Homily for the 32nd Sunday
in Ordinary Time, 2023 “The 10 Virgins”
In the
parable in our Gospel today, it may sound strange…we might ask why 10 virgins
were waiting, in the middle of the night, for the groom to come back, by
himself, for a wedding party, but every Jew listening to Jesus would understand
the customs involved, and a quick internet search will point those things out
to anyone interested.
But I want
to focus on vocations, this weekend, as this is National Vocations Awareness
Week in the United States, and some of the vocations involve vows related to
virginity.
First of
all, I never felt any pressure from my family to be a priest. My parents just said once or twice over the
years as we were growing up “if any of you became a priest or a sister, we
would support you in that decision” I
would discourage any family from applying any sort of pressure to a young
person.
I personally
heard a very clear call my sophomore year of college when I made a commitment
to read one chapter of the Gospel each day.
I just heard Jesus putting on my heart, every time I opened the Bible
“be a priest”. So that is the number one
recommendation for discerning your vocation…read one chapter of the Gospel each
day on your own.
I would just
like to say a few things about the priesthood – I have never missed having
children of my own… As a priest, no matter how young you are, you are welcomed
into hospitals and nursing homes passed all the aunts and uncles and cousins
right to the bed side because you have the Sacraments of the Church…and we
invited to all of your wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, graduation
parties, first Communion parties…
We are also
connected to the family of the priests of the past…every family typically buys
their son a chalice when he is ordained a priest, and usually when that priest
dies no one knows what to do with that chalice, so they are kept in the
archives at the diocese. I went down to
the Archdiocese and picked out one such chalice that was originally a gift to
Fr. Edgar O’Connor, who was ordained a priest on May 25, 1920. The Archdiocese gave me some information on
Fr. Edgar O’Connor and my parents had it refurbished, and so now both of our
names are on the bottom of this chalice.
Every time I celebrate Mass with this chalice, I see both my name and Fr.
Edgar O’Connor’s name on the bottom of the chalice. I now pray for the repose of his soul every
night, and then I ask him to pray for me.
It is a
beautiful thing…and all the religious brothers and sisters I know feel the same
way about their vocations even though we all take vows to be live as virgins. There is a young woman who I first got to
know when I was the Chaplain at Cardinal Ritter. Just a few years ago she made final vows for
the Sisters of Life based in New York City.
The Sisters of Life are highly engaged in the pro-life movement, they minister
to women and fathers who chose to have abortions, and they also celebrate with
women and fathers that have chosen life…they have birthday parties for babies
and take care of the families…she does not have any biological children but she
is a mother to hundreds of fathers, mothers, and children.
When I was
first ordained a priest, lots of people told them “you must be really proud of
John” and they responded with “we are really proud of all of our children…” I
think that was so wise of them to say because all of my siblings are still
practicing Catholics and most of them are married and having children…marriage
is also a beautiful vocation!
In
conclusion, whether you are discerning your “capital v” Vocation (marriage,
priesthood, become a religious sister or brother, or the consecrated single
life) or you have already chosen one, and are just wondering what God is calling
you to do today, my advice is the same…read one chapter of the Gospels each day…and
in those 4 minutes God will let you know what you should do in order to grow in
holiness and happiness.
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