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Fifteenth Sunday of the Year
10 July 2011
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
When I was a student here at St. Mary’s, a vocation to the priesthood was the furthest thing from my mind.
While I did not realize it then, as the groundwork for my academic formation was being set, the seeds of a priestly vocation were also being sown by the Lord.
First and foremost, it was my parents who made the sacrifices necessary to make an education here (and later, St. Joseph’s) possible; it was their good example of selflessness that was my first primer in what it meant to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Moreover, they knew that an education at St. Mary’s was more than simple intellectual formation of the mind, but included the training and discipline of the soul.
While the campus of St. Mary’s has changed dramatically over the years, there are nevertheless layers of memories imbedded into the fabric of this sacred place. These are memories of what I would later identify as my introduction to the Catholic Faith and the beginning of my journey with Christ.
When I walk the grounds here, I remember of course the fun of recess, and then praying the Angelus before returning to afternoon classes. I can still recall the smell of Fridays in Lent, when we would process (sometimes reverently, but most of the time not) into the incense-laden church for Stations. I vividly remember the colorful flowers and haunting Marian melodies of the May Crowning, the early morning Masses (which thankfully shortened the class schedule), and the sacramental ‘dress-rehearsals’ with my class in preparation for First Penance, First Holy Communion, and Confirmation. In fact, the past two Saturdays I have been on the ‘other side’ of the same confessional where my first confession took place, and each day I distribute the Eucharist standing in the very place where I made my own first Holy Communion.
Vocations, you know, don’t come from a priest-machine at the Vatican. Instead, vocations are quintessentially a grass-roots phenomenon, and my priestly vocation grew, quietly and silently, in the grass of this parish. It should not be a rare thing to see a regular kid from the parish, who once served detention in the cafeteria a short sixteen years ago, to one day preside at solemn Sunday liturgy. Why should this not be the expectation, rather than the odd exception?
The Gospel this weekend speaks to us of seed-sowing and seed-growing. But before a seed can be sown, and then grown, the soil has to be prepared. Just as I was being prepared for my vocation while here at St. Mary’s, the Lord is now preparing the hearts of other young men as well. Perhaps God, the sower of the Word of Life, is calling your son, your grandson, or your nephew to the priesthood. Will you participate in helping to prepare the soil of their souls?
Father Cassabon