Finding your vocation
Children’s Mass
Good morning young people of St. John Vianney. Today in the first reading, we see that there was a big meeting in Jerusalem to decide some questions for the Church. Present there were the apostles, some presbyters – that is, priests; St. Paul was there, and many other people.
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In the Church, there are many different types of people with their own role, or we might say, with their own vocation. So I thought I would ask the question today: What are you going to be when you grow up? Have you ever thought about it? What do you want to be, what do you want to do for your work?
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When some people think about their future, they say: what is it I want to HAVE when I grow up? This is because they think that HAVING things is going to make them happy. They think that if they get a lot of money, some cars, a boat – or buy a nice house and lots of nice things, then I’ll be happy. After I buy all these things, and then go to work every day and come home every night, will I be happy with that money? Not really, because something else is missing. When a person gets old, and they look back at their life, those things will be seen to be a waste of time, chasing after THINGS.
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Other people are not interested in getting many things, what they want with their life, is to be IMPORTANT. Yes, that will make me happy, being important. I will become a lawyer, or I will become a journalist or become a great basketball player and then people will say, he is very important, look what he does. Then I’ll go home and know that I am important, but will I be happy? When that person gets older and retires, he will realize that no one thinks he is important anymore, and soon he will be forgotten.
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Maybe being popular, with tons of friends who like me, maybe this is the purpose of my life and the way to be happy. Yes, if I dress the right way, and act the right way, and then I will be liked and very popular with many friends. But are these really friends? Do they last a lifetime? Such people do not. When one gets old, one finds who one’s real friends have been, and they are usually not so many.
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So how do I find out what I should be when I grow up, how I should be, what should be my goals? The answer is, we must discover our vocation in life, our calling. The question is not, what do I want to do with my life, but what does GOD want me to do with my life. The Lord calls each person here to become a saint. Saints come in all sizes and shapes, different occupations, some are married some not, some are important, some are not. Some are popular, some are not. But the Lord needs all different kinds of saints.
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I will tell you how to be happy. I will tell you how to find value in life and be very happy with who you have become when you are old. Follow the will of God every moment. Say your prayers. And listen to him. Don’t fill all your time with music and talk, but listen to Jesus.
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The Lord is always speaking: ‘Do this, don’t do that. Follow this way, avoid that. Help this person, stay away from that person. By doing God’s will in the small things of daily life, then we will also find what the central vocation of our life is too.
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Is God calling me to be a dentist, or a mechanic, or a homemaker or a nurse or a teacher? Maybe God wants me to be a priest? Or maybe a religious sister? Am I called by God to be a Catholic mom or a Catholic dad, and raise a good family?
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Instead of doing what we WANT, and instead follow what we ought to do, then we will always be on the right path in our future plans. You are young. You don’t have to decide yet, but it is good to think about it. Some people know early on; I know someone who when he was in 2nd grade, knew that he was to be a priest, and he is today.
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Let us listen to God every day, and do his will; in this way, we will also find out his bigger plan for us, what we are to be, and we will be very happy.
