Vocations Newsletter

Today’s scripture offers us a “Moses moment,” if you will, an insight into good leadership when it really counts.Two of the men who had left Egypt with Moses were visited by the spirit and began to prophesy in camp. That alarmed a young man who told Moses to intervene and have them stop. But Moses answered by saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”That’s our cue to welcome the Spirit into our lives—the presence of God that is always available to us—and, yes, to preach in word and deed the Good News of our faith. No need to react to what other people are saying or doing. As Moses suggests, better to focus on our own gifts and capabilities and share them in the same spirit in which they were given—freely and generously by a loving God.A challenge worth contemplating at the beginning of a new week is just how we see God’s presence at work in the Church today. Is it a broad vision or a narrow one? Are we each a humble reflection of God’s eternal love, or are we more concerned with the doings of other people?Friend…
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“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent.” Mark 9:33-34The song says: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” What could be simpler—or more profound?This Tuesday, people the world over will celebrate the International Day of Peace, an initiative of the United Nations General Assembly. In pronouncements and special events, nations of Good will be encouraged to strengthen the ideal of peace by observing 24 hours of non-violence. Our Holy Father Pope Francis often talks about “a culture of care” that emanates directly from our relationship with God—something he calls a privileged path to peace. “In many parts of the world,” says the Pontiff, “there is a need for paths of peace to heal open wounds.” Then he puts the burden on each of us: “There is also a need for peacemakers, men and women prepared to work boldly and creatively to initiate processes of healing and renewed encounter.”Are you up to the task? I hope we all are. Conflict and struggle are inevitable when one side, or one person, must prevail over another. It took the…
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“But who do you say that I am?” Mark 8:29The question of the day may surprise you: Who is Jesus? Is he a prophet? A great teacher? A political disruptor? Is he really the Messiah?In today’s Gospel, Peter recognizes Jesus as the Christ, and says so reassuringly. But when Jesus tells his disciples—for the first time—that the Son of Man must suffer and die, then rise after three days, Peter has second thoughts. In fact, he rebukes Jesus perhaps wanting to keep his own vision for a Messiah intact—and denying a future that includes pain and suffering. At this moment, Peter was channeling things of this world and not the divine plan of salvation that Jesus had been preaching. So the Lord had to bring his disciple back to reality with a few admonishing words. And doesn’t this all sound a little familiar? Sometimes we lose our focus, too, straying away from God’s plan in favor of our own. That’s rarely a good idea.So the question we must ask ourselves today comes down to this: Who is Jesus in our lives? Like Peter we can say, “You are the Christ.” But, just as it was ultimately for Peter, the proof…
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For most of this nation’s history, religious socialists made their case to a population that was, for the most part, hospitable to religion and resistant to socialism. Today, those trends are moving in opposite directions. A majority of young people and persons of color in the U.S. express support for socialism. At the same time, even as religious affiliation has dropped, most Americans still say religion is important to them.Get your copy today >> https://maryknoll.link/3gx
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