Voc99

Welcome to the Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland.

Schools Page

Sites to visit

History

Caring for People

From the Bishop's Desk

News

Archives

Vocations Sunday, 1999.

St. Patrick's College,

Maynooth.

"When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice". (Jn. 10.3).

My dear friends in Christ,

Today has commonly been know as "Good Shepherd Sunday" because the Gospel

proclaimed on this, the fourth Sunday of Easter, recalls the words of Jesus recounted for us in St. John's Gospel when he declares himself to be the good shepherd: "I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me"(Jn.10.15)

If you have ever been in the land marked with the footsteps of Jesus you will have seen the shepherds in the fields with their sheep. They live with them, they call them, they lead them and they are prepared to lay down their life for them. These are all concepts which Jesus used in speaking to the people of his time to impress upon them that he had come to lead the flock to pastures new. His relationship with his flock was such that they knew his voice and they followed. He was no stranger to them. He would go after the lost one and bring it back to the fold. Even in the earliest of Christian times Christ the Saviour is depicted as the shepherd carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders and restoring it safely to the flock.

Jesus came to lead back the lost people of God to the safe haven of the Father. For this was He sent, for this did the Father commission him. Before his return to His Father Jesus commissioned his disciples to carry on the mission given him by the Father. That commission is still with his Church, the body of his disciples and it will remain so till the end of time. It is appropriate then that in the context of the shepherd and his sheep, in the context of commission and mission, the Church celebrates every year a special day of prayer for vocations to the ordained ministry and to the consecrated life. Each year the Universal Pastor of the Church issues a special message for the world day of prayer for vocations and this year, the final one in the journey of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, dedicates it to the theme: "The Father calls to eternal life".

I am therefore so happy, on this the 36^th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, that you, my dear friends of St. Joseph's Young Priests Society from the Diocese of Cloyne, have responded so generously to the invitation of those preparing to become, through God's choice, shepherds of the flock in our diocese, to come to this the National Seminary of Ireland dedicated to our national Patron, St. Patrick. We gather together here at the table of God's Word and Sacrament to pray that His call may be heard by many. In times past this magnificent chapel was graced with hundreds of young men eager to respond to the call of Christ to become shepherds of the flock. Thousands of young men have prostrated themselves on this floor to rise "priests forever according to the order of Melchisedech". It would be foolish of us to try to emulate the times of the past, to fill the pews of our seminaries so as to keep them in existence.

Our task is even greater today than ever before. It is the task of listening to the Father as He calls us to eternal life, it is the task of doing the will of the Father in an age which has become so alienated and closed to the stirrings of God's Spirit. The Holy Father, in his message to us today, writes: Jesus said: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish his work"(Jn.4.34). With these words, the Pope says, he reveals that the personal project of existence is written in the provident plan of the Father. To discover it we have to abandon a too earthly interpretation of life, and place in God the foundation and meaning of our own existence. Above all, His Holiness writes, creation is a gift of God: it is not about choosing, but being chosen; it is the response to a love that precedes and accompanies. For the one who bows to the will of the Lord, life becomes a good received which by its very nature tends to transform itself into an offering and a gift.

My dear friends of St. Joseph's Young Priests Society you have travelled far today to be with the seminarians of our Diocese and with those also who are aspiring to join them. You are here not with men who are choosing but rather with men who are open to being chosen. Here you are at the coalface, at where the Lord is most active in discerning and informing. Here it is that all your prayer and sacrifice bear fruit. Here it is that young men are moulded into becoming living models of Christ, here it is where they come to know Christ intimately and by the power of His Spirit put on the holiness of Christ.

In his message for Vocation's Sunday Pope John Paul writes: "The vocation to be "holy, as he is holy" (Lev.11.44), is brought about when God is given a place which is his due. In our time, continues his Holiness, which is secularised yet also fascinated by the search for the sacred, there is a particular need of saints who, by living intensely the primary of God in their lives, make visible his loving and provident presence. Holiness, a gift to be constantly requested, constitutes the most precious and effective response to the modern World's hunger for hope and life. Humanity needs holy priests and consecrated souls who live out daily the total gift of self to God and neighbour".

My dear friends, continue to pray that our diocese may be blessed with holy priests, priests imbued with the spirit of the good shepherd, priests who have a vision of the universal need of salvation, priests who are willing to carry the cross of suffering and humiliation as did the Lord Jesus. Pray that parents may never discourage young people from being open to the call of Christ but rather that they encourage them to discover the attractiveness of Christ and his message so as to give themselves generously to the mission He offers them.

As we stand at the threshold of a new Millennium of Faith may we never lose heart no matter what difficulties we may encounter. The call to priesthood is a gift given to the Church by Christ and offered to every generation so that His mission may continue to the end of time. We thank God for the generations of priests who have been ordained in this Chapel - many of them from our own diocese - and who have given faithful witness in this ministry as shepherds of God's flock.

These same priests today must keep their heads high and their vision firmly fixed and not allow the infidelities of the few become the cause of their losing heart. Continue to sustain your priests, very dear friends, with your love and prayer for priests who are happy and fulfilled. Their ministry is the surest guarantee that there will be others who will follow in their footsteps in offering themselves to be chosen by the Lord. I thank you for your continued support for the education of our future priests and may this in turn be the heralds of the peace and joy of the Lord in the Third Millennium of Faith. The Holy Father writes: " Following the example of many, we must learn to educate the heart to hope, opening it to the "infinite love" of God, who makes us exult with joy and gratitude". My dear young men, you who are preparing to be chosen by the Lord for priesthood and you who are being attracted by the Lord to come and see, be men of hope and joy for the Risen Lord is with you and he will never be outdone in generosity. Put your trust in Him and learn to love with His Heart and to speak with His Voice so that, if it is His will, you may lead His flock and they will follow because they will recognise His voice.

The Holy Father concludes his message to us with these words: "How can we fail to stress that the promotion of vocations to the ordained ministry and the consecrated life must become the harmonious commitment of the whole Church and of individual believers? The Lord commanded them "to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest"(luk. 9.38). Aware of this; we turn in prayer to the heavenly Father, the giver of every good thing:

Good Father, in Christ your Son you reveal to us your love, you embrace us as your children and you offer us the possibility of discovering in your will the lines of our true face.

Holy Father, you call us to be holy, as you are holy. We pray you never allow your Church to lack holy ministers and Apostles who, with the Word and the Sacraments, may open the way to the encounter with you.

Merciful Father, give to lost humanity men and women who, through the witness of a life transfigured to the image of your Son, may walk joyfully with their other brothers and sisters towards our heavenly homeland.

Our Father, with the voice of your Holy Spirit and trusting in the maternal intercession of Mary, we earnestly beseech you: send to your Church priests who will be courageous witnesses to your infinite bounty.

Amen!

(Message of Pope John Paul II).