This week is National Vocations Awareness Week and for the next two Sundays, we will pray about our vocation, how you and I answer the call to follow Christ.  As I reflect upon the life of our Parish Community, I recall the wonderful Family Mass last Sunday when our Church was crowded with families, children, parishioners and visitors, to celebrate St James, Patron of our Parish and School.  What a good place to start our reflection on ‘vocation’!

Rather than indulge too quickly in a deep theological discussion about the meaning of vocation, why not name the reality we live?  Look at those who embrace the vocation of marriage and parenting and make every effort to do it well.  Look at those in the extended family, parish and wider community  –  married, single, widowed, separated, divorced, religious or pries t –  who make such a difference through their affirmation, generous love and faithful service to their family, community and Church.  The Christian vocation must be lived ‘on the ground’, so to speak  –  what our Parish Community celebrated so well last Sunday.

Our Christian understanding hinges on our personal relationship with Jesus and the meaning of his being born as one of us.  How easy it is to avoid the deeper questions of life and live on the surface  –  concerned with self, soothed by consumerism, keeping up appearances, tempted to make do with easy values.  Jesus’ humanness reminds us that there is always more  –  to look at Him rather than ourselves.  Jesus ‘leads’ us, helps us interpret our living, and affirms us so that we can take responsibility for our own lives.

In recent weeks, we have reflected on the importance of prayer in our personal lives and in our Parish Community.  Perhaps you noticed the glaring omission last Sunday in my list of times when our Parish Community prays  –  I forgot prayer in our families.  The family is the ‘domestic church’, surely an important ‘school of prayer’ for our children!  I like the following quote from Barbara Hixon (Formation for the Catechumenate Team – RCIA Spirituality p 98):

‘Making room for the Lord in the house of our being is called prayer. It is not a pragmatic enterprise; prayer is not for doing anything, but for being with and allowing life and understanding to flow between friends.’

Prayer helps us see ourselves more clearly and recognise our particular call or vocation.  It helps us get in touch with our heart, our inner self, and become ‘more like God on the inside’.  Vocation is not an added extra but a way of understanding who we are, created in the image and likeness of God, and how we can be more loving ‘on the ground’, in the everyday.

The Second Vatican Council stressed the vocation and equality of all by virtue of our common Baptism.  The Church calls each of us to service within the life vocation we have embraced.  Vocation is about living expectantly and in such a way that we can give ourselves into the service of others unexpectedly.  Parents live this in their ministry within the family  –  vocation is already built into parenting and family life. Indeed, vocation is about all of us!

Fr Dave

Prayer to Mary, Mother of Good Counsel

We turn to you,
Our Mother of Good Counsel
as we seek to imitate your faith-filled life.
May we be led by that Wisdom
which God sent forth from Heaven
to guide you along unfamiliar paths
and through challenging decisions.

Intercede for us with your Son
as we go forward in joyful hope,
seeking to be united in mind and heart
on our way to God.

O Virgin, Mother of Good Counsel,
hear our prayer
as we look to you for guidance.
Pray for us to our loving and merciful Father,
to your Son, Our Lord Jesus the Christ,
and to the Holy Spirit, giver of all Wisdom,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

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