Called by Name

Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year B
Isaiah 55.1-11 Isaiah 12 1 John 5.1-9 Mark 1.7-11

Matthew has just finished a stint as a Jesuit volunteer, working for a year as a teacher in an inner-city school. From all appearances, he is the kind of guy anyone would want to be around. According to reports from the school, “he once stopped a food-fight among the fourth graders by singing a song that made the kids laugh so hard they forgot why they were launching ketchup-dripping Tater Tots at one another.” (Richard Malloy, SJ, “Making a Mark,” America 200.1 January 5-12, 2009, p. 18) One of the Jesuit priests who knows Matthew asked him once if he or any of his friends had ever thought about being a priest or religious. The answer came as quickly as a projectile Tater Tot thrown across the lunch room: “No.” When asked why not, Matthew replied: “I guess that as a priest you really can’t make your mark.” (ibid.)

This Sunday, parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Indianapolis are beginning the Called by Name program. The specific call we are focusing on is the call to priesthood or religious life. I am convinced that there is not a shortage of vocations in the Church today – God has never stopped calling people to serve him in the priesthood and religious life. What we do have, though, is a great difficulty in hearing and answering the call that is there. People like Matthew may have great respect for priests and religious, they may have exactly the qualities that would serve them well in religious life, but for a variety of reasons, they have difficulty seeing the impact you can have by being ordained or joining religious life. The call may be there, but it is masked by questions, personal ambitions, our individualistic culture, and often family reluctance to promote religious vocations. Surveys and experience consistently show that many young people haven’t been asked or haven’t been encouraged to consider a religious vocation. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. In the early years of the Church, the local community recognized that they needed leaders to minister to their needs. They prayed to God for direction, looked around their own community, selected those who had the necessary qualities, and then asked them to be their leaders. Today, we want to imitate their example. With your help, perhaps we can discover in our own parish some of those who are being called by God to serve in the Church and whom we can also “call by name” to set aside any questions or reluctance and at least consider God’s call.

Encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life is not just the responsibility of us who are already ordained or members of religious communities. This task belongs to all of us as members of the Body of Christ. For the next two weeks, I invite you to join with me in encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life. As in the days of the early Church, I invite you first of all to pray. Pray for guidance; pray for this program; pray for open and responsive hearts to our Lord’s call. Use any form of prayer that you prefer, but please pray. Second, I invite you to look around our community to notice those who are high school age or older who appear to have some of the qualities that you feel could serve us well as priests, religious sisters, or religious brothers. Look in our parish – in the pews around you and in the ministries you are involved in; look in your neighborhood, your workplace, and even in your own family. After praying and looking, take one of the forms that can be found in the pews this weekend and next to recommend one or more people whom you think might be a candidate for the priesthood or religious life. Fill in as much information as you can, and then bring the form back to church on either of the next two weekends and place it in the collection basket. You can also send the forms to my attention at the parish office. After the nomination forms have been returned, they will be compiled and sent to the Office of Vocations for our Archdiocese. Everyone who is nominated will be invited to attend an informal gathering to learn more about vocations in the Church today. There is no pressure in being nominated; we simply invite these people to listen and discern God’s call in their lives, whatever that call might be.

We all know that we need good priests and religious in the Church. We need people who love Christ and can give their lives in service to the community; people who have integrity, faith, compassion, and commitment. And I know there are people like that right here, sitting in these pews, worshiping with us today. But those who are being called by name to serve as priests, religious sisters, or religious brothers also need us; they need us to affirm these qualities and to encourage them to respond to God’s call. Please join me in praying and in being instruments of Christ’s call to service in the Church.