April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
REFLECTION
Boasting about vocations and trusting in the Lord
Boasting about vocations and trusting in the Lord
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:" Those are the words of St. Paul the Apostle from his letter to the Galatians (6:14-18).
Like Paul, there are times when it all seems so difficult for me. But it is in those times when the struggle seems so great that we encounter the Lord most profoundly.
Let me share a couple recent experiences of the struggle and the joy.
Back in March and April, I felt I was working very hard for vocations and getting nowhere in my efforts. I had just come out of the business of Lent and Easter, and I was in the final stages of planning the Vocations Summit that was held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville.
Yet, I had no immediate prospects for seminarian applicants. I seemed to stall at 15 seminarians -- and four of them were about to be ordained. (Revs. Brian Kelly, Patrick Rice, Steve Matthews and Brian Kelly were ordained priests of the Albany Diocese in June.)
I asked myself, "Why on God's Earth am I doing this Vocations Summit? It won't get me anywhere." I was tired and feeling sorry for myself.
Then I realized I needed to turn this over to the Lord. It is His Church, not mine, and He will provide laborers for the harvest: "At that time, the Lord appointed 72 others whom He sent ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place He intended to visit. He said to them, 'The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few, so ask the Master of the harvest to send laborers for His harvest'" (Luke 10:1-12,17-20).
So, that's what I did: I told the Lord, if He wants priests for the Diocese of Albany, He needs to send them to me. Then I got bold: I told the Lord I wanted a new applicant by the end of the week.
You know what? I got a new applicant by the end of that week, and he's been accepted as a seminarian.
Then I even became more bold in the sight of God. I told the Lord I needed to replace the four men who were going to be ordained priests in June. In a matter of a few weeks, three more men came forward.
Feeling confident, I told the Lord I wanted 20 seminarians by the end of the year. Who am I to be so bold as to ask for 20 seminarians? Well, the Gospel says He will send laborers for the harvest, and we need laborers.
Then I took 26 men on retreat to Pyramid Life Center in the Adirondacks. By the end of the retreat, I had three more men tell me they wanted to apply for seminary.
The despair I felt in March and April turned into joy in June, as I now have 19 men in the formation process for priesthood -- and it's not even the end of the year yet! As Psalm 66 states, "Let all the Earth cry out to God with joy." That, I certainly have been doing!
At one point, my joy seemed as if it was going to be short-lived: Our school principal resigned. The words of my own homily came back to me: "Don't look back; move forward."
I took a long walk and said again to the Lord, "It is your Church." With that prayer, the answer was given. He showed me the way forward.
By mid-morning the same day, I had an interim leadership team in place to manage the school's day-to-day operations, faculty and academics. By the afternoon, I had the search committee in place, made up of the members of the school board, a faculty representative, the assistant superintendent of Catholic schools and myself.
By the next day, I had five applications in hand; two days after that, we had our first search committee meeting to review the applications. What could have been a difficult situation became an opportunity for people to come together.
I opened this by quoting St. Paul, and I close with the same quote: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Please excuse me if I am boasting in how Jesus has sent laborers for the harvest, and all we need to have is faith and trust. Who knew?[[In-content Ad]]
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