Vocation inquiries should be taken seriously, not ‘nipped in the bud’

Published: February 15, 2003

By Father James P. West

Do you ever wonder what your own personal role is in promoting vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life? Did you notice the mere asking of that question indicates every single one of us actually does have a responsibility in this area?

So many of us consider the promotion of vocations to be something that is or ought to be done only by those within the sisterhood or priesthood. In the day-to-day living of life with its countless obligations and concerns, we look for things to place on the “back burner” or even to take off of the stove completely.

Unfortunately, the area of vocations seems to be one of those things that tend to be forgotten or ignored. Priestly and religious vocations are nurtured within the family by the devout practice of the faith within the Catholic home. In one form of the nuptial blessing of the wedding Mass, the priest prays that God may give to this married couple “children to be formed by the Gospel,” meaning, of course, the Gospel of Christ must first enliven the couple, even long before they become parents.

One day Jonathan, the 5-year-old son of some friends of mine, initiated with me a conversation concerning the priestly vocation. “I asked my mom how I would know if God wanted me to be a priest,” he said. “What was her answer?” I asked him. “She told me to pray,” he answered. “So what will you do?” I asked. “I am going to pray very hard every day,” he replied. I found that whole encounter so encouraging.

To have such a young child ask about something so profound and to learn of the perfect response of a truly Catholic parent was and continues to be for me a cause of joy. This young boy’s mother had taken her son seriously. This was no frivolous or idle talk from her son, and she recognized that fact. “Perhaps God is working on my son,” she thought, “and I must do my part to nurture the work of God, if that is what is underway here.”

I wonder how many Jonathans are out there, children who, in their thought that God might be calling them, have voiced their questions. I wonder how many of them, unlike Jonathan, have only had their questions rebuffed. “Now, now, you’re much too young to be talking about that!” Or, perhaps, such questioning was met with laughter or, worse yet, discouragement.

How many vocations have been “nipped in the bud,” even unintentionally, by casual responses to serious questions? In this present age of priestly scandal and precipitous decline in vocations, how necessary it is to remember God is still both in his heaven and here on earth and he is extending the invitation each day to those who seek to serve him with all their hearts, minds and souls. Each of us must do all that we can to encourage the priestly or religious vocation within the young ones around us.

Father James P. West is the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock. This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic February 15, 2003. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.