GPS
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

A priest was coming to St। Denis church. Half way he lost his way. He went to a gas station and asked for help. “Who are you?” The manager asked. “I am a priest”, he replied. “What do you do?” He asked again. “I am teaching”. That was his answer. The conversation continued. “What do you teach?” “I teach people how to get heaven.” “What? You do not even know how to get St. Denis Church! How do you teach people to get heaven?”

We need in our life someone who knows the way। We have that person in Jesus. He is the Gate. He is our GPS.

Jesus is the gate (way to life) because God approved his way by raising him from the dead. His way consists of three qualities. Knowing each one of his fold, leading them from the front, defending each one’s life by risking his own life. These are the qualities of a good Shepherd. Jesus, therefore, identified himself with a Good shepherd. As his disciples, we have two responsibilities.

1 LISTENING AND RECOGNIZING THE VOICE OF JESUS IS THE MARK OF OUR FAITHFULNESS.

Our challenge is to listen and discern his voice. The problem is that we are bombardedwith a lot of voices (distractions) today. The voice of the secular society, the voice of the self and the voice of various isms are a few among them. Many of these voices appeal to our ears and look good. In the midst of these confusing voices how do we discern Jesus’ voice? How do we prove that we are his faithful Disciples? There are different tools to discern Christ’s voice in our life and understand God’s plan for each one of us. They are prayer, Scripture reading, the celebration of the sacraments, charitable works and different ministries in the church.

Following the Word of Jesus completes the act of listening. Listening alone is not enough. St. James says: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1: 22). Listening is complete in the act of following all the way to the extent of laying down one’s life for the sheep entrusted to oneself. St. James continues: “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like” (James 1:22-24).

2 RRESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP IS THE PROOF OF ACTIVE FOLLOWING.

Following Jesus means taking the responsibility of our call. We too are shepherds in our own life situations. Some of us are parents, some of us are teachers, and some of us are doctors. We are given responsibilities of one kind or the other. The important question is how we are taking care of our ‘sheep’

FOLLOWING JESUS THROUGH PRIESTLY AND RELIGIOUS VOCATION

Today we are invited to hear Jesus’ call in a in a particular way. Today is World Vocation Sunday. We are called to listen to his call to the priesthood and religious life. The vocation to the priesthood is a unique ministry in the Church. Jesus himself instituted the priesthood. During the Last Supper, after the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus said to his apostles: “Do this in memory of me”. Jesus ordered them to make the bread of life available until the end of time. Jesus established the priesthood to make the Eucharist available. Since the Eucharist is the summit of our Catholic faith, the Church cannot exist without priests. The teaching, sanctifying and shepherding ministries of the Church continue through Holy Orders.

As you are well aware, today our church is suffering from a shortage of priestly and religious vocations. We cannot imagine a situation where we do not have enough priests because no priest means no Eucharist and no Eucharist means no Catholic Church. The problem is not with God, it is with us. God is still calling us to ministry but we do not recognize either his call or fail to respond to it. If a person fails to respond to God’s call not only he/she, but the whole community suffers. Therefore, the families and communities have a great responsibility to encourage our young people to consider priesthood as one of the options. On this day, I invite the parents to see how they are listening to the voice of God and shepherding their families to bring up good shepherds. Family is the primary catalyst of faith formation. Family is the domestic church where vocations take root.