God always goes first. Salvation history teaches us that Almighty God, out of his own gracious and loving goodness, freely decided to share the life and love of the Trinity with humanity, the capstone of his creation. God stepped out of mystery and revealed himself to us. Even when humanity responds as God wills, it is always God who has gone first, who has reached out, prepared, invited, and, in fact, loved each and every human person so that we might know him, love him, and serve him. Christians respond to that call, when either by themselves, or through their parents, they are Baptized. Another term for this “call” is our “vocation (from the Latin word ‘vocare,’ which means ‘to call’).”
Each and every Christian has such a vocation, a specific call from God, to love and serve him in particular ways; God has a plan for each of us. In fact, if you are reading this article – God has a plan for you! For each Christian that call first involves being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, a member of his Church, and a builder of God’s Kingdom in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
Within that general Christian vocation are additional calls from God, for example, to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, religious life, married life, etc. All of these calls are profound acts of love and election by God towards those whom He is calling – selecting particular people for particular roles in showing forth his love to the world; each call is meant to raise up both the individual selected as well as all those who will be served when they faithfully do what God is asking.
This is also true about the call or vocation to the priesthood – God always goes first. In discerning or uncovering this call, the point is not for men to choose God, but rather to respond to God’s invitation to serve him and his Church as a priest. This should make those considering whether to further explore or respond to such a call confident and unafraid – the God who has stirred the heart, created the inkling, or inspired the thought has already touched the soul and pledged the gifts needed to respond well. This should also motivate those who might be wondering whether to encourage a young man in whom they see possible signs of such a call to prayerfully explore it further; this is not a matter of trying to co-opt a young person into doing what one wants, but rather of encouraging him to do what God has intended for him from the beginning of time – what greater blessing could one bring to a young man’s life than to encourage him to follow the path that God has set out and prepared for him; very many current priests speak so gratefully of those who encouraged them along the way.
That way will include both great joys as well as sorrows and difficulties, just as any important and worthwhile project will. It is good to remember that Jesus’ most perfect disciple, our Blessed Mother, whose “Fiat” preceded the Incarnation, had been previously prepared by the Father for her vocation, and, upon accepting the destiny that God laid out, was to live a life which would lead the world to recognize her as both Our Lady of Sorrows and as the gloriously reigning Queen of Heaven. God is forever and perfectly faithful even when his plans are somewhat robed in mystery.
Like God’s call to Mary, God’s call to his priests is both massively extraordinary as well as quite understandable. The Blessed Mother’s call was to raise her child, Jesus, in much the same way as parents all over the earth do on a daily basis. On the other hand, she was called to be the Mother of God and stand at the very crux of salvation history. Priests, similarly, are called to be living exemplars of Christ the Good Shepherd reconciling the world to the Father and leading their flocks ever closer to eternal pastures, all the while managing their parishes, celebrating church services, counseling, teaching, and the like.
God’s call to the priesthood can begin to manifest itself in a young man’s life when he begins to uncover the sense that he is a beloved son of the Father, that Christ himself is his Savior, Companion, and perfect Role Model, and that he is always under the benevolent protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The joy, peace, and vitality that come from this realization can then impel the young person to commit himself to forming his life to be more like Christ’s in his service to others, to striving to make the Lord better known and more deeply experienced among his people, to proclaiming that truth taught by Christ and handed on through his Church to all peoples, and to calling upon God’s people to worship him as the Eternal Lord. Acceptance of this vocation then empowers the ordained priest to preside at the Mass in the place of the Eternal High Priest, uniting heaven and earth and making present Christ himself – body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharistic sacrifice. It also enable him to stand in the place of the Father of mercies forgiving the sins of his people and reconciling them to God, in administering the other sacraments, and in shepherding God’s people both by caring for them in works of pastoral charity and empowering them to be builders of God’s Kingdom here and now.
The lives of priests, and the call to the priesthood thus involve both the ordinary and extraordinary, the easily understood along with elements of divine mystery. Let us commit ourselves to more intently listening for and responding to these signs of God’s call – whether in ourselves or in others – confident that God has already gone first in placing many such calls in our midst.
Msgr. Fell is a Scripture scholar and director, diocesan Office for Priest Personnel.