Seventy five years ago, when Bishop Wright introduced the Serra Club to this fledgling Diocese, there were roughly 320,000 Catholics and 275 priests serving in our parishes. Today our diocese is 18% smaller, but with 50% fewer priests. That means that the diocesan priest ordained in 1950 was responsible for a little over a thousand people, while today’s priest is called to serve about 1,500.
Which may discourage some. As it may discourage many to learn that the Diocese of Worcester, thanks to the extraordinary leadership and pastoral success of Bishop McManus, is doing better than just about every other diocese in New England. We are thriving, especially when compared with two New England Dioceses with one priest per 2,000 people and a third with one priest for 3,000 catholics, and the average priest covering over 260 square miles. In Worcester it’s just nine square miles.
So congratulations. And while much of the credit goes to Bishop McManus, who in a talk to his brother Bishops four years ago summed it up like this: “We need to be aggressive and invite more young men to consider a vocation… We can’t sit and be quiet and expect young men to come…Every priest should see himself as a vocation director and every priest should seek to inspire young men to give their lives to God.”
But alongside Bishop McManus, you and those who came before you are seeking to fulfill the vision which Pope Leo articulated in his recent message for “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations which we will celebrate in just three days.
In it, the Holy Father invites us to reflect with him on the beauty of being loved by the Good Shepherd, who is good precisely because he is “ready to give his life for his sheep, thus revealing God’s love.”
It is only in fostering a life-long relationship with Christ, the Good Shepherd, that any of us can discern our vocation, our true calling from God. “He is the Shepherd who draws us to himself, whose gaze reveals that life is truly beautiful when one follows him.”
The fostering of vocations, then, both in ourselves and in young people who may be called to the priesthood or religious life, is fostered only by pausing, listening and praying, by participating in his life and thereby letting him into the inner depths of our lives, as well. For it is only when we meet God in the innermost recesses of our soul that we can understand the overwhelming beauty which is a life lived in God, from the inside out.
And to every person who seeks such a life, here is the advice which the Holy Father offers:
Such a relationship is based on prayer and silence, and when cultivated opens us to receive and actively respond to the gift of vocation. It is never an imposition or a one-size-fits-all model to which one merely conforms; instead, it is an adventure of love and happiness. Thus, on the basis of caring for the interior life, we must urgently recommence our vocational ministry and renew our commitment to evangelization.
Why do we want young people to realize their vocation and why do Serrans support and sustain them in this journey? Is it so we can increase the numbers and pat ourselves on the back? No. It is because we want young people and all people whom we meet to be happy, and true happiness, true peace is only found in meeting Christ Jesus and giving your heart and soul and life to God.
The great good news of this night is that folks like you have been doing this good work for 75 years, and by their prayers, their example and their support have fostered countless vocations. For such folks, there is a special place in heaven.
My first contact with Serra was when I was a young seminarian (with half the weight and twice the hair I have today) studying at te North American College in Rome. And I remember the date It was February 8, 1978.
I received two letters on that date, each written from beneath four feet of snow…it was the great Blizzard of 1978. There was no snow in Rome, but always a great joy when opening a letter from home.
The first letter, which I still have, was written by an old priest who had been trapped in the house for two days and wanted me to know he was usually the isolation to pray for me and my vocation. He told old stories when he had been in the same seminary years ago and urged me to persevere and know of his prayers for me. That old priest was named Flanagan, the High Priest who would ordain me two years later and for whom I still pray most days in gratitude to God.
The second letter was from a Serran who has long since gone home to God. She told me that she too had been trapped inside for a couple days and was hoping her medication and food would hold out until the snow plows cleared everything up. But she wanted me to know that she was using these days of winter hermitage to pray 22 rosaries for the 22 seminarians, wherever they might be.
I got tears in my eyes, reading both those letters. For the old priest and the old lady Serran wanted nothing more than for me to love and be loved by Jesus and thus know the peace the world cannot give. They wanted me to know and love my vocation and to live it with fervor and joy.
And I suspect that old lady looked a lot like you, and the 75 years of Serrans who have gone before you, who have been whispering into the ears of seminarians day and night, repeating the words which Jesus first whispered to you:
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me, the bread that comes down from heaven. And whoever eats this bread will live forever; for the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world."
Through the intercession of Saint Junipero Serra, you have been telling the world what the Holy Father said to beautifully in preparing us for Good Shepherd Sunday, his words which I pray will guide us for the next seventy years of Sundays in doing this good work.
“Say to the young people, listen to his voice! Listen to the voice of the Lord who invites you to a full and fruitful life, calling you to put your talents to use and to unite your limitations and weaknesses with the glorious cross of Christ. Make time, then, for Eucharistic adoration; meditate faithfully on the word of God, so that you may put it into practice each day; and participate actively and fully in the sacramental and ecclesial life of the Church. In this way, you will come to know the Lord. Through the intimacy of his friendship, you will discover how to give of yourselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life. Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy. To know the Lord means above all learning to entrust oneself to him and to his providence, which is abundant in every vocation.”
This is your good work, my brothers and sisters, and may the Lord bless you abundantly for your goodness.
