Sermon on Religious Vocations
“The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.” (Mt 9:37)
Dear brothers and sisters,
Jesus once looked at the crowds who came to Him and saw something deeper than simply a large number of people. The Gospel tells us that He was moved with compassion because they were “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Then He said to His disciples: “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
These words have lost none of their importance. Perhaps today they are even more urgent.
The Church needs priests. She needs religious sisters and brothers. She needs missionaries, contemplatives, deacons, and men and women willing to consecrate their whole lives to God. But before speaking about the shortage of vocations, we should ask a more fundamental question: What is a vocation?
A vocation begins with God.
We sometimes speak as though a vocation were simply a career choice. A young person chooses to become a doctor, teacher, engineer, or priest. But a religious vocation is more than choosing a profession. It is first of all the discovery that Someone has called me.
Jesus said to His disciples: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you” (Jn 15:16).
This is the mystery at the heart of every vocation.
Peter was fishing when Jesus called him. Matthew was sitting at the customs post. James and John were working with their father. None of them woke up that morning knowing that their lives were about to change forever. Jesus entered their ordinary lives and said: “Follow me.”
And they followed.
God continues to call people in the same way today. Usually there is no extraordinary vision or voice from heaven. The call may come quietly: through prayer, through the example of a good priest or religious sister, through participation in the Eucharist, through reading Scripture, through serving the poor, or simply through a persistent thought in the heart: Perhaps God is asking something more of me.
Such a thought should not immediately be pushed away.
Sometimes young people are afraid of a vocation because they think: If I say yes to God, I will lose my freedom. I will lose the possibility of having my own plans. I will have to give up too much.
But look at the Gospel. The people who followed Christ certainly gave up many things, but they received something greater.
Peter once said to Jesus: “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus did not deny the sacrifice. Instead, He promised that whoever leaves things behind for His sake and for the Gospel will receive a hundred times more and inherit eternal life.
A vocation always contains sacrifice. A priest gives up marriage and family life. A religious sister or brother embraces chastity, obedience, and often poverty. A missionary may leave his or her homeland. A contemplative may live hidden from the eyes of the world.
But Christian sacrifice is never sacrifice for its own sake. We give something up because we have found something greater.
A man who becomes a priest does not simply say, “I will never have a family.” He says, “Lord, let Your people become my family.”
A woman who enters religious life does not simply say, “I give up marriage.” She says, “Christ, I want to belong completely to You.”
The deepest motivation for a religious vocation must therefore be love.
Without love, celibacy becomes loneliness. Without love, obedience becomes a burden. Without love, poverty becomes deprivation. But when these things are lived for Christ, they become signs that God alone can satisfy the deepest hunger of the human heart.
When Jesus spoke about the shortage of laborers, He did not first tell His disciples to organize a recruitment campaign. He said: “Ask the master of the harvest.”
In other words: pray.
Vocations are born in praying communities and very often in praying families.
Parents therefore have an important responsibility. Christian parents naturally want their children to be happy. They pray for their education, work, health, and future marriage. But parents should also have the courage to pray: “Lord, if You want one of my children for the priesthood or religious life, I give him or her to You.”
What a beautiful prayer that would be.
Sometimes we complain that there are not enough priests. But do we pray for vocations? Do we encourage young people who might have a vocation? Do we speak about priesthood and religious life with gratitude and respect?
And there is a question especially for young people.
Perhaps someone listening to these words has already thought about priesthood or religious life. Perhaps the thought comes back repeatedly, but you are afraid to take it seriously.
Do not be afraid simply to ask God:
“Lord, what do You want me to do with my life?”
