Homily for 5th Sunday of Easter - 
Year "A" - John 14 - "The Way to our Vocation"

 

Jesus says, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life!”

 

If He is the way, then what is your way?  What is my way?  If He is the way, then our way must follow His.  After all, what were His first instructions to His disciples? – “Follow me!”

 

“Follow Me!”  To follow Jesus is to follow the way, the way to salvation.  Easy to say but what does that mean?  It is more than just following Jesus by doing what He says in a general sense.  It is more specific than that since each one of us is called to special role in the way we follow.

 

As Deacon Tom mentioned last week in his homily appeal for the Canadian Child Care International, last week was vocation Sunday – a time to reflect on exactly how we are to follow the way in our own lives.  How we are to follow our calling.  And a lot has happened in the last week to help us reflect on this and what we can do.  For starters, you may remember that Deacon Tom mentioned that he had the profiles of a hundred children with him who needed sponsors if the people of St. Mary’s would respond.  Well, we did respond and over a hundred of us have taken on a new vocation to be a sponsor for a third world child, have taken on a vocation to be a beacon of hope for families in hopeless situations, have taken on a new vocation to reach out to others as Jesus has shown us.

 

We hear Jesus described in the letter of Peter as a living stone, a cornerstone rejected by the builders, a stone we can stumble on if we don’t believe.  If Jesus is the way, then He is not the stone to be stumbled on but the stone which paves the way we must follow.  Peter himself was called a “rock” by Jesus - a foundation for the Church!  Peter’s vocation, his calling came directly from Jesus to lead the way! 

 

This week, with the Holy Spirit guiding their hearts our church leaders have named another man to be that Rock, we have called Pope Benedict and given him his new vocation to be our Rock and Foundation.  Just as Peter did not choose the role for himself, neither has Benedict, and just as Peter must have known the tremendous weight of responsibility, so has every Pope and so will Benedict as well.

 

Part of our vocation as Catholic Christians the world over is to pray for Benedict every day, to pray that he remains open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and will lead us as Jesus has shown us - on the Way.

 

This week in our first reading, we heard how seven men found their vocation when they were called to be Deacons to serve the community, to bring ministry to those on the edges of the church who may have been otherwise neglected.  That is a call that still exists today. 

 

The number of deacons in Toronto has begun to level out since the Diaconate was reinstated in the early 70’s with new deacons just replacing those who have retired or passed away.  Many men here today may be hearing this call to reach out and serve and so all of us are called to pray that they may be open to voice of the spirit and at least investigate it.  You can always ask me about it any time.

 

This week we have with us at mass today, a group of young people who will be receiving the sacrament of Confirmation this year. 

These are young men and women who have reached the age in their lives when they begin to make their first decisions about the direction their lives will take, truly on their own, as they choose their high school courses for their education, the activities they participate in to develop their minds and bodies, the friends they will associate with and one of the decisions they are making is to confirm their vocation to live the Christian faith as their own choice, not something merely introduced to them by their family and community.

 

When these young people choose Christ for themselves, they are showered with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of wisdom and understanding, of courage and right judgment, of  knowledge and reverence and to be filled with wonder and awe in the presence of God.  They will be called on to use these gifts to help them listen and respond to their vocation, to what God calls them to do.  For some, the call might be there to the priesthood or religious life, for others to serve your families in a married life and perhaps become deacons later, for others it may be to serve others in a single life but for all of us, the common factor is that we are called to serve others, not just ourselves.

 

All of us are called to follow the way of Jesus.  That means we pray that he will show us and we trust the answer we receive.  In the gospel Philip said, “Show us the Father and we’ll believe!”  Isn’t it funny that we called Thomas “doubting Thomas” because he wanted proof after Jesus had died but we don’t say “doubting Philip” even though he demanded proof from Jesus right to his face!

 

Our vocation as Christians is to believe that Jesus is the way and to accept the vocation He shows us when it comes and not to chose selfishly.  In the end, this is the only way to live the fulfilled life we all seek, since any other choice but the one God wants for us is bound to leave us feeling empty.  You may say, "I've already lived too much of my life, I can't change now!"  But the Lord has a plan for us every day, and has a plan for the rest of our lives no matter what we have done before if we just have the courage to listen.  Our vocation as Christians is to pray, to pray for the Pope who will lead our way, to pray for our ministers who serve us in word and deed, to pray for ourselves and our children that we will feel and respond to God’s call.  Our need for prayer brings us here to the Eucharist, to share Jesus’ life with us in his body and blood, to strengthen our resolve to stay on the way that he has given us.

 

It won’t necessarily be easy.  The critics are already lined up to take aim at the Holy Father and find fault with his past.  It is our role to pray for him, not criticize him, to listen to him so that we may not stumble on the Rock that the Spirit has chosen for us to lead us into the future.  It is our role to support the future of our children and encourage them in their choices, not to be critics that discourage them because they choose something that we didn’t want.  It is sad that many studies have shown that the number one reason why young men considering the priesthood change their minds is that their parents discouraged them!  It is our role to pray that we may truly learn what we are called to do and have the courage to choose it for ourselves, to confirm God’s choice as our youthful Confirmation candidates will do, not to criticize what we know in our hearts that God has chosen for us.

 

Jesus says, “I am the Way!”  Watch for the signs He shows you, listen to the message in His words, feel the Spirit touch your heart and you will know what that Way means for you. 

 

- Deacon Steve