A Message from Bishop Deeley for National Vocation Awareness Week (Nov. 7-13)

National Vocation Awareness Week (November 7-13) reminds us that the encouragement and formation of vocations in the Church is a responsibility of all of us. Families, communities, and parishes must help our young people to hear the call that God gives to serve the Church.

What is your experience of God’s love in your life? Does the conviction of God’s care for you bring you joy? When we find something that is good, we naturally want to share it. How do you want to share your experience of God, your friendship with Jesus with others? What, then, is God calling you to? Jesus chose and continues to choose human persons whose lives were not perfect to carry on his message and make it known to others. What each is able to do is trust that the Lord is with them. When we see young people who show signs of love for the Eucharist and a desire to serve others, invite them to pray about what God could be telling them to do with their lives.

I encourage you, whether you are a parent, priest, parishioner, or member of a religious community, to invite someone you know to consider a religious vocation. We all have a vocation, a call from God to live out our lives in a particular way. In helping our young people realize their particular call, we might also ask God to assist us in living better the call he has given us so that we might better serve him by the example of our lives.

Pray that discerners trust that the Lord is with them and in so doing, place their hope with him by living his will.

For more information about National Vocation Awareness Week in Maine, visit www.portlanddiocese.org/vocation-awareness-week.