to spread the Word of God and to perform the sacrifice of the Mass. Thus, how does one go about picking a good diocese? Should one stay in his own or go someplace else? Does the tradition involved in the Mass vary depending on one’s location within the United States? I would like to be a part of a more traditional diocese, and I guess what I am trying to say is that I would like just some general information about all of this, and I would like to know whether there are certain people that I would be able to talk to about such matters. Thank you for you assistance!

- Paul

A. Dear Paul,

If you see that God is calling you to serve him in the diocesan priesthood, the “logical” place to serve would be in your home diocese, although other factors (the desire to serve in a poorer or more needy diocese, for example, or if because of your health you needed a different climate...) could legitimately sway your decision. You bring up another, very practical (and spiritual at the same time) consideration, and that is the conditions under which you would have to exercise the priesthood in a particular diocese and, you might add, the formation you will receive on your way to the priesthood.

As in all prudent decisions you will have to avoid two extremes: on the one hand, putting yourself in a position that, due to your principles and temperament, is going to prove over time to be untenable (some people are able to deal with pressure and adversity better than others); and on the other, of not being able to accept and adapt to situations that are not an abuse but definitely not to your liking or preference. It would be a mistake to go into the priesthood expecting to have everything always to your liking. You become a priest to serve and not to be served (Christ's words) and “to become all things to all people” (St Paul). What matters is teaching Christ, giving his grace generously through the ministry of the sacraments, and identifying with him more each day through your own life of prayer and spiritual progress, spending your life for the souls in your parish, and giving your bishop the proper respect and obedience.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Thanks so much for putting out the ShoreLines newsletter. I really love it and it’s a great way to start off the week focused on God. I have a question on vocations for Fr Bannon. My dad is not Catholic but still supports my mom, sister, and me in our religion, but he isn’t so sure about my seeking a vocation at age 16. To him it makes more sense to wait until I’m older, like when I’m 25. I think that if God is calling me, he will let me know at either time, but I don’t see the harm in discerning now. What is the balance between obeying my father and discovering God’s will?

Thanks for everything you do.

- Jennifer

A. Dear Jennifer,

I’m glad you find ShoreLines helpful; I’ll try to keep it coming.

As regards your question, it is not so much a question of finding a balance between obeying your father and discovering God’s will, but of finding God’s will in how he expects you to obey your father.

You can say there are two levels to discerning God’s will. One is to discern in your spirit, for yourself in your heart and mind, and the other is confirming this and taking the practical steps to follow the vocation, which usually involves taking some action. The first is really a question of the gradual maturing of your Christian call, which is to put Christ at the center, and to live your life as he wants you to live it. It is a spiritual journey. It is quite possible to make the journey and discern in your heart and soul that God wants you completely for himself while still remaining at home. God does not give anyone, not even our parents, the authority to interfere with that journey or dictate how far it can go. Our parents, certainly, will try to enlighten and help us and make sure we are not victims of imagination or illusions, but no one can tell God to be quiet and not speak to a soul.

Then there is the “active” discernment: inquiring, visiting, doing retreats, interviewing, joining... Here is where we have to understand what God’s commandment really says. It is, “Honor your father and mother”. To honor your parents when you are 16 means something different than when you are 18 or 20. At 16 you honor your parents by obeying them. So if your father insists that you cannot take part in discernment retreats or commit yourself externally in any way towards a vocation, God wants you to obey him - and if you think you have a vocation you are going to have to cultivate it by being obedient to your father. You learn and express your obedience to God by obeying your parents. However, you should not do anything that would jeopardize your vocation. In this type of situation it is always advisable to have a spiritual director or some prudent person you can talk things over with - it may be your mother - so as to make sure you are doing what is right, since there may be many judgment calls to be made.

When you come of age, you will honor your parents by taking into account what they say, turning to them for advice, but at that stage you will be responsible for your own decisions, and may find yourself in good conscience differing from them in your decisions. You will have to be very honest with yourself to make sure that you are really seeking God's will and not just asserting your own will and independence.

I hope this helps. God bless.

- Fr Anthony

I also am aware that the life of holiness has its times of enthusiasm and its times of discouragement, its times of fidelity and its times of betrayal. But this is the story of the saints, which you can sum up as a constant battle, always striving to achieve perfection. It has its spells of sunshine and its times of storm and tempest. Don’t be discouraged by this, or let it take you from the path of perfection or make you give up the battle, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs only to those who fight to the finish. When you have imperfections to be sorry for do so quickly, very simply and full of trust, and then continue to use your valuable time to contemplate and love Jesus Christ, forgetting in his Divine Heart all your miseries and imperfections, even if they were unintentional.

Gospel: Jn 6:1-15

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, every time I come to your sacred banquet to receive your body and blood, enkindle in my soul a deeper faith, an ardent hope and a persevering charity. Grant that this temple of my soul and body reflect the inner sanctity by which you now abide in me and I in you.

Petition: Jesus, I offer you today the fragments of my human frailty and misery to be transformed like the five barley loaves and fish into a testament of your love for souls. Make me a living Eucharist today to feed souls hungry for Christ.

1. “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Jesus here prepares humanity for the new manna to feed his hungry people. The bread given to our ancestors in the desert did not suffice to appease the interior pangs of mankind for the true bread of life. “At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, #2).

2. “Five barley loaves and two fish; what are they among so many?”

We should never underestimate what God can do with a docile soul. Christ wants to feed the famished crowd, but he at the same time he looks to his disciples for collaboration. He desires that poor and insignificant that may be, we unite the offering of our work, our sacrifices, and our generosity in the miracle of the Eucharist. This is the mystery of faith we proclaim every time we celebrate the Eucharist. Christ wants us to be protagonists in the salvation of souls, by lending him what little we may at hand to feed the souls he has placed before me today. What can I offer to Christ?

3. “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!”

The Holy Mass is the pinnacle of history because every prophet preceding Christ was pointing towards the moment of salvation to come through the meritorious act of the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ at the right hand of the Father. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is this same reality. St. Theresa of Avila spoke of the Eucharist as the same glorious Christ whom we will see face to face in the beatific vision in heaven behind the veil of bread and wine. If we truly believe how close Jesus Christ is to us, how much different would my life be; goodbye sadness, loneliness, and lack of appreciation, because I know my vindicator lives and is at hand!

Dialogue: Lord, you offer yourself each and every day on the altar in the eternal unbloody sacrifice of the Mass, for my sins and the sins of many. Imbue in me now a grateful heart, that I may never part from you and that I may persevere in my love for you.

Questionnaire:

1. How do I prepare myself for Mass? Am I conscious that I am going to receive Christ in his body, blood, soul, and divinity? Does this provoke in me a profound gratitude and desire to be as least unworthy as possible for such a gift?

2. What am I willing to place upon the altar united with the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Would I be prepared to offer him perfect charity even if this means violence to my egoism and pride?

3. Do I see with eyes of faith the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist? How often do I first go to the Blessed Sacrament for consolation and strength when I face challenges or difficulties?

And then there was the case of a twelve-year-old boy that confused even Mary his mother. What we usually call the “finding in the temple.” (Luke 2: 41-51)

They thought he had gotten lost by accident. Nothing so simple, however. Joseph was silent throughout. If, when the boy saw them he had run over with relief to hug them and perhaps sobbed his fright away in her arms, Mary might not have said anything either, beyond trying to console him. But they did not find him in near despair, disoriented, searching for them in tears. Instead, he was more collected than an adult, there in the temple, sitting among the doctors, listening and asking them questions; no sign of worry, fear; everything seemed to indicate that this is where he wanted to be, that it had not happened by chance.

Mary had not expected this. An accident would have been bad, but this? It apparently seemed cruel to her. Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously. Three days of worried and harried searching, not knowing where he was nor where to look for him. It is such a natural and easy scene to relive, it has happened to all of us under some form at one time or another.

If the boy’s actions were difficult to understand, his words were even more so, for his reaction was not to ask pardon. “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Why were you upset? On anyone else’s tongue it might have been an uppity, scathing, rebellious rebuke of an adolescent throwing down the gauntlet, enough to sever all ties and save him a trip home. That was not his intention, nor was it taken that way.

He was pointing to something they had forgotten. It is consoling when God’s plans take us or our parents by surprise to realize that it happened to Mary and Joseph too.

No doubt Mary knew that at some stage Jesus would have to set out from home on his mission, and that the parting would be difficult. But she had not expected it now. In a sense they had forgotten that he was given to them, but that he was always God’s, and his timetable was God’s.

Or maybe they hadn’t forgotten but had simply not come face to face with the practical consequences. Now they knew. The Father could ask anything of him and that was what he would do. Their place was not to question, he expected them to understand.

That gave Mary a lot to think about. As St. Luke puts it, she kept all these things in her heart. She often turned them over in her heart, and we see how fruitful her reflection was and how well she learned her lesson when Jesus takes up his public life; she is there in the background and at the moment of the cross she is there to suffer with him. But she never intrudes. She takes her lead from him always. She had learnt the lesson: he must do his Father’s business, and she must let him do it.

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

Cheshire, CT, July 25-27, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or at (800) 420-5409. Price: none.

Cornwall, ONT, July 25-27, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Fr William Slattery at wslattery@legionaries.org or at (613) 931-1920. Price: none.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony MacDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. amacdonnell@arcol.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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Copyright 2004, Legion of Christ.

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