To paraphrase the gospel for today, Jesus prayed for the those He chose to be His apostles.
What stuck me about the readings was that prayer started the process of choosing these twelve. The takeaway for me was the model that Jesus gives us is to pray for our priests, religious, and especially the young who are contemplating ordination and the religious life.
There are other things we should do to complete Christ’s example. I will relate three stories about a few of the people who my wife and I have known and either are entering the religious life or were priests.
The first is Tim. When we first met Tim, he was a seventeen year-old choir director at our old church. He had a joy about him and loved music and inspired his choir and the youth of our parish. He was a volunteer at first but because of his leadership and musical ability, he became a paid staff. My wife, Anna, was also on staff as a Parish Nurse. She would talk about the joy and energy that Tim expressed to her in meetings. Anna would say that young man will someday become a priest. She was right and neither of us were surprised when he entered the seminary. He decided to drop out for a year when his mother died. Anna and I were unsure if he would continue but we saw him at a parish festival with some other young seminarians and he shared with us that he was going back to seminary. This Spring he became a Deacon and will be a Priest when he graduates next year. Our Bishop does not know how lucky he is.
When I was in high school, Father Tom and I were about the same age and would go to parties and sporting events together. He dated my sister, Patti for a short while and they remained friends all their lives. He entered seminary soon after he graduated but then dropped out after his parents divorced. He soon went to work. He married a good women and had children. His children were grown when his wife died and he decided to go back to seminary. His children and grandchildren all attended his ordination.
The last story started in the 1980’s.My sister and I were members of a charismatic prayer group and went to church and prayed with a couple by the name of John and Marlys . They had two young sons who played in the back hall running around with all the other children while the prayer group was praying. This year one of those two sons became a priest. That is not the surprise. John, his father, will become a deacon next year.
I have more stories to tell but the point that struck me about all these people is that they did not get there on their own. In our Gospel Luke 6:12-13 ” Jesus went to the mountain to pray,and He spent the night in prayer to God.” and then it goes on to say “When day came, he called his disciple to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom He also named Apostles. “ Jesus is telling us to pray for those He chooses. He also called them and encouraged them. We don’t get a Saint John Paul, a Pope Benedict or a Pope Francis in a vacuum. We should be doing the same thing. Jesus not only did this but He encouraged them.
All of the stories that I mentioned had different paths but the same process as our Gospel today. We need to pray, choose, call and encourage. Have you encouraged anyone in you parish to be a priest or religious. All of these stories had setback but they all succeeded with prayer. They received a call, they prayed and we prayed. Prayer is the grease of the wheels to allow this to happen. Jesus is telling us that we need to pray for those who have a true vocation.
In Luke 10:2 Christ said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest”. Luke 10:1-9 parallels our readings for today.
Prayer: Pray for our religious, priests, brothers and nuns who are in service for the Lord. Pray for those considering a religious vocation and if you know one encourage them. Also, pray for the hurricane victims in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
God Bless
Bob Burford
Readings: Ephesians 2: 19-22; Psalm 19: 2-3, 4-5: Luke 6: 12-16
