In All Our Vocations, May We Live With Jesus
All of us who are baptized in Christ Jesus share a common vocation: to grow in holiness so that we may live with the Lord both now and forever. The Lord our God also invites us to respond to this call in and through particular vocations, all of which are gifts from God to strengthen the Church, the Body of Christ.
At special moments in the life of the Church, we celebrate the vocations of married life and ordination to both the P, as we will in our Diocese in May and June. One of my favorite celebrations is the Wedding Anniversary Mass when I gather with married couples in our Diocese who are celebrating 25, 50 and 50-plus years of faithful married love.
At the Mass, we give praise and thanks to God who called and united these couples as husband and wife. We also express profound gratitude to the couples for their cooperation with God’s graces and for the example and witness of their lives. They are signs to us of the love that Our Lord Jesus has for His Bride, the Church: a love that is permanent, faithful, sacrificial, fruitful and life giving. In this way, they respond to the Lord’s command, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
In light of the many demands and pressures of our society and of family life, married couples often find it difficult to focus on the daily renewal of their love. Thus, I encourage all our married couples to answer this question, “What have you done for your marriage today?” In fact, I refer you to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops web site for rich resources that may help you to respond to that question. Perhaps you can be renewed in your commitment to pray together each day so that you remain in the Lord’s love; to find quiet moments to share the joys and challenges you experience; to make time to do the things you enjoy together and to express in word and deed the love you have for one another. Dear married couples, you are often consumed, thank God, in doing things for others. Yet, it remains essential that you ask yourselves, “What have we done for our marriage today?”
In May and June we also celebrate in our Diocese the Sacrament of Holy Orders. I will be blessed to ordain a new priest, John Victor Gournas. Please pray that he will remain ever faithful to his call and will “set before God’s family the paschal meal; lead God’s people in charity; nourish them with His Word and renew them through the Sacraments” (From: Preface for Ordination). I will also be blessed to ordain Brendan Buckler to the Transitional Diaconate and, God willing, to the Priesthood next year.
Our Diocese will also celebrate with the Ordination of fifteen new Permanent Deacons. They will be a special gift to our Diocese and the entire Church. We join together in extending sincere congratulations to them, their spouses, families and all who have participated in their formation and training. With God’s grace may they “help the Bishop and his priests in the ministry of the Word, of the Eucharist and of Charity, showing themselves to be servants of all” (From: Rite of Ordination of Deacons).
May this be a grace filled-time for our married couples, priests, deacons and all of us so that we may be renewed in our vocations and the promises we have made to the Lord, His Church and one another. Through the intercession of Mary our Mother, may we live with her Son now and forever.