What is the Lord calling you to? If you’ve felt a tug on your heart towards either the priesthood, diaconate or religious life, Vocations Awareness Week presents the perfect opportunity to pray about it.
Celebrated Nov. 5-11, this national, annual event is a special time for parishes in the United States to actively foster and pray for a culture of vocations, according to a press release by the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops.
When St. John Paul II visited Denver in 1993, he predicted that the Mile High City would a hub for the New Evangelization. Since then and well before, the Archdiocese of Denver has been blessed to have a multitude of passionate priests, deacons and religious serving in our midst, and it seems there’s