|
|
 |
 |
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE
40th WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
11 MAY 2003 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - Theme: Vocation to Service |
 |
Venerable Brethren in
the Episcopate,
dearest Brothers and Sisters throughout the whole world!
1. "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with
whom my soul is well pleased" (Mt 12:18; cf. Is 42:1-4).
The theme of this Message for the 40th World Day of Prayer for Vocations
invites us to return to the roots of the Christian vocation, to
the story of the first person called by the Father, his Son Jesus.
He is "the servant" of the Father, foretold by the prophets
as the one whom the Father has chosen and formed from his mother's
womb (cf. Is 49, 1-6), the beloved whom the Father upholds and in
whom he is well pleased (cf. Is 42, 1-9), in whom he has placed
his spirit and to whom he has transmitted his power (cf. Is 49,
5), and as the one whom he will exalt (cf. Is 52,13 - 53,12).
The inspired text gives an essentially positive connotation to the
term "servant", which is immediately evident. In today's
culture, the person who serves is considered inferior; but in sacred
history the servant is the one called by God to carry out a particular
action of salvation and redemption. The servant knows that he has
received all he has and is. As a result, he also feels called to
place what he has received at the service of others.
In the Bible, service is always linked to a specific call that comes
from God. For this reason, it represents the greatest fulfilment
of the dignity of the creature, as well as that which invokes the
creature's mysterious, transcendent dimension. This was the case
in the life of Jesus, too, the faithful Servant who was called to
carry out the universal work of redemption.
2. "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter …" (Is
53:7).
In Sacred Scripture, there is a strong and clear link between service
and redemption, as well as between service and suffering, between
Servant and Lamb of God. The Messiah is the Suffering Servant who
takes on his shoulders the weight of human sin. He is the lamb "led
to the slaughter" (Is 53:7) to pay the price of the sins committed
by humanity, and thus render to the same humanity the service that
it needs most. The Servant is the Lamb who "was oppressed,
and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth" (Is 53:7),
thus showing an extraordinary power: the power not to react to evil
with evil, but to respond to evil with good.
It is the gentle force of the servant, who finds his strength in
God and who, therefore, is made by God to be "light of the
nations" and worker of salvation (Is 49:5-6). In a mysterious
manner, the vocation to service is invariably a vocation to take
part in a most personal way in the ministry of salvation - a partaking
that will, among other things, be costly and painful.
3. "… even as the Son of man came not to be served but
to serve" (Mt 20:28).
In truth, Jesus is the perfect model of the "servant"
of whom Scripture speaks. He is the one who radically emptied himself
to take on "the form of a servant" (Phil 2:7) and to dedicate
himself totally to the things of the Father (cf. Lk 2:49), as the
beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased (cf. Mt 17:5). Jesus
did not come to be served, "but to serve, and to give his life
as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28). He washed the feet of his
disciples and obeyed the plan of the Father even unto death, death
on a cross (cf. Phil 2:8). Therefore, the Father himself has exalted
him, giving him a new name and making him Lord of heaven and of
earth (cf. Phil 2:9-11).
How can one not read in the story of the "servant Jesus"
the story of every vocation: the story that the Creator has planned
for every human being, the story that inevitably passes through
the call to serve and culminates in the discovery of the new name,
designed by God for each individual? In these "names",
people can grasp their own identity, directing themselves to that
self-fulfilment which makes them free and happy. In particular,
how can one not read in the parable of the Son, Servant and Lord,
the vocational story of the person who is called by Jesus to follow
him more closely: that is, to be a servant in the priestly ministry
or in religious consecration? In fact, the priestly vocation or
the religious vocation are always, by their very nature, vocations
to the generous service of God and of neighbour.
Service thus becomes both the path and the valuable means for arriving
at a better understanding of one's own vocation. Diakonia is a true
vocational pastoral journey (cf. New Vocations for a New Europe,
27c).
4. "Where I am, there shall my servant be also" (Jn 12:26).
Jesus, Servant and Lord, is also the one who calls. He calls us
to be like him, because only in service do human beings discover
their own dignity and the dignity of others. He calls to serve as
he has served. When interpersonal relationships are inspired to
reciprocal service, a new world is created and, in it, an authentic
vocational culture is developed.
