ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

"Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations."

These words are very meaningful to me personally because, back in 1985 when I was ordained a Bishop by our Holy Father Pope John Paul II, one of the things he told me that day was to proclaim the marvelous deeds of the Lord. But actually, dear Friends, this Psalm applies to all of us who are followers of Jesus. We all have it as part of our role in life, as part of our Christian vocation, to proclaim God’s wonderful deeds. The only thing is that we do it in different ways.

Today, in the Sacred Scriptures which we heard proclaimed, we have a very important message from Saint Paul. Saint Paul speaks to us, in our Second Reading this evening, about the great variety of gifts that exists in the Church. The phrase that he uses is that there are different kinds of spiritual gifts in the Church of God. He adds: "but there is only one Spirit," only one Holy Spirit. And what Saint Paul says in our Second Reading confirms that the Church is like to a body with many parts.

The Church is actually called the Mystical Body of Christ. There is only one Body and Jesus is the Head of this Body, and all of us, dear Friends, have the immense privilege, through Baptism, of being part of this Body which is the Church. And the point is that all of us, just like the members of a physical body, have a different role to play. But that role is very important. The head cannot say to the hands, "I do not need you." No, not at all. Everyone in the Body of Christ is extremely important, and the role that each one plays is by reason of his or her Baptism and the dignity of being a follower of Christ.

This evening we want to concentrate on the fact, as Saint Paul tells us, that there is a variety of gifts. For example, we have this beautiful Gospel which describes Jesus beginning His public life. He is just appearing on the scene after having spent thirty years with His Mother and His foster father in the home and carpenter shop in Nazareth. And as He does this, what is the event that He participates in? It is a marriage; it is the celebration of the wedding feast in Cana. At this celebration Jesus begins His public life and shows the tremendous love that God has for Marriage. He recognizes and enhances the dignity of a man and a woman who unite in the Sacrament of Marriage in order to exchange love, to transmit life and to form a family. And how important this is because, without the family, without the Sacrament of Matrimony, we would not have the community of the faithful. So there can be no doubt about the great dignity of the Sacrament of Marriage and the importance of the vocation to Christian married love.

But we also know that everyone in the Church, with various gifts and differing vocations—to the married, single, consecrated or priestly state of life—needs the Eucharist. Without the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, there is simply no Church. And if tomorrow there would be no Eucharist, then tomorrow there would be no Church. But in order to have the Eucharist, we need priests—priests who will supply the Eucharist to all the different categories of the People of God.

This evening we are concentrating in a special way on the importance of the vocation to the priesthood and to the religious life. We know that Jesus called a group of men around Him, when He was teaching during those three years of His public ministry. Saint Mark tells us that Jesus gathered these twelve Apostles around Him and Saint Mark also tells us why He did that. He called so that they might be with Him—to be with Jesus, to be His companions, to absorb His lessons and then, secondly, to be sent out on a mission—the mission to proclaim, through the priesthood, His wonderful deeds throughout the whole world. That was the vocation of the Apostles, to go out to the whole world, beginning in the Roman Empire, and to preach Jesus Christ and celebrate the Eucharist so that everybody could live as a follower of Jesus. To be a priest was a special vocation in the life of the Church at the time of the Apostles and it still is today.

Over the years there developed another special vocation, apart from the priesthood and great and holy state of matrimony. This is the vocation to the religious life, in which young women and young men consecrate themselves to Jesus Christ, in order to be a sign to the world of His particular love. Their particular vocation testifies to the world that they wish to live humbly, that they wish to live in chastity, poverty and obedience in order to show the world that the love of Jesus is all consuming, all satisfying, all fulfilling. Consecrated religious life is one of the many gifts with which God has enriched His Church.

And so, dear Friends, we see that these are particular vocations in the Church. Certainly the majority of our people are called to Christian married love which is absolutely essential to the structure of the Church. Without the family there can be no priests, no Eucharist and no forgiveness of sins. On its part religious life is important in offering to the world, its own witness of joyful love.

And so this evening, as we bring this week of prayer for vocations to conclusion—this Vocations Awareness Week—we all want to stop, no matter what our individual vocation is, and to reflect once again on the fact that each of us has this wonderful charge given us in the Psalm "to proclaim the wonderful works of the Lord." As Christian people we do this in different ways, we also realize that it is very important to support those young people who are thinking of the vocation to the priesthood or to the religious life. These vocations benefit of all of us; they are at the service of the whole Community.

