God calls ordinary people

This past Friday evening, Nov. 5, the Lord blessed the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City with 27 new deacons. The beautiful solemn ordination of so many permanent deacons at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was a cause for celebration, not only for these men and their families, but also for the parishes and ministries in which they will be serving throughout our archdiocese. It was vivid evidence that the Lord continues to call each of us to place our gifts at the service of one another and so build up the Body of Christ. 

All the baptized are called to holiness, to become saints. Most are called to pursue holiness in marriage. But, some are called to lives of special service in the Church as ordained ministers or through the witness of consecrated life as religious women, men or as consecrated virgins.

The recent ordination of so many of our brothers to the permanent diaconate is a fitting start to National Vocation Awareness Week, which the Church celebrates each year during the first full week of November (Nov. 7-13). The week focuses on the importance of actively fostering vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer, promotion and education. 

Even as we have ordained these new deacons, we already are working with the next group of 24 discerners who feel called by God to diaconal ministry. I am grateful for their generosity. In addition, we currently have 20 seminarians in various stages of formation discerning God’s call and preparing to offer their lives in service to the Church as priests. In addition to working with men discerning priesthood and the diaconate, we are accompanying young women as they discern whether God may be calling them to the consecrated life. In our increasingly secular culture, it requires courage to consider such commitments. 

Based on the mail that regularly comes across my desk or fills my inbox, I would say that most people rarely give much thought to where the priests, deacons and religious who serve their parishes come from. We are grateful for them, yes. But, they always have been there, and we suppose that they always will be. Until they are not. 

There is an unspoken expectation that there always will be someone available to hear our confession, witness our wedding, preach the Gospel, officiate at the funerals of loved ones, teach and hand on the faith. But, it isn’t necessarily so. What a painful thing for a community to grieve the closing of a parish that has nurtured the faith for generations because there is no one to send.

Many of our parishes today remain open only because of the generosity of our international priests who have left their own countries and come to Oklahoma to serve as missionaries! I am grateful for them.

Priests, deacons and religious women and men come from homes, families and marriages just like yours. They don’t fall from the sky or grow on trees! I am grateful for my parents who often made me uncomfortable by asking the question, “Paul, have you ever thought of becoming a priest?” I hadn’t, until they gently persisted in making it a part of our family conversations. 

What are we doing in our homes and parishes to make vocations a part of the conversation? Do we pray for vocations? Do we speak well of our priests, in a way that reminds children that a vocation to the priesthood or religious life is something that the family would support or be proud of? Do we include priests in family events? These were things that made priesthood seem attractive to me at an impressionable time in my own life.

During this National Vocation Awareness Week (and far beyond!) I urge you to reflect on your own attitude toward vocations. Recall the priests, deacons and religious who have served you over the years. Pray for them. We are certainly not without our faults. But God chooses the weak, and in our weakness his power is made manifest. As Saint Teresa of Calcutta said, “God doesn’t choose the qualified, he qualifies the chosen.”