Fr Antonio Pineda
he fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. This is because in the Gospel Jesus refers to us as his sheep which makes him our Shepherd. He says that he will give us eternal life and that we will never be lost. A Good Shepherd indeed!
The fourth Sunday of Easter is also celebrated as Vocations Sunday. The Good Shepherd needs helpers — fellow shepherds — to lead his flock. At the Last Supper, he celebrated the first Mass and appointed the first priests and he said, “Do this in memory of me”. This means that our Lord always intended for his Church to have priests, to be there in persona christi, until he (the Eternal Priest) returns.
Furthermore, Jesus instructed: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). On Vocations Sunday, we are invited to do just this. We are asked to pray for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life so that the Church will continue to have shepherds who will lead the flock to Christ. Our prayers should also translate into action because we are also urged to support our seminarians, our future priests. Their training costs a lot of money (roughly £50 a day) and their formation takes several years.
Vocations Sunday is also a reminder of the beautiful reality that it is not just priests or nuns who have vocations. We all have vocations, given to us by God to make us the person we are meant to be. The UK Priest website defines vocation as “a call from God to holiness through a particular way of life, be that marriage, consecrated life or priesthood. When a person responds positively to this call, they embrace the identity that God intended for them from the moment of conception. They take a step closer to becoming the person God created them to be.”
Some are called to be teachers, some musicians, some office workers … Whatever our vocation is, God gave us the talent and skills to carry it out. A vocation is something to be embraced and used to fulfil our great Christian commission of spreading the Gospel.