Bishop Solis' message on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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Bishop Oscar A. Solis

Our Church will observe World Day of Prayer for Vocations on May 7, 2017, also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” It is a celebration of great importance to the Universal Church and in particular to our Diocese of Salt Lake City. The main purpose is to publicly fulfill Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 9:38 – “to pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the vineyard.” The Church concentrates her attention this day on vocations to the priesthood and the diaconate, to the Religious life and missionary life.

In Pope Francis’ message to mark the 54th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, he tells us: “Those who are drawn by God’s voice and determined to follow Jesus soon discover within themselves an irrepressible desire to bring the Good News to their brothers and sisters through proclamation and the service of charity. All Christians are called to be missionaries of the Gospel! As disciples, we do not receive the gift of God’s love for our personal consolation, nor are we called to promote ourselves, or a business concern. We are simply men and women touched and transformed by the joy of God’s love, who cannot keep this experience just to ourselves.  For ‘the Gospel joy which enlivens the community of disciples is a missionary joy’ (Evangelii Gaudium, 21).”

The Holy Father says “commitment to mission is not something added on to the Christian life as a kind of decoration, but is instead an essential element of faith itself. … A relationship with the Lord,” he adds, “entails being sent out into the world as prophets of his word and witnesses of his love.”

Indeed, the sacramental life of the Church necessitates ministers of the altar. In our mission diocese, the harvest is great but the laborers are few. The scarcity of priests and religious is a serious concern. So, let us generate greater enthusiasm in promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life in order to attend adequately to the spiritual needs of the people.

Let us cultivate vocations within the family and in schools accompanied by constant prayers of petition, invitation and witness of our life so that more men and women may be inspired to pursue this path of life. Pope Francis reminds us that, by “virtue of our baptism, every Christian is a ‘Christopher’ a bearer of Christ, to his brothers and sisters.”

The Holy Father concludes his message to the faithful by reminding us that “there can be no promotion of vocations or Christian mission apart from constant contemplative prayer.” Today, as the Church throughout the world prays for vocations, will you make a special effort to ask the Lord for more vocations to the priesthood and religious life here in the Diocese of Salt Lake City?

•    Pray for the priests who have ministered to you throughout your life, both living and dead.

•    Keep our parish priests in your prayers throughout the week.

•    Encourage your children, grandchildren or other young people to consider a vocation as a priest or religious brother or sister.

•    Pray a rosary for more young men and women in our diocese to respond to God’s call.

Yours in Christ,

+ The Most Rev. Oscar A. Solis

Bishop of Salt Lake City