Fall 2025

Homily Hint:

A vocation is a call from God to live a particular state of life as a member of the Church. In general, vocations can be divided between the married state of life and the celibate state of life. Within the married state of life, there is the vocation to the permanent diaconate. Within the celibate state of life, there is the vocation to the priesthood, consecrated virginity lived in the world, the dedicated single life, and religious life (that is, professing vows as a religious priest, brother or sister). However, prior to the call to live a particular state of life, there is our baptismal call to holiness. In the Second Reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy (2 Timothy 1.6-8, 13-14), we read: “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” I would like to suggest, what Saint Paul writes about the “good treasure” of sound teaching in Christ could also be said of the “good treasure” of our Baptism into Christ. In my preaching I associate vocation with Baptism and mission with Confirmation. I would go so far to say that the gift of our vocation is given to us our at Baptism. In the prayer cards we pray for children saying: “… guard their innocence and fill them with unshakable faith.” I don’t often preach on the Psalm (sometimes you don’t know what the choir is going to sing), but it would be appropriate to encourage young people to discern their vocations by mentioning the refrain for Psalm 95: “O that today you would listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not harden your hearts!” After all, we don’t want Jesus to say of us, as he says of the slaves in the parable in today’s Gospel (Luke 17-5-10): “We are worthless slaves: we have done only what we ought to have done!” On this Sunday it would be fitting to preach about guarding the “good treasure” of the vocations given to children and asking the Holy Spirit to guide our young people in the discernment of their vocations.

Intercession:

For the young men and women of our diocese, that Holy Spirit may guide them as they discern their vocations to serve Christ and his Church, as priests, consecrated virgins living in the world, married couples, permanent deacons, dedicated single people as well as religious priests, sisters and brothers. We pray to the Lord.

Homily Hint:

In the First Reading from the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 5.14-17), the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian in the waters of the Jordon is an allusion to Baptism. At the time of our baptism, we were made clean and became sons and daughters of God, who are called to holiness by our heavenly Father. It follows that a vocation to a state of life is a call within the call of baptism. A vocation to a particular state of life is a call from Christ to become holy by responding to his invitation to live your particular state of life for the sake of God’s Kingdom. God loves us first, and in response to God’s love for us, we love God in return and with gratitude we want to give the gift of our lives back to God. Yet we don’t always respond to God’s love as we should. In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 17.11-19), Jesus heals the ten leapers but when only one of them thanks God he says of the other nine: “Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Today many people hesitate to give the gift of their lives back to God by committing to live their lives in service of others. Although giving of one’s life to another is most obvious in the vocation of marriage, the form of marriage does not begin with the sacrament of marriage. It begins with the marriage between Christ, the Bridegroom, and his Bride the Church. By his Incarnation, Passion, and Death, Jesus has given the nuptial gift of himself to his Bride, the Church. In turn, Christ’s Bride, the Church, responds to his sacrificial love by our willingness to suffer for the others because, as we also heard in today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy (2 Timothy 2.8-13), “… I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.” As members of the Church, we give the gift of our lives back to God by gifting the gift of ourselves in service of others when we respond to Christ’s invitation to heed the call of a particular vocation. Love elicits a response of love. On this Sunday it would be fitting to preach about the diocesan nuptial vocations of priesthood, consecrated virginity lived in the world and sacramental marriage. The man who heeds the call of priesthood stands in the place of Christ the Bridegroom and offers his himself as a nuptial gift of service to the Church, whereby the Church becomes his Bride. Likewise, the woman who heeds the call of consecrated virginity stands in the place of the Church and offers the nuptial gift of herself to Christ, the Bridegroom, when she is espoused to him at the time of her consecration. It follows that the man and the woman who heed the call to sacramental marriage stand in the place of Christ, the Bridegroom, and his Bride, the Church, respectively, and offer the gift of themselves to each other when they take their vows and consummate their nuptial bond.

Intercession:

For the young people of our diocese, that they may be inspired by the love of Christ, the Bridegroom, espoused to his Bride, the Church, to discern the diocesan nuptial vocations of sacramental marriage, priesthood, and consecrated virginity lived in the world. We pray to the Lord.

