Year IV, Number 37

The Council first affirms the “common” vocation to holiness. This vocation is rooted in baptism, which characterizes the priest as one of the “faithful” (Christifedelis), as a “brother among brothers,” a member of the People of God, joyfully sharing in the gifts of salvation (cf. Eph. 4:4-6) and in the common duty of walking “according to the Spirit” in the footsteps of the one master and Lord. We recall the celebrated words of St. Augustine: “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian. The former title speaks of a task undertaken, the latter of grace; the former betokens danger, the latter salvation.”

With the same clarity the conciliar text also speaks of a “specific” vocation to holiness, or more precisely of a vocation based on the sacrament of holy orders - as a sacrament proper and specific to the priest - and thus involving a new consecration to God through ordination. St. Augustine also alludes to this specific vocation when, after the words "For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian," he goes on to say: "If therefore it is to me a greater cause for joy to have been rescued with you than to have been placed as your leader, following the Lord’s command, I will devote myself to the best of my abilities to serve you, so as not to show myself ungrateful to him who rescued me with that price which has made me your fellow servant."

The conciliar text goes on to point out some elements necessary for defining what constitutes the “specific quality” of the priest’s spiritual life. These are elements connected with the priest’s “consecration,” which configures him to Christ the head and shepherd of the Church, with the “mission” or ministry peculiar to the priest; which equips and obliges him to be a “living instrument of Christ the eternal priest” and to act “in the name and in the person of Christ himself” and with his entire “life,” called to manifest and witness in a fundamental way the “radicalism of the Gospel.”

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

I am 12. I feel like God may be calling me to the priesthood. I have felt this since I was 6. However, the vocation seems to be getting dimmer. More and more things, such as girls, keep coming into my life. I am in need of some spiritual direction. Do you have any advice? Thanks.

- Chris

A. Dear Chris,

What is happening is that you are growing up. Lots of new interests and changes are going to come into your life: when you were younger girls bored you, now they are interesting; when you were younger it was easy to obey your parents, now at times it is harder, etc.

What you have to make sure of is that your faith and your friendship with Christ grow along with everything else. Make sure that the most important thing for you is to be his best friend always, to please him in everything, to go to him in the Eucharist (Mass and Communion) as often as you can, that you speak to him. Also stay close to Mary. If you pray the Rosary, keep it up. If you don’t, start off with a decade a day.

Then you might also want to talk with your parents about the possibility of going to a high school that will help you with your vocation. I can give you information on one if you like - just write back.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Q. Dear Fr Anthony,

Thank you for your previous advice, as it was very helpful. I am continuing to discern my vocation, and I have recently been involved in visiting some of the different communities, as you had suggested. I am still somewhat confused, but with the help of God I am sure I will find my place in time. Right now I am having a little bit of difficulty finding a spiritual director. First, I went to my diocesan office and obtained a list of spiritual directors. However, although I did not know any names of the people on the list, I recognized the retreat houses and convents where the people are located. I have seen these places advertising in the local Catholic paper for seminars with a New Age flavor, i.e. autumnal equinox celebrations, anagram workshops, etc., so I decided to speak to a parish priest whom I have known for a long time instead. However, when I explained that I was trying to discern between a contemplative or a more active apostolate, he told me that he thought that a strictly contemplative lifestyle was selfish and self-absorbed, and that I needed to get out among the people to do anything of value. I reminded him that many of the great saints were cloistered contemplatives. But he thought that these are different times, which call for people to use their voices and their skills out in society. I suppose that many people do not see the value of the cloistered contemplative lifestyle. I still feel a pull in both directions; on a given day I think that I would be perfectly content to worship God in a contemplative lifestyle. Then on the following day, when I am reminded (e.g. by listening to the slanted viewpoints on the evening news) of the very serious moral problems present in our society, I feel that maybe God needs more people to do something active. Thanks for listening! God Bless!

- Mary Ann

A. Dear Mary Ann,

Just a note to say I will keep you in my prayers. Don’t worry - the contemplative vocation is not only a valid way among others to give your life to God, but of vital importance for the Church. You do not have to have a vocation to be a contemplative to know and appreciate that. The active vocation is necessary not because it is more important than the contemplative, but because the Church is a body, and each member has a different function to fulfill - and each member needs the others (laity need religious, actives need contemplatives, and contemplatives need actives so that their prayer will have an instrument to make it bear fruit). Continue as you are going, putting everything in God’s hands, and doing all you can as far as you are concerned so that his grace will have something to work with. The search will purify you and will allow him to speak to you more clearly. He knows what he wants you to do.

