Blessed John Paul II's 1991 Vocation Message
Catechesis
- in English, Italian & Spanish
for 28th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 4th Sunday of Easter, 21 April 1991
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, dearest brothers and sisters of all the world!
1. Recognizing that every vocation is a gift from God which must be implored by prayer and merited by the witness of a holy life, again this year I invite the great family of Catholics to take part spiritually in the 28th World Day of Prayer for Vocations which we will celebrate on 21 April 1991.
For some time now, this Day has become a special occasion for reflection not only on the vocation to the priesthood and to the consecrated life, but also on the duty of the entire Christian community to foster the birth of these vocations and to cooperate in the awareness, discernment and maturing of God's interior call (cf Optatam Totius 2).
This year 1 wish to draw your attention to catechesis, which is a pivotal moment in the religious experience of every Christian: it is in fact at the basis of any authentic and free dialogue about vocation with God our Heavenly Father. In her catechesis, the Church helps the faithful, through a journey of faith and conversion, to hear God's word with an attitude of responsibility and of generous willingness to embrace its intrinsic demands. In this way, the Church wishes to stimulate a personal encounter with God by forming attentive disciples of the Lord and sharers in her universal mission. Catechesis thus appears as the appropriate way not only of discovering God's overall saving plan and the ultimate meaning of existence and history, but also of discovering the particular plan which God has for each individual in view of the coming of his Kingdom into the world.
"Catechesis aims therefore at developing understanding of the mystery of Christ in the light of God's word, so that the whole of a person's humanity is impregnated by that word. Changed by the working of grace into a new creature, the Christian thus sets himself to follow Christ, and learns more and more within the Church to think like him, to judge like him, to act in conformity with his commandments, and to hope as he invites us to" (Catechesi Tradendae, 20).
2. The path of catechesis reaches a particularly qualifying moment when it becomes a school of prayer, that is in the formation towards a passionate dialogue with God, Creator and Father; with Jesus Christ, Teacher and Saviour; with the Holy Spirit, giver of life. Thanks to such a dialogue, what is heard and learned remains not only in the mind but wins over the heart and seeks to be translated into action. For catechesis cannot be content with proclaiming the truths of the faith, but must also aim at evoking a response from man, so that everyone assumes their own role in God's plan of salvation and becomes available to offer their own life for the mission of the Church. This may well involve a readiness to follow Christ more closely in the ministerial priesthood or in the consecrated life.
Believers, especially young people, need to be guided to understand that the Christian life is above all a response to God's call and to recognize, from such a perspective, the particular character of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, missions, consecrated life in the world, and of their importance for the kingdom of God.
3. In this context, catechists must feel responsible to the Church and to the recipients of the message. Their teaching, which seeks to lead modern man to a discovery of the God of Love as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, will lead children and young people to consider the duty that every Christian has to help the Church to accomplish her mission. This mission can only be carried out through the various ministries and charisms which the Church has received from the Holy Spirit. Catechesis will seek to help young people to discover that the ministerial priesthood is a magnificent and totally free gift, given by God to the Church, through a more deeply rooted communion in the priesthood of Jesus Christ himself (cf Lumen Gentium, 10). Catechetical teaching will also place in its proper light the value of virginity and ecclesiastical celibacy as ways of life inspired by the Gospel which lead to a total consecration to God and to the Church and which make Christian spiritual love even more fruitful (cf Perfectae Caritatis, 12).
Those responsible for catechesis should always respect the proclamation of the Gospel in its fullness, which includes the call to follow Christ ever more closely. They should wisely do what my predecessor Paul VI asked in his last Message for the World Day of Prayer: "Make these realities known, teach these truths, make them easy to understand, stimulating and attractive, as Jesus the Teacher and Shepherd did. Let no one be ignorant, through our fault, of what he or she should know in order to give a different and better direction to his or her life" (L'Osservatore Romano, English Edition, 13 April 1978, p 4).
4. I wish my words to reach all those whom the Holy Spirit calls to cooperate with him: Christian parents, priests, religious and the many lay people involved in education. I especially desire that this exhortation should reach the hearts and minds of the many catechists who generously collaborate with the Church's Pastors in all the particular Churches in the great work of evangelizing each new generation.
Dear catechists, how important and delicate your mission is! The children and young people entrusted to you depend on your service for their growth and development as Christians. In the Church, catechesis is needed so that the word of God, the Sacraments, the Liturgy and the duties proper to the Christian life may be properly known. But there is also a need, especially at certain moments of young people's development, for a catechesis which offers guidance in choosing a state of life. For only in the light of faith and of prayer can we grasp the meaning and the power of God's individual calls.
May your ministry as catechists be carried out in faith, nourished by prayer and sustained by genuine Christian living. May you become experts in speaking to today's young people, and may you be effective and credible teachers in presenting the Gospel ideal as a universal vocation and in shedding light on the meaning and value of the various vocations to the consecrated life.
I ask bishops and priests to stress the vocational dimension of catechesis, and in particular to provide for the spiritual and cultural training of catechists and to support their work for vocations with the powerful witness of lives rich in pastoral holiness.
I appeal to religious Families, both men and women, to devote the best part of their resources and their abilities to the specific work of catechesis, and to play their part in ensuring that catechesis is not an isolated endeavour but part of a full and well-organized pastoral plan. God's Providence has always abundantly repaid efforts spent on catechesis with the gift of new and holy vocations. I especially encourage those Religious who teach in and administer Catholic schools to highlight within their general educational programme the value of a vocation to the priesthood, religious life and missionary work.
I urge parents to cooperate with catechists by providing a family environment rooted in faith and prayer, so as to guide their children's whole lives in accordance with the demands of the Christian vocation. Each particular vocation is, in fact, a great gift of God which comes into their home.
Finally, the entire Christian community, with authentic missionary fervour, should recognize the seeds of vocation which the Holy Spirit never ceases to sow in human hearts, and it should strive to create, especially by unremitting and trusting prayer, a climate which will help adolescents and young people to hear God's voice and respond to it with generosity and courage.
"O Jesus, Good Shepherd of the Church,
we entrust to you our catechists;
Under the guidance of the bishops and priests,
may they know how to lead those entrusted to them
to discover the authentic meaning of Christian life
as a vocation,
so that, open and attentive to your voice,
they may follow you generously.
"Bless our parishes,
transform them into living communities,
where prayer and liturgical life,
attentive and faith-filled hearing of your word,
generous and fruitful charity,
become the fertile terraine
for the birth
and development of an abundant harvest of vocations.
O Mary,
Queen of the Apostles,
bless young people,
rendering them partakers in your docile listening
to the voice of God
and help them them to pronounce, like you,
their own generous and unconditional 'yes'
to the mystery of love and election
to which the Lord calls them."
From the Vatican, on 4 October, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, in the year 1990, the twelfth year of my Pontificate
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