«Yo seguiré»... Historias vocacionales de dos sacerdotes católicos

 

The Shepherds in Bethlehem and the light of vocation…

When Saint Luke recounts the Christmas story, it tells us that, when Jesus was born, shepherds were keeping watch in the night, and a light shone in the darkness.

Christ borns in our world like a light. God comes inside of what’s commonplace and inside as well in the darkness of sin, or violence, or war, or greed, and the indifference, that sometimes appear everywhere. God is light that being seen inside of darkness.One of the things that Christmas asks us to do is to imitate the shepherds and keep watch, hoping to see “light inside of darkness”. Because God is inside ordinary life and our job is to see God there, sometimes also, amid the darkness.

Classically, this was expressed in the concept of “divine providence”, namely, the notion that inside the conspiracy of accidents that shape our lives we can see the finger of God writing history from another point of view. God shines forth, in some way, in everything that happens.

We are like the shepherds when we look at our world, with all that’s in it, both good and bad, and see light there, namely, God’s presence, grace, graciousness, forgiveness, love, unselfishness, innocence. The darkness surrounding our world is deep. We live in a world where what we see is often simply bitterness, wound, non- forgiveness, anger, greed, false pride, lust, injustice, and sin. Where do we see light inside of that?

Light comes to our lives and Christmas speaks of childlikeness, wonder, innocence, joy, love, forgiveness, family, community, and giving. These make light shine in the darkness. Christ told us that we are the light of the world… ¿Do we really are light for others?

We can see light in darkness most clearly and easily in the face of a newborn, a baby, where innocence can still stun us into wonder and soften, for a while, the edges of our cynicism and hardness. That, in fact, is one of the main challenges of Christmas… But, we need to see the light and to be light not only in the moment of Christmas or facing a newborn baby…

Like the shepherds we’re asked to watch in the night and we’re watching when, in our hearts, there is more wonder than familiarity, more childlike trust than cynicism, more love than indifference, more forgiveness than bitterness, more joy in our innocence than in our sophistication, and more focus on others than on ourselves.

I think Christmas is a good time to see that the world lives in darknes and the world needs shepherds like the Christmas’s shepherds in Betlehem. Men that with open eyes listen the voices of angels and go to the manger like them… I think is a good time to think in vocation.

Priests are called «pastors», shepherds that always are watching the light of Christ that shining in the darkness. Men full of mercy and light for all the souls. Men poor, detached, generous. Men that lead the flock always to find Christ.

Do you like to be a pastor?

Fr. Alfredo Delgado.

Fishers of men...

Our Father who art in heaven, give us priests according to Your Heart…

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

That Thy name may be hallowed,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

That Thy kingdom may come,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

That Thy will may be done on earth as it is in heaven,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

So as to give us the bread of life,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

So as to forgive us our sins,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

That they may help us to overcome temptations,

Give us priests according to Your Heart.

And deliver them and us from every evil. Amen.

For your consideration…

God's Calling...

Celibacy for the Kingdom… A vocational reflection

Catholic priests, like the religious men and women, do not get married so as to dedicate themselves completely to Jesus and to His people. The compromise of celibacy is a sign to the world that only Jesus can give us the happiness that we all crave. Religious priests live this with a vow: The vow of celibacy for the kingdom of heaven, to anticipate, somehow the way we will live in heaven.

Giving up something as important as marriage and family is a powerful sign to the world that Jesus Christ is real! He is worth living for and sacrificing for. No, it is not easy, but neither is marriage. The fact is, every vocation requires great personal sacrifice, because make a “choice” means “give up” everything else. And there is great joy in sacrifice when it is done for Jesus and for others!

Celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom is a powerful sign that Jesus is real, and that He is worth living for, sacrificing for, and dying for! Besides, in the world as a whole, vocations to the priesthood and religious life have dramatically increased in the last thirty years. In Africa, they increased by 394%; in S.E. Asia by 152%; in Central America by 165%; and in South America by 253%! It is only in the U.S. and Western Europe that there has been a decline. Perhaps the problem is not celibacy, but other larger cultural issues and values. If you feel the call … take courage and follow Jesus!

Alfredo Leonel, M.C.I.U.

The joy of vocation... A call from God trough Christ to give God's mercy

In our Western culture, usually we think too much about ourselves and our preferences. Our expectations about vocation cannot be seen in this way, because if we think so, we are wrong. Consciously or not, some young people sometimes expect a vocation to solve all all their personal problems, answer all of their personal questions, and satisfy all their personal desires. But these are not the purposes of a vocation. Discernment, likewise, does not consist in finding the choice that will meet those expectations. Discernment is not about finding the hidden, magic key that will unlock your life and solve the riddle of your being.

If you listen the God’s call, is not to will answer all your questions, solve all your problems, or satisfy all your desires. The purpose of respond to the vocational call, is the unitive devotional service of God, which includes the love the neighbor (in whom God dwells). This is the real purpose of any vocation. Some forms of life, such as monasticism, are ordered directly to this end; other states of life are oriented toward it indirectly. But these are only different versions of the one human vocation: to love and serve God, and become one with him in Christ.

The joy of vocation —any vocation— is a school of mercy. Your vocation is the means by which your ego will die in order to be resurrected as the servant and lover of God. In any vocation all the call people are invited to carry the cross of their own problems in a life of dedication, but always thinking in all the others in order to give them the mercy of God.

Maybe your daily confusions, recurring frustrations, and deep puzzlements will remain. Life, even life illumined by faith, will be an enigma. We remain ourselves; but our focus simply rests on the merciful Lord – everywhere present and filling through our "yes" in response to the call.

The cross will be with you and me in the way of our vocation. It will be contradiction at the most of the time, but the cross will be alongside the joy and truth of the Gospel. It is what we must suffer until we are fully united with God in eternity.

Slowly, step by step all, in our specific vocation, all of us will be freed from the trap of selfishness in which we were born. In the vocation's school, Christ will teach us to forget  our wants, and even our needs, for the sake of the charity that “seeks not its own” (1 Cor. 13:5). This is a great joy always.

No matter what calling you embrace, your vocation must be your means of letting Jesus into your life completely, learning to love God more than yourself.

Alfredo Delgado, M.C.I.U.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us!…

«HIGH PRIEST»... A special song

Jesus Christ the Great High Priest...

LEADING THE WORLD TO CHRIST...

To be a priest...

Missionary priests and brothers are people as varied any other group…

Missionary priests and brothers are people as varied as any other group, widely different in interests, temperament and background. This is one of the riches of the priesthood. No missionary priest or brother can in practice be all things to all people: but together they do much better! So do not worry if you are not very much like some other missionaries you know. You may think you are an unlikely person to be a priest or a consecrated brother, but so are most priests, more brothers! The apostles themselves were a motley bunch. What mattered was that Jesus chose them, and they said «Yes».

Jesus thinks in you… Jesús piensa en ti...

A reality…

«I Will Follow»... Yo quiero seguirte (subtitulado)