Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter – World Day of Prayer for Vocations

So, we have a new Pope! And, as is often the case, he wasn’t one of the

pundits’ favourites. It’s a bit like the saying that’s a warning to ambitious

cardinals: he who enters the conclave a pope, leaves a cardinal. So the media

has had to run around and do its research to find out who this new Pope is. I

hadn’t heard of him before, either. Last time round, I was in the car when I

heard the announcement on the radio, and I hadn’t heard of Cardinal

Bergoglio. In my ignorance, I said to the person in the seat next to me,

“They’ve chosen an Italian”. Well, he was of Italian parentage. The conclave

before, Cardinal Ratzinger was well-known, so a bit of an exception to the

rule. The time before that, when they announced Cardinal Wojtyła, apparently

someone had said the new Pope must be Chinese. The story goes that when the

votes at the conclave were counted, and the future Pope John Paul II had over

two thirds majority, he said to the cardinals, “May God forgive you for what

you have done”. And when Pope Leo appeared on the balcony on Thursday

evening, you can imagine both the emotion and the sense of responsibility that

must have been running through him as all the world wanted to see who our

new Pope is.

This Sunday we celebrate World Day of Prayer for Vocations. We never quite

know where God is going to leading us – I assume Pope Leo never thought he

would be the 267th successor to St Peter when he was exploring a possible

vocation to the priesthood. We never know that the future will bring.

I’m currently reading a novel set in Elizabethan times, during the drama of the

state persecution of Catholics. The Protestants have their spies, but so, it turns

out, do the Catholics. One of the Catholic lawyers in Derby has tried to keep

his head down, but is arrested, and over the months he spends in prison, he

finds it such a difficult and miserable existence he’s at his wits’ end. He is

visited by the notorious Topcliffe, persecutor of Catholics, day in, day out.

Then, finally, he is released, and won’t be harassed by the authorities anymore.

He can quietly continue as a Catholic. But there’s a twist. He’s now a spy for

the authorities. But a Catholic spy has found out about the deal he’s made with

Topcliffe, and so the plot is foiled.

Meanwhile, there are two other characters, a man and a woman. At the

beginning of the book, they seem to be falling in love, but the woman realises

there could be something else going on, that she needs to be aware of. She

helps him to become aware that he has a vocation to the priesthood. He goes to

train abroad, thinking that he is the one who will be doing the most important

work, and she will have very little to do. But when he returns, she is now a

mastermind coordinator of the priests, and it’s through her discretion, skill and

know-how that so many priests have avoided being caught, whilst the

authorities seem to think she is of very little consequence.

It’s a bit like in the first reading – Paul and Barnabas are going on their

missionary work, and it’s the faithful who encourage them to persevere in their

vocation. Paul and Barnabas need to be made of strong stuff, as the Jewish

authorities stir up trouble and try and contradict everything they are saying. It’s

almost like what I heard on the radio about Pope Leo. Now that he has been

elected Pope, people are busy scouring through his past to see if they can find

the smallest detail to use against him and discredit him. But it’s a story two

thousand years old. St Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12: “Indeed, all who desire to

live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. It’s something we all have

to go through, whatever our calling in life. In this country, persecution may

take more the form of ridicule, rather than threats to life, home and family,

although that’s not always the case. Standing up for Catholic teaching on

marriage and similar matters has caused some people to be either disciplined or

to even lose their jobs. But generally, ridicule is normally par for the course.

That’s where we all need to encourage each other, especially when it’s the

matter of someone discerning a call to the priesthood or religious life. There

has been an unexpected increase in the numbers of people practising their faith

and also the numbers of people converting to the Catholic faith; whether this is

a temporary blip or part of a bigger trend, we will have to wait and see.

Whichever it is, we do need to encourage vocations, and maybe help to toughen

each other up. Does not the Lord say: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my

words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and

the glory of the Father and of the holy angels”? (See Luke 9:26)

Following the Lord is the most amazing adventure. We never know where He

might lead us. We may not be called to be the next Pope. But there are still

some very important jobs to be done.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk