VOCATIONS AND THE MASCULINITY CRISIS
On the Sunday when we hear the Gospel of the Good Shepherd, we are also directed by the Church to pray for Vocations. St. John Paul II, in his apostolic exhortation, "Pastores Dabo Vobis (Shepherds after my own heart)", reminds us that the family is the birthplace of vocations where children learn piety, prayer and love of the Church. He states:
A very special responsibility falls upon the Christian family, which by virtue of the sacrament of matrimony shares in its own unique way in the educational mission of the Church - teacher and mother. As the synod fathers wrote: "The Christian family, which is truly a 'domestic Church' (Lumen Gentium, 11), has always offered and continues to offer favorable conditions for the birth of vocations. Since the reality of the Christian family is endangered nowadays, much importance should be given to pastoral work on behalf of the family, in order that the families themselves, generously accepting the gift of human life, may be 'as it were, a first seminary' (Optatam Totius, 2) in which children can acquire from the beginning an awareness of piety and prayer and love for the Church.(118) Following upon and in harmony with the work of parents and the family, the school is also called to live its identity as an "educating community" by providing a correct understanding of the dimension of vocation as an innate and fundamental value of the human person. In this sense, if it is endowed with a Christian spirit (either by a significant presence of members of the Church in state schools, following the laws of each country, or above all in the case of the Catholic school), it can infuse "in the hearts of boys and young men a desire to do God's will in that state in life which is most suitable to each person, and never excluding the vocation to the priestly ministry." (Pastores Dabo Vobis 41)
Also in my homily, I spoke about a crisis in masculinity in society today. The video that I mentioned was produced by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona. The video was based on a call by the Bishop to all men to once again rediscover their call as men in imitation of Christ. The link for this video can be found here. I invite and encourage everyone to watch this video to be reminded of what men are truly called to in our Christian faith.