God bless.

- Fr Anthony

Gospel: Jn 19:25-27

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

Introductory Prayer: Following Christ means living in the shadow of his cross. Jesus, you ask me to carry on your mission of redemption by uniting my suffering to yours. Mary, who is Our Lady of Sorrows, understood what it takes to live under this shadow of the cross. May I, like Mary, be faithful to my mission no matter how heavy the weight of the cross and learn to turn to Mary for help when my strength begins to fail.

Petition: Open my eyes of faith, Lord Jesus, so that I will have the courage to pick up my cross and follow you. Draw me close to Mary so that she will fortify my feeble endeavors with the passion of her burning love for you.

1. The Depth of the Darkness.

Shouting, “We have no King but Caesar!” the violent mob clamored to shed the blood of Christ. Scourging him, the soldiers tore his body into rags. Amidst the spitting and cursing crowd, Jesus carried his cross to Calvary. Yet always behind the long trail of blood, always resting in the shadow of the Savior’s cross, always steadfast in her total love, Mary, his Mother, stood as a beacon of light within the encircling darkness.

Why, O Mother, do we find you and your Son here? Why must Jesus be crushed in such a ruthless tragedy? Why must you, O Mary, be caught within this web of suffering? Why is this day so dark? And then I remember. Is not the horror of Calvary due to the horror of my transgressions? The darkness emanates from my own sin.

Sometimes I forget just how terrifying sin is. I forget that my sin cost Christ his blood and life. Teach me, sweet Mother, never to forget the malice locked with every sinful deed, no matter how small. But also, fortify my faith to know that the darkness of Calvary leads to the brilliance of heaven. Christ died so that I will live. Remind me, dear Mother, as you assisted the timid apostles in the upper room before Pentecost, that Christ calls me out of the darkness of sin to go forth and build his Kingdom.

2. Standing in the Storm.

Calvary’s storm of suffering wreaked havoc upon the apostles, but Mary stood, firm and faithful, at the foot of the cross. Watching her beloved Son die the most humiliating death imaginable, she did not collapse under the sorrow. What was the secret to her strength? How did she stand firm in the storm?

The secret is faith. Mary took to heart the words her Son proclaimed, “Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:38-39) Mary had faith in the plan that God was conducting. Even the shadow of the cross would not veer her from that unshakable foundation.

I need this same faith, Lord Jesus, to stand firm and faithful before suffering. My calling necessarily implies carrying a cross. I will suffer, but I will not suffer meaninglessly. By faith I know that my cross, united to yours Lord Jesus, continues the work of redemption. My suffering can save souls. Let me never confuse the sacrifice demanded in carrying the cross with thinking that I am following the wrong path. There is only one path to follow you; the path to Calvary.

3. Motherly Munificence.

As Jesus looked down from the cross, he saw a handful of followers below him. He saw his Mother there, full of faith and love. He saw John and the women. Then off at a distance, he saw his other disciples. Knowing the needs of his disciples (and as well those to come after them) Jesus wanted to give them a gift to help them stay faithful. So there upon the cross, Christ blessed humanity with the greatest gift besides Himself; Mary.

What an incredible gift to receive! Mary is my mother and she loves me as her son. She, in her ever-watchful love, tends to my needs and intercedes on my behalf. As every mother, she covers me in her generous attention, teaching me to hear and respond to the heartbeats of her Son. Thank you Lord Jesus for this beautiful gift! And, Mary, hold me close to your side so that I will grow in my faith. I want to follow Christ by picking up my cross. Teach me the hidden strength of faith and to give my life totally, just like you O Mary, to whatever plan God has marked out for my soul.

Dialogue: My vocation calls me to embrace the cross. But this cross is not the crushing burden that you, O Lord, endured for my sins. No, the yoke I bear after you is easy and it’s burden light. You paid for all my sins and now call me to help continue the plan of redemption; offering my suffering up for souls. May my heart be completely generous, just like Mary’s, to this mission you lay in my hands. And Mary, increase my faith in suffering so that it will be a ladder helping me to climb towards heaven and save many souls.

Questionnaire:

1. What is sin to me? Does meditating on the passion of Christ bring me to an ever greater hatred of sin? Am I truly grateful to Christ for his passion on the cross?

2. What role does Mary play in my life? Do I turn to her, as a son turns to his mother, pleading for the graces I need?

3. How can I better embrace suffering in my life? In what ways could I bolster my faith while carrying my cross?

What age were you and how did you perceive the call to be a priest? In other words, why did you decide to be a priest?

