Speaking of vocations, on Friday, I had the pleasure of leading our 7th and 8th grade boys on a field trip to our diocesan seminary. We joined 7th and 8th graders from several schools, about 150 boys and girls in all. We began the morning with a presentation by our diocesan vocation director, Father Mike McCandless, accompanied by three young beautiful Mercedarian Sisters, dressed in their clean, white habits. They spoke about how each us of are called in our own way to build up the Church every Christian at the time of our baptism is given a share in the mission of the Church, and how every Christian is endowed by the Holy Spirit with gifts for that mission. We might be married, we might be religious sisters or brothers, we might be priests, we might be widowed, we might be single, but all of us share in the mission of the Church.
Pope Francis shared this same teaching during his recent visit to these United States. In Philadelphia, he said: "Every Christian man and woman, by virtue of baptism, has received a mission. Each one of us has to respond, as best we can, to the Lord's call to build up his Body, the Church"
We then split off into small groups. And I led our boys down one of my favorite corridors in the seminary, where you find hanging on the walls pictures of all of the men who have graduated from Borromeo College and have been ordained from Saint Mary Seminary. So they got to see the college photo of a young, handsome Stanley Klasinski, and the edifying picture of young Father Robert Wendelken ordination class of 1961, and of course my own.
My favorite photos, however are those of the priests ordained at the turn of the 20th century. Black and white photos from the ordination classes of the 1910s and 20s. None of us would be here without the tremendous efforts of priests and religious from previous generations. And maybe, God willing, some of our boys will join those esteemed ranks one day.
I then took the boys down to one of my other favorite parts of the seminary, what the boys quickly called “the man cave.” Yes, seminarians relax from time to time: ping pong and pool tables, musical instruments, even tv and an occasional video game from time to time.
We then split up the boys from the girls; the ladies visited with the sisters, and the boys with the priests, and we watched an excellent video about the vocation stories of two priests; we heard from some of our local seminarians, and I shared my own vocation story with the boys.
We celebrated Mass with the seminary community and then had a nice pizza lunch. You can all be very proud of our St. Clare boys: they were very respectful, took part in conversations with the sisters and priests, and patiently indulged me as I waxed nostalgically about my seminary days.
At lunch I asked one of the boys if anything surprised him about the day. He said, he was surprised to find out that the seminarians are normal guys who like basketball, music, games, but who also take their studies and faith seriously.
Seminary formation is something the Church does very well. Where all colleges provide academic and professional training, seminary forms the whole man: the mind, through rigorous philosophical and theological training, the body, through daily exercise, sports, and of course the soul, through daily prayer, daily mass, daily devotions. The man’s heart is also formed through apostolic service. In the course of my seminary I was able to serve at several hospitals and nursing homes, Cuyahoga county jail, an inner-city school, and was able to work with teenagers with drug and alcohol problems. Not everyone who enters seminary leaves a priest, but everyone who enters seminary leaves a better man. So I encouraged our young men to visit the seminary again during high school and prayerfully consider if God is calling them to the priesthood.
I know it took my own mother several years to really warm up to the idea of her son becoming a priest. But as she visited the seminary more and more, saw the happy priests serving at the seminary, saw the other very happy and dedicated seminarians, she began to see my priestly call as a blessing. It is a normal part of every young Catholic’s life to consider how God is calling them. Parents should be overjoyed when their children consider the possibility of a religious calling because you know they are seeking to become the people God made them to be.
We often carry around these ideas of what we think we need to be happy. “I can’t be happy without the nice house, the expensive car.” Sometimes these images are downright dangerous to our souls: “I can’t be happy without another drink, another trip to the prostitute. I can’t be happy unless I am controlling others.” But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, our greatest happiness is not found in indulging these worldly notions of happiness; our greatest happiness is not found in doing our own will.. Our greatest happiness is knowing and following the voice of the One Shepherd, the Good Shepherd: The one who doesn’t promise earthly success, but eternal life.
And that’s true for all of us—married, religious, single, or priest. Life in today’s world is noisy, it is not always easy for us to hear the voice of our good shepherd. We are bombarded with some many competing voices, images, and ideas. There are even very powerful, influential people who claim that the Church is misguided or flat-out wrong or intolerant.
That’s why each of us need to tune in to the voice of the shepherd every day—accustoming our ears to the sound of his voice. We do this through prayer, through study of our faith, and by listening to his voice in the cries of the poor and the needy and responding to them.
Following the voice of the shepherd is not always popular, sometimes it’s counter-cultural, sometimes it will bring us persecution, demotions, the scorn of the wicked, even division in families. But he asks us to trust him, to follow him. When we seek God’s will as our own personal highest good, we become the best version of ourselves, we are see our best qualities flourish. We will always regret the time, talent, and treasure we do not give to God.
Parents and grandparents, you are in such a critical position for helping the next generation hear the call of God to service by making your homes places where the shepherd’s voice is louder than the television, iphones, and internet. Please be faithful to that, your vocation. And let us each pray for a new openness to God’s will in our own lives, how God is calling each of us to build up the church, to draw in new disciples of Christ, to pass on the faith to the next generation, and to work always for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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