On Sunday May 8th, we celebrated Mother’s Day. Sharing the great honor of that date was the 2022 World Day of Prayer for Vocations. After reading Pope Francis’ reflection for that day, I thought I might share two quotes that I connected with the Gospel reading about the Good Shepherd.
If we heard anything this past weekend, it was how the sheep know and follow the voice of their shepherd. When I read this quote taken from Pope Francis’ reflection for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I started making some connections:
“When we speak of ‘vocation’, then, it is not just about choosing this or that way of life, devoting one’s life to a certain ministry or being attracted by the charism of a religious family, movement, or ecclesial community. It is about making God’s dream come true …”
ALL of us are called to make God’s dream come true, whether we are single, married, religious brother or sister, ordained deacon, or priest. God has a great plan for all of us, and thought it many not all be a bed of roses, we need to listen to His voice. Like the sheep who learn their shepherd’s voice by spending time with him, the same holds true for all of us. To come to know the voice of God, one needs to spend time with God!
There are so many voices out there demanding our attention. What voice do you wish to become familiar with and spend time with? For God’s dream to come true, we truly need to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. It is not always easy, as there are so many demands in life that pull us in so many directions. It can be hard to stay on course.
Each of us need to work at helping to make God’s dream come true. Paying attention to the voice and being our best self at the present time is a great start. I’d like to leave you with this last quote from Pope Francis;
“Michelangelo Buonarroti is said to have maintained that every block of stone contains a statue within it, and it is up to the sculptor to uncover it. If that is true of an artist, how much more is it true of God! In the young woman of Nazareth, he saw the Mother of God. In Simon the fisherman, he saw Peter, the rock on which he would build his Church. In the publican Levi, he recognized the apostle and evangelist Matthew, and in Saul, a harsh persecutor of Christians, he saw Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles. God’s loving gaze always meets us, touches us, sets us free, and transforms us, making us into new persons. That is what happens in every vocation: we are met by the gaze of God, who calls us.”
Till next week,
Sister Theresita
