In 1997, John Paul II called for consecrated life to be promoted throughout the universal Church. He declared February 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, to be observed as World Day for Consecrated Life (WDCL). In the United States, when February 2 is not on a Sunday, we celebrate on the Sunday after the Presentation. This year WDCL is observed on February 4, the Fifth Sunday of the Year.

The readings for this Sunday suggest that God invites us to follow Jesus and offers us the grace needed to become followers. Becoming followers of Jesus is a life-long commitment that flows from our baptismal commitment.
Some Christian women and men respond to God's call to become followers of Jesus through profession of vows and a life dedicated to prayer and service. They live out the consecrated life in different ways.

Religious sisters, nuns, brothers, religious priests, and monks consecrate their lives through their profession of the evangelical vows and live as part of a community. Single lay people may choose to be consecrated virgins and make private vows to the local bishop as they live out their vocation in various walks of life. Secular institutes are another form of living the consecrated life as single people. Those who become followers of Jesus through the consecrated life bless the Church.
 

Healthy families, parish communities, foster vocations

By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Denver - CO

f God called men to the priesthood by reaching down and tapping them on the shoulders, we would not be lacking for vocations.

But the "call" is much more subtle than that, and responding to it requires a good measure of human encouragement. Vocations are seldom the result of visions, dramatic miracles or near-death experiences. Instead, nurtured by others, they grow quietly and gradually. Like seedlings which receive the necessary sunlight and water to mature into beautiful trees.

Consider the case of Kent Drotar, who did not fully understood what God wanted of him until he was a 30-something commander in the U.S. Air Force. The factors that helped him discern his vocation were neither lightning bolts nor visions – they were prayers and people.

I want to draw your attention to the telling results of a recent study on vocations. Simply put, the study, conducted by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, demonstrated that parishes offering many opportunities to participate in the life and tradition of the Church are more likely to produce priests than parishes which do not. Parishes producing multiple vocations in the past 20 years are 15 to 22 percent more likely to have Marian or Eucharistic devotions than parishes producing no vocations. They are 36 percent more likely to have Catholic elementary schools, 18 to 20 percent more likely to have more than one priest assigned to the parish.

This all makes sense. But I think the study implies something less obvious. Any parish's spiritual climate is largely dependent on the practices and attitudes of the parish's many families. Involved faith-filled families make for active, faith-filled parishes – parishes likely to produce priests. Therefore, our homes are the primary places for the renewal of vocations. 

If we wish to transform our culture– and create a culture conducive to vocations– we must first transform our families. Our homes must be the true domestic Church.

This cannot be understated. I don't think it's a coincidence that the decline in religious vocations in the United Stated mirrors the decline in the traditional family structure. Pope John Paul II wrote in Familiaris Consortio that "the future of humanity passes by way of the family". So if we wish to transform our culture– and create a culture conducive to vocations– we must first transform our families. Our homes must be the true domestic Church, where the faith assumes the kind of centrality long ago abdicated to television sets and other temporal distractions. 

One of the great blessings of the Second Vatican Council is a renewed interest among lay people in their own vocation, not only in the world but in the Church. Encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life is an important part of every Catholic's vocation. This does not in any way contradict active lay involvement in the church. In fact, the Church is richer by all these complementary vocations working together for the glory of God and the proclamation of the Gospel. 

The Holy Spirit has not stopped calling our youth, but the Church only gets the vocations it deserves. Sometimes, we have failed to create conditions – in our culture, in our parishes, in our families, in ourselves– that draw young people to the priesthood and religious life. Those seedling vocations too often fall on barren soil.

Our challenge is to become the water and sunlight that help vocations grow. We need to support and encourage those sensing a call to the priesthood, through prayers, words, and by being true to our own vocations.

If we help prepare the way, there will be many, many willing to give themselves body and soul to the ministry of the priesthood within the Church and to the Consecrated Life.