With this message, I should like, in a way, to give voice to Jesus,
so as to propose to young people the ideal of service, and to help
them to overcome the temptations of individualism and the illusion
of obtaining their happiness in that way. Notwithstanding certain
contrary forces, present also in the mentality of today, in the
hearts of many young people there is a natural disposition to open
up to others, especially to the most needy. This makes them generous,
capable of empathy, ready to forget themselves in order to put the
other person ahead of their own interests.
Dear young people, service is a completely natural vocation, because
human beings are by nature servants, not being masters of their
own lives and being, in their turn, in need of the service of others.
Service shows that we are free from the intrusiveness of our ego.
It shows that we have a responsibility to other people. And service
is possible for everyone, through gestures that seem small, but
which are, in reality, great if they are animated by a sincere love.
True servants are humble and know how to be "useless"
(cf. Lk 17:10). They do not seek egoistic benefits, but expend themselves
for others, experiencing in the gift of themselves the joy of working
for free.
Dear young people, I hope you can know how to listen to the voice
of God calling you to service. This is the road that opens up to
so many forms of ministry for the benefit of the community: from
the ordained ministry to various other instituted and recognised
ministries, such as Catechesis, liturgical animation, education
of young people and the various expressions of charity (cf. Novo
millennio ineunte, 46). At the conclusion of the Great Jubilee,
I reminded you that this is "the time for a new 'creativity'
in charity" (ibidem, 50). Young people, in a special way it
is up to you to ensure that charity finds expression, in all its
spiritual and apostolic richness.
5. "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant
of all" (Mk 9:35).
This is how Jesus spoke to the Twelve, when he caught them discussing
among themselves "who was the greatest" (Mk 9:34). This
is a constant temptation, which does not spare even the one called
to preside at the Eucharist, the sacrament of the supreme love of
the "Suffering Servant". Whoever carries out this service
is actually called to be a servant in a yet more radical way. He
is called, in fact, to act "in persona Christi", and so
to re-live the same condition of Jesus at the Last Supper, being
willing, like Jesus, to love until the end, even to the giving of
his life. To preside at the Lord's Supper is, therefore, an urgent
invitation to offer oneself in gift, so that the attitude of the
Suffering Servant and Lord may continue and grow in the Church.
Dear young men, nurture your attraction to those values and radical
choices which will transform your lives into service of others,
in the footsteps of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Do not let yourselves
be seduced by the call of power and personal ambition. The priestly
ideal must be constantly purified from these and other dangerous
ambiguities.
The call of the Lord Jesus still resounds today: "If any one
serves me, he must follow me" (Jn 12:26). Do not be afraid
to accept this call. You will surely encounter difficulties and
sacrifices, but you will be happy to serve, you will be witnesses
of that joy that the world cannot give. You will be living flames
of an infinite and eternal love. You will know the spiritual riches
of the priesthood, divine gift and mystery.
6. As at other times, on this occasion, too, we turn our gaze to
Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of the new evangelisation. Let
us call upon her with trust, so that in the Church there will be
no lack of men and women who are ready to respond generously to
the invitation of the Lord, who calls to a more direct service of
the Gospel:
"Mary, humble servant of God Most High,
the Son to whom you gave birth has made you the servant of humanity.
Your life was a humble and generous service.
You were servant of the Word when the angel
announced to you the divine plan of salvation.
You were servant of the Son, giving him life
and remaining open to his mystery.
You were servant of Redemption,
standing courageously at the foot of the Cross,
close to the Suffering Servant and Lamb,
who was sacrificing himself for love of us.
You were servant of the Church on the day of Pentecost
and with your intercession you continue to generate her in every
believer,
even in these our difficult and troubled times.
Let the young people of the third millennium look
to you, young daughter of Israel,
who have known the agitation of a young heart
when faced with the plan of the Eternal God.
Make them able to accept the invitation of your Son
to give their lives wholly for the glory of God.
Make them understand that to serve God satisfies the heart,
and that only in the service of God and of his kingdom
do we realise ourselves in accordance with the divine plan,
and life becomes a hymn of glory to the Most Holy Trinity.
Amen."
From the Vatican, 16 October 2002.
JOHN PAUL II |
|
|
|
|
