Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan, Chair of the Bishops’ Council for Vocations, celebrated Mass for Vocations Sunday, on Good Shepherd Sunday, 11 May, which was broadcast on RTÉ One television.
In his Homily Bishop Cullinan said, “I remember hearing the story of the vocation of a priest which impressed me a great deal. He remembered the moment when God called him. He was a senior altar server and it was Good Friday. The church was full and the parish priest on seeing the large congregation realised that the veneration of the Cross was going to take a long time but with two crucifixes the time would be halved so he asked this young man to go to fetch a large crucifix that was in the priest’s office some distance from the church. The altar server went into the office and found the crucifix that was large. He carried it in his arms and looked straight at the crucified Christ. For the first time in his life, he began to see that the person nailed to the cross was a real person. Amazingly he began to converse with him and the thought came to him that ‘if you, Jesus, have done this for me how can I respond? What will I do for you?’ In addition, he formed the idea that he would respond by becoming a priest. That is what he did for the rest of his life.
“God has now called Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost to be the Pope. He will no longer be Robert Prevost but Leo XIV. He will live far from home and family and take on a universal mission. That is his calling. I think he has already given us signs of where he will focus his efforts – on the poor and marginalised, on building up true and profound Christian faith and not a mere cultural one, on telling the real story of the human person in a confused world of artificial intelligence, gender theory etc., to bring greater unity to the Church, to work for peace, to engage with today’s culture, seeing what is good in it and providing a vision for all of humanity. And so God has called Cardinal Robert Prevost to serve Him in this way.
“God calls everyone. We all have a vocation. The most fundamental one so to speak is marriage. Let us pray for marriages and for prayer in the home. In addition, let us pray for vocations to the religious life and the single life. In addition, especially today – Good Shepherd Sunday – to pray for vocations to the priesthood. We need more priests. Priests who will follow Jesus Christ in this particular way to baptise, to preach, to open up the Word of God, to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and to forgive sins in the great healing Sacrament of Confession. A few days ago I was in Medjugorje where I saw again how the healing of Jesus especially through Confession and the Mass and through praying together can bring peace, reconciliation, healing, and a new and fresh approach to life with all its worries, which we all have, some more than others. Jesus knows. He wants to heal us and to save us. We need him. I meet people who have forgotten Jesus or who think they have outgrown him or who think they can do fine without Him and their lives are a mess, falling apart. However, I meet many more who are searching for something more in life, for truth and goodness and beauty, for all that, Jesus Christ longs to give us if we can but respond to his invitation. We need priests because we need Christ. Priesthood is central to Christ’s work. Maybe there is someone participating through the TV right now in this Mass whom God is calling to be a priest. Have the courage to say yes and to allow Jesus to use you for his saving work. It’s a great life.”
ENDS
