29.04.2007
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear brothers and sisters!
The annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations is an appropriate
occasion for highlighting the importance of vocations in the life
and mission of the Church, as well as for intensifying our prayer
that they may increase in number and quality. For the coming celebration,
I would like to draw the attention of the whole people of God
to the following theme, which is more topical than ever: the vocation
to the service of the Church as communion.
Last year, in the Wednesday general audiences, I began a new series
of catechesis dedicated to the relationship between Christ and
the Church. I pointed out that the first Christian community was
built, in its original core, when some fishermen of Galilee, having
met Jesus, let themselves be conquered by his gaze and his voice,
and accepted his pressing invitation: "Follow me and I will
make you become fishers of men!" (Mk 1: 17; cf. Mt 4: 19).
In fact, God has always chosen some individuals to work with him
in a more direct way, in order to accomplish his plan of salvation.
In the Old Testament, in the beginning, he called Abraham to form
a "great nation" (Gn 12: 2); afterwards, he called Moses
to free Israel from the slavery of Egypt (cf. Ex 3: 10). Subsequently,
he designated other persons, especially the prophets, to defend
and keep alive the covenant with his people. In the New Testament,
Jesus, the promised Messiah, invited each of the Apostles to be
with him (cf. Mk 3: 14) and to share his mission. At the Last
Supper, while entrusting them with the duty of perpetuating the
memorial of his death and resurrection until his glorious return
at the end of time, he offered for them to his Father this heart-broken
prayer: "I made known to them your name, and I will make
it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in
them, and I in them" (Jn 17: 26). The mission of the Church,
therefore, is founded on an intimate and faithful communion with
God.
The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution Lumen gentium
describes the Church as "a people made one with the unity
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" (n. 4), in which
is reflected the very mystery of God. This means that the love
of the Trinity is reflected in her. Moreover, thanks to the work
of the Holy Spirit, all the members of the Church form "one
body and one spirit" in Christ. This people, organically
structured under the guidance of its Pastors, lives the mystery
of communion with God and with the brethren, especially when it
gathers for the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source of that
ecclesial unity for which Jesus prayed on the eve of his passion:
"Father…that they also may be one in us, so that the
world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17: 21). This
intense communion favours the growth of generous vocations at
the service of the Church: the heart of the believer, filled with
divine love, is moved to dedicate itself wholly to the cause of
the Kingdom. In order to foster vocations, therefore, it is important
that pastoral activity be attentive to the mystery of the Church
as communion; because whoever lives in an ecclesial community
that is harmonious, co-responsible and conscientious, certainly
learns more easily to discern the call of the Lord. The care of
vocations, therefore, demands a constant "education"
for listening to the voice of God. This is what Eli did, when
he helped the young Samuel to understand what God was asking of
him and to put it immediately into action (cf. 1 Sam 3: 9). Now,
docile and faithful listening can only take place in a climate
of intimate communion with God which is realized principally in
prayer. According to the explicit command of the Lord, we must
implore the gift of vocations, in the first place by praying untiringly
and together to the "Lord of the harvest". The invitation
is in the plural: "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest
to send out labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9: 38). This
invitation of the Lord corresponds well with the style of the
"Our Father" (Mt 6: 9), the prayer that he taught us
and that constitutes a "synthesis of the whole Gospel"
according to the well-known expression of Tertullian (cf. De Oratione,
1,6: CCL I, 258). In this perspective, yet another expression
of Jesus is instructive: "If two of you agree on earth about
anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven
(Mt 18: 19). The Good Shepherd, therefore, invites us to pray
to the heavenly Father, to pray unitedly and insistently, that
he may send vocations for the service of the Church as communion.
Harvesting the pastoral experience of past centuries, the Second
Vatican Council highlighted the importance of educating future
priests to an authentic ecclesial communion. In this regard, we
read in Presbyterorum ordinis: "Exercising the office of
Christ, the shepherd and head, according to their share of his
authority, the priests, in the name of the Bishop, gather the
family of God together as a brotherhood enlivened by one spirit.
Through Christ they lead them in the Holy Spirit to God the Father"
(n. 6). The post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis
echoes this statement of the Council, when it underlines that
the priest is "the servant of the Church as communion because
– in union with the Bishop and closely related to the presbyterate
– he builds up the unity of the Church community in harmony
of diverse vocations, charisms and services" (n. 16). It
is indispensable that, within the Christian people, every ministry
and charism be directed to full communion; and it is the duty
of the Bishop and priests to promote this communion in harmony
with every other Church vocation and service. The consecrated
life, too, of its very nature, is at the service of this communion,
as highlighted by my venerable predecessor John Paul II in the
post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata: "The
consecrated life can certainly be credited with having effectively
helped to keep alive in the Church the obligation of fraternity
as a form of witness to the Trinity. By constantly promoting fraternal
love, also in the form of common life, the consecrated life has
shown that sharing in the Trinitarian communion can change human
relationships and create a new type of solidarity" (n. 41).
At the centre of every Christian community is the Eucharist, the
source and summit of the life of the Church. Whoever places himself
at the service of the Gospel, if he lives the Eucharist, makes
progress in love of God and neighbour and thus contributes to
building the Church as communion. We can affirm that the "Eucharistic
love" motivates and founds the vocational activity of the
whole Church, because, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus caritas
est, vocations to the priesthood and to other ministries and services
flourish within the people of God wherever there are those in
whom Christ can be seen through his Word, in the sacraments and
especially in the Eucharist. This is so because "in the Church’s
Liturgy, in her prayer, in the living community of believers,
we experience the love of God, we perceive his presence and we
thus learn to recognize that presence in our daily lives. He loved
us first and he continues to do so; we too, then, can respond
with love" (n. 17).
Lastly, we turn to Mary, who supported the first community where
"all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer"
(Acts 1: 14), so that she may help the Church in today’s
world to be an icon of the Trinity, an eloquent sign of divine
love for all people. May the Virgin, who promptly answered the
call of the Father saying, "Behold, I am the handmaid of
the Lord" (Lc 1: 38), intercede so that the Christian people
will not lack servants of divine joy: priests who, in communion
with their Bishops, announce the Gospel faithfully and celebrate
the sacraments, take care of the people of God, and are ready
to evangelize all humanity. May she ensure, also in our times,
an increase in the number of consecrated persons, who go against
the current, living the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity
and obedience, and give witness in a prophetic way to Christ and
his liberating message of salvation. Dear brothers and sisters
whom the Lord calls to particular vocations in the Church: I would
like to entrust you in a special way to Mary, so that she, who
more than anyone else understood the meaning of the words of Jesus,
"My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of
God and do it" (Lk 8: 21), may teach you to listen to her
divine Son. May she help you to say with your lives: "Lo,
I have come to do thy will, O God" (cf. Heb 10: 7). With
these wishes, I assure each one of you a special remembrance in
prayer and from my heart I bless you all.
From the Vatican, 10 February 2007.
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
