Vocation Sunday

- Sr Jospehine Caulton

For where your treasure is, there will be your heart (Mt. 6:21)

And we too can say: For where your vocation is, there will be your heart.

Sr Jospehine Caulton

One really important gift we have each received from God, the Giver of all gifts, is our own particular vocation – our own calling. Closely linked with this call –this vocation is our spirituality.

Spirituality! Why bring that in here? Because everybody – believers and so called non-believers – all have a spirituality.

Spirituality is our view of life, our view of the world. We learn to know, love and respect ourselves, and to know, love and respect others.

Spirituality includes a sense of belonging; we all need to feel we belong: of having a place in the universe: a deep appreciation of the natural world, an openness for surprise and gratefulness for everything. Joy and wonderment are all part of spirituality.

Yes, we all have a vocation but the main emphasis in this talk is on Vocation to the Priestly and Religious Life. Now, one very important thing to remember is that the family is the seedbed of vocations to the priestly and the religious life.

My family was certainly the seedbed of my vocation. We lived way out in the country on a farm and I was eight before I ever went into a church. I remember kneeling at the feet of my father each evening and saying my night prayers. When I was four and a half my father died on the farm as a result of a burn-off of wild blackberry Mum was left with five children, the youngest three months and the oldest nine.

I have very vivid memories of Good Friday, for Mum would bring out the large Bible, show us all the coloured photos and tell us of Jesus’ suffering and death. Then at three o’clock she brought in the crucifix for us all to kiss. Then on Easter morning, after telling us the story of the Resurrection Mum followed the Scottish custom and brought out the hard boiled eggs she had cooked and coloured and rolled them down the hill and we would roll after them. One time my younger sister rolled over hers and we all laughed.

The fourth century Bishop and Doctor of the Church, St. John Chrysostom because of his sermons and writings to explain the faith and encourage the practice of the Christian life was called John, the Golden Mouth, he wrote:

When marriage is not esteemed, neither can consecrated virginity
or celibacy exist. When sexuality is not regarded as a great value
given by the Creator, the renunciation of sexuality, for the
sake of the kingdom, loses its meaning.

So the Church looks especially to you, families living the Christian life, to encourage and pray for vocations to the priesthood and to religious life. As Jesus himself said:

Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find.

So, when you pray for vocations to the priestly and religious life, your prayers will be answered.

Pope Benedict writes in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations:

It should never be doubted that Christ continues to raise up men who,
like the Apostles, leaving behind all other work, dedicate
themselves completely to the celebration of the sacred mysteries, to
the preaching of the Gospel and to pastoral ministry.

The priest is the servant of Christ and by his sacramental consecration
and anointing; that is by his ordination, continues Christ’s prayer
and work of salvation.

Another special vocation, which holds a place of honour in the Church is the call to the Religious Life.

Following the example of Mary of Bethany who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching, many men and women consecrate themselves to a total and exclusive following of Christ.

Although we Religious serve the poor and the needy, the sick and the dying, the lonely and the outcast, we do not consider these activities as the principal purpose of our life.

The first and formost duty of all Religious is the contemplation of divine things and deep union with God in prayer.

I was at St Mary’s College, Auckland from 1941-44 during the war years. After the bombing of Pearl Harbour we had many Air Raid Warnings and when the siren went off we had to all go quickly and quietly down to the Shelter Sheds under the College. The Sisters came with us and we had some very good discussions together. It was then that I began to think about Religious Life. One thing I was sure of - I was going to teach.

After College, life was full on. I had a very good job, I belonged to the Legion of Mary, the Catholic Youth, the Children of Mary and the Hiking Club. We would go dancing two or three nights a week. Life was wonderful and exciting. But then a yearning within me grew deeper and deeper and my wonderful life was no longer bringing me peace and contentment. My heart was set on becoming a Religious.

A Marist Father giving a retreat to the Sisters at the Home of Compassion stayed in our Parish and he took the Assistant Priest over to the Home of Compassion. Father knew I was wanting to be a Religious and when he came back he told me that he couldn’t help thinking the Home of Compassion was the place for me.

So I went to see the Sister in Charge and felt very much at home. As I made arrangements to enter I prayed much as I didn’t think they had any schools and I had a real struggle giving up all idea of teaching.

I went to Wellington by train on 22 August 1946 and the Sisters met me: As we were driving up to the Home I saw a sign: School: Drive Slowly. So they did have schools after all.

In my Second year of Novitiate I was sent to the School to teach and to study and I have been teaching ever since. I taught the children we cared for at the Home and I taught for many years on the Whanganui River. In 1960 I went with Sister Bernadette Mary to Fiji and taught for six years in the newly opened school in Samabula; and taught the Aborigines for a short time in Wilcannia.

In 1968, at the request of the Parish Priest, we took the New Entrants for St Madeleine Sophie into our school as they had no room for them. I was the teacher. It was a wonderful year. The children were keen and happy and the support from the parents was outstanding. They supervised the lunch hour, helped with reading groups, covered books and helped in many other ways. We ended the year with a fabulous concert and when I meet any of the pupils from that 1968 class they tell me how much they enjoyed their year at the Home.

And I am still teaching. I teach English to one or two adults and help another two people with their Maori Studies.

Since Vatican II in the 1960s, many, many changes have taken place in the Church.

Many of these changes have greatly affected Priestly and Religious life. You can see for yourselves by the age and the number of priests and religious that there are few vocations today in our country.

Another significant change is the involvement of well-trained Laity in the life of the Church. What a blessing this is!

Look at the situation in the Archdiocese in regards to priests and you will understand the need for the Clustering of Parishes and the introduction of competent Lay Pastoral Leaders. This is not just a stop-gap but a new step forward in the life of the Church.

Jesus himself said:

The harvest is rich but the labourers are few. Pray therefore the Lord
of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. (Luke)

So this is a clear call from Jesus himself to each of us to pray for priestly and religious vocations for today’s Church. If we pray, Jesus will listen and the Spirit will touch the hearts of men and women who will answer that call to Priestly and Religious Life.

Remember
Ask and you will receive: seek and you will find.