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Following
Jesus
Fr.
George Smiga
26-27
June 2004
Luke
9:51 - 62
Sigmund
Freud said you need two things for happiness in life: love
and work. You are not a happy person unless you are surrounded
with a network of loving relationships. Nor can you see your
life to be full, unless your work is producing results, making
a difference, bringing you satisfaction. We often speak here
in church about the importance of loving relationships. But
today the Gospel leads us to reflect on the value of what
we do with our lives.
For
a Christian, work is not simply a job. It is a vocation, a
calling from God to live our lives in a particular way so
that we might be fulfilled, so that others might be helped,
so that the kingdom of God might be built up. Whether we are
lawyers or doctors in sales or in finance, a Christian lives
his or her life believing that what we do with our lives can
make a difference. This is a part of our faith. Like the people
who came up to Jesus in the Gospel today the things we do
from day to day are our way of following him.
Therefore
I think it is appropriate for me today to witness to you how
blessed I feel to be a Catholic priest. Certainly one of the
greatest blessings in life is to love what you do. And God
has blessed me by giving me a vocation that I love: to be
pastor of this parish, to teach in the seminary, to share
the gifts that I have with people of faith. I love my profession,
I love what I do. We also know that we are in the midst of
a great crisis of vocations. Fewer and fewer men are choosing
the priesthood as the way that they want to spend their lives.
I put the numbers in the bulletin this week. Presently we
have 350 active priests in our diocese. If current trends
remain as they are today, in 25 years we will have about 50
priests in the diocese. This will radically change the way
our church functions and will affect not only us, but our
children and grandchildren. I believe we as a church and as
a parish, must begin to prepare for this eventuality. We must
look at all options, but certainly the most immediate option
for us is to encourage vocations to the priesthood. I want
to encourage those who are thinking what they wish to do with
their life to consider priesthood. I can assure you that if
God is calling you to the priesthood, it can be an immensely
rewarding way to live. I do not know of any other vocation
where you are able to be present to so many people at those
intimate moments of their lives – births, weddings, crisis,
and deaths. I do not know of another profession where so many
people trust you and are willing to open their homes and their
hearts to you. In what other profession are so many faith-filled
people willing to work with you to give comfort to others
in times of sorrow; to feed the hungry; to lift up those who
are bowed down? I am always grateful that my life can be lived
as a priest.
We're
fortunate in our parish to have two men who are presently
in our seminary system: Mark Muzzillo and Justin Ekin. I have
asked Justin to speak after communion today at this mass sharing
a bit about his decision to pursue a vocation to the priesthood.
But for all of us, today is a day in which we should try to
remember the immense importance of the way we choose to live
our lives. For a Christian, work is not just a job. It is
a vocation. One of the greatest blessings in life is to love
the thing that you do. The Gospel today calls us to both thanksgiving
and to encouragement. We should regularly thank God for the
way that our professions enable us to find satisfaction and
to help others. We should also encourage those who are discerning
what to do with their lives to listen for the call of God.
We should support them as they discern what path they will
take and invite them to consider if they are willing to live
their lives as a priest.
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