Just as it is important to support every young person in his or her vocation to Christian married love and also to the single state of dedicated Christian living, tonight the Church makes a very special appeal to parents, to the parents of young people everywhere, never to put them under pressure, never to encourage them to do something that they do not feel called to, but rather encourage them to esteem the vocation to the priesthood or the religious life. With this support–every young person can listen to Christ and discern, through prayer and with the help of the Holy Spirit, what his or her particular vocation is.

Once again, Saint Paul tells us in our reading that there are different gifts, but they are all for the benefit of the whole body and each one is special. But it is very necessary for the Church to have good priests and faithful religious living, as their particular vocation, a life of intimate union with Jesus Christ. We assure our young people that, by all means, these vocations are fulfilling, life-giving and is satisfying, because they are at the service of the whole Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Above all they involve a particular relationship with Jesus. That is why Saint Mark tells us in the Gospel, when Jesus chose the Apostles, it was not just to go out and do something. First of all, before Jesus would send them out, He wanted them to be with Him. He wanted them to be His companions because He had to teach them. He had to inspire them. He had to fortify them. He had to strengthen them by His presence, so that, then, they could go out and bring the message of salvation to the whole world. They could proclaim the wonderful works of God.

And, dear Friends, this is where we are in the Church today, with everyone being called at this hour in history, to the fullness of Christian life—married couples, families, parents, children, young people. Everyone is being called to follow Jesus’ way of life. And, then, there are some who are called to the particular vocation of the priesthood or the religious life in order to be a servant of the entire community.

This is what we mean by the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ—all of us united, just as closely as the parts of a physical body are united. But, we are united in a spiritual way. And the thing that is so important is that Jesus is our Head and Jesus is the one who is asking us to get to know Him better. He is asking some young men to step forward for the priesthood and some young women and young men to step forward for religious life in a vocation that would bring joy and peace and fulfillment and service. But one thing that the young people of our Church know, by intuition, is that they do not want anything to do with any vocation that is not filled with joy. But, in order to be filled with joy, we have to be filled with Christ.

And so, dear Friends, this is what we are doing this week. And I thank you for your presence here today and ask you to continue your prayers so that the Church will be strong, so that the community will have the service of young people who are idealistic, who are generous in the way Pope John Paul II encouraged the young people of the world to be. He told them not to be afraid. If God is calling you, He is with you. He will not abandon you in whatever vocation is yours. And the young people of the world understood him well.

And so, this evening, we join together to pray, because the Church needs holy people, including holy priests and religious. To obtain this she needs your understanding, your prayer, your respect, your encouragement, your gentle, gentle support of the young people who are called. And, at the same time, everyone is invited to be faithful to Jesus Christ in the vocation that is his or hers.

Finally, in the Gospel this evening—this beautiful Gospel that shows in a special way Jesus’ love for the Sacrament of Marriage—we have the presence of our Blessed Mother. It was she who went to Jesus to speak to Him about the young couple at the marriage feast where the wine ran out. Here Mary is concerned with a small detail but she goes to Jesus and presents to Him the need, the embarrassment of a young couple. You might think that the first miracle of Jesus would have been something more earth-shaking that would affect the whole history of the world. Well it did, but it affected the history of the world in the sense that Jesus simply revealed His love and His gentleness and His understanding for that young couple and for all humanity. And at the request of His Mother Jesus performed the miracle which eventually brought Him to His death. In her request our Blessed Mother used those words with which I would finish this evening. After Jesus spoke to her, she turned to the waiters and said: "Do whatever he tells you."

And that, dear friends, is the meaning of our life: to do whatever Jesus tells us. And why He tells you one thing and someone else something else—that is part of the mystery of God’s love for each one of us individually. But the prayer, the instructions of our Blessed Mother are very important for us all: to do whatever He tells us. And we shall pray, and we shall work together and we shall stand united, dear Friends, in this community, this Archdiocese as a single community of faith and worship, of love and service. And with our Blessed Mother interceding for us, we will endeavor tonight and always to do what He tells us. Amen.