Homily Hint:

Priests and Permanent Deacons are ordained to preach. In today’s Second Reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy (2 Timothy 3.14-4.2), we read: “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” However, we don’t just preach the Gospel with words; we also preach the Gospel by our actions. The Priesthood and the Permanent Diaconate are both vocations of service to the Church. Just as Christ sacrificed his life for our salvation, the priest sacrifices his life in service to all. Thus, the diocesan priest stands at the altar in the place of Christ in order to offer the sacrifice of the Mass in service to his parishioners. Yet the diocesan Priesthood and the Permanent Diaconate complement each other in terms of the emphasis that is placed on serving the Church in the world. While the diocesan priest primarily serves the Church in the parish, the permanent deacon may serve the Church in the parish as well as serve the Church in the world in ways that the diocesan priest doesn’t necessarily serve, such as ministry to people in hospitals or prisons. As for young men considering the Priesthood, recent studies indicate that a high percentage of newly ordained priests reported that they were invited to consider the Priesthood by their pastor, parent, teacher or friend. Surprisingly, these studies also report that most Catholics say they have never suggested that a young person consider a particular vocation. We don’t necessarily encourage young people to consider a particular vocation. We don’t want others to judge us for speaking about what we think, they think, we should keep private, keeping it to ourselves supposedly in order to let others decide for themselves. If you are hesitating to encourage a young man or woman to consider a particular vocation, remember that we often see someone’s vocation before they see it themselves. (When I look back upon my childhood, I can see signs of a vocation to the priesthood. But no one encouraged me to consider the priesthood.) But how can young people decide upon a particular vocation if they aren’t even aware if it or encouraged to consider it? If you suggest that a young person consider a particular vocation, I’m sure that he or she won’t think of themselves as better than the rest of us. In fact, when young people become aware that they might have a particular vocation, they are often afraid to tell others about it because they don’t want you to think, that they think, they are better than you. Our children and our young people need our prayers to help them in so many ways, including helping them discover and live out their vocations. In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 18.1-8), we read: “Jesus told the disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” On this Sunday it would be fitting to preach about the vocations of Priesthood and the Permanent Diaconate as well as the importance of praying for our children and our young people as expressed in the “Let the Children Come to Me” prayer cards.

Intercession:

For the young men of our diocese, that they may be inspired by the sacrifice of Christ to consider a vocation to the diocesan Priesthood, and for the older men of our diocese, that they maybe inspired by the service of Christ to consider a vocation to the Permanent Diaconate. We pray to the Lord.

Homily Hint:

When Jesus was baptized, his vocation to divine Sonship was affirmed by God the Father, who, in the Gospel of Luke, says to him in a voice from Heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Through our baptism into Christ, we also become sons and daughters of God with whom the Father is well pleased. In today’s First Reading from the Book of Sirach (Sirach 35.15-17, 20-22) we read: “The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds … .” As we pray for our children and our young people, we need to be humble. As Christ plants the seeds of vocations throughout our diocese, we need to humbly water those seeds with our prayers. May we also humbly give thank to God for the gift of the waters of our own baptism, and may we pray for those discerning their vocations, which is their personal call to holiness. May young people respond to the gift of God’s love for them by giving of the nuptial gift of themselves in the form of marriage as diocesan priests, consecrated virgins and couples sacramentally married in the Lord. And may those who aren’t called to a nuptial vocation, perhaps a dedicated single person, give themselves fully to their mission. And may those who feel they have no choice but to live the single life, due to a condition such as a disability, come to realize that nothing can prevent them from living out their baptism call to holiness and fulfilling their mission in this life even if they may not see it fully until the next life. As our young people discern their vocations, they also need to be humble. In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 18.9-14), Jesus tells a parable about the self-righteous Pharisee and the humble tax collector and concludes: “… for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” May our young people humble themselves as they discern their vocations and follow Jesus in in a particular way of life, whether that be Marriage, Priesthood, the Permanent Diaconate, the dedicated single life, or Consecrated Life, that is, as a Consecrated Virgin Living in the World, or as a Religious Priest, Sister or Brother. On this Sunday it would be fitting to preach about the baptismal call to holiness and how we need to humble as we pray for our young people and how they need to be humble as they discern their vocations.

Intercession:

For the young people of our diocese, that they may be inspired by their baptism into Christ, as beloved sons and daughters of the Father, to pray with humility and discern their vocations to Marriage, Priesthood, the Permanent Diaconate, the dedicated single life, or Consecrated Life, that is, as a Consecrated Virgin Living in the World, or as a Religious Priest, Sister or Brother. We prayer to the Lord.