I felt God’s call when I was fourteen. It was May. On May afternoons we used to pray the rosary at the parish, as an act of devotion to Mary. We also used make a beautiful floral offering. That day I was on my way home from praying the rosary at the parish when I met two nuns who were in Cotija, away from their communities for reasons of health and because of the religious persecution. They stopped to chat and asked me where I had been. I said, in Mexico City with the bishop of Veracruz, Rafael Guízar. Since the religious persecution was still going on in his diocese, he lived in the capital and ran a clandestine seminary there. “And why didn’t you stay with him?” they asked. It was the first time anyone had ever mentioned to me the possibility of going to the seminary to be a priest. I asked them if I could be a priest. They said yes, if God had given me the gift of a vocation.

After that brief conversation with the two sisters I was firmly convinced that God was calling me to serve him as a priest. Each vocation is particular and unique. Mine came unforeseen, without ever having thought of it or looked for it. In that seconds-long conversation with the nuns I had the moral certainty that God’s will for me was the life of a priest. I really don’t have any more details to give you. It was all very simple, but I must admit that I didn’t harbor any doubt that my call was authentic. Later came many difficulties and setbacks, but I have never doubted my call. I consider this a very special grace from God, and I thank him for it every day.

I remember that on that May afternoon in my fourteenth year I returned to the parish church I had just come from after praying the rosary. I was absolutely sure God wanted the priesthood for me. At the time I didn’t know the particular circumstances in which it would happen, but I couldn’t doubt that it was God’s will for me. I know this is hard to explain, especially when you haven’t had that kind of experience. I thanked God for this immense gift and asked him to help me be faithful to him on this path as long as I lived.

From my early teens, God granted me the grace to perceive the clarity and depth of the following reality which intimately touches the existence of all human beings: that life is brief, barely the blink of an eye, compared with the eternity that awaits us beyond this fleeting passage through time.

I remember how in the evenings I used to like climbing one of the hills outside Cotija, where I was born. From the top, conversing with God, I would look at the cemetery down below at the foot of the hill with its decorated graves, and in the plain farther on, the red roofs of the small village, and-as if kneeling between them-the bell tower and dome of the parish church. I would ask myself, in the simple words typical of a 13 or 14 year-old country boy, what is the meaning of this life if sooner or later we all end up in a grave? Here lay the inhabitants of Cotija from times past. A few of them were still mourned by their widow or orphaned children. The rest had fallen into total oblivion. Some had lived in riches and plenty, such as the great landowners or skillful merchants, while others existed in the anguish of a misery they could never overcome. Both rich and poor had lived out their existence. What use had their abundance been to the rich? What meaning was there to the life of poverty and affliction of the others?

Then my thoughts would turn to the rest, the living, those bustling in the narrow streets and the main square, in the nearby villages and estates, the people I knew and saw every day. I also thought about the thousands of millions of people who, in other towns, in other cities, in other continents, beyond the distant hills, spent their lives in a thousand labors, each absorbed in his own concerns, untangling the incomprehensible skein from which we weave the daily fabric of human existence. I thought how all of them would be on this earth for a certain number of years - 20, 40, 80, perhaps more than a hundred - then at the end the mystery of nothingness which seems to swallow those who depart. What is left, then, when life runs out, if even the image of our elders dissolves in the mist of our memory?

Years later, looking back on those solitary evenings of prayer on the hilltop, I was surprised that at such a young age I could have so seriously raised the basic questions of life. And I discovered without any doubt that it was God who inspired and directed my thoughts in his wish to prepare my mind and soul for the great task that He would assign to me. They were the reflections that run through the history of mankind from start to finish, the questions that every generation has had to face, the enigmas that have had to be solved by all those who are not satisfied with vegetating in the world but aspire to some transcendence for themselves. "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity, and chasing of the wind!", preached Qoheleth. "What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?," Jesus Christ asked his listeners.

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, October 17-19, 2003, Test Your Call Retreat. Ages 16-30. Contact Br Branigan Sherman at vocation@legionaries.org or at (800) 420-5409. Price: none.

Rome, Italy. December 27, 2003 - January 5, 2004. Pilgrimage for college-aged men and high school seniors. Price: $399 + airfare. Chaplains are the Legionaries of Christ. Contact Karolee Stauduhar at kstauduhar@msn.com or (407) 869-8263.

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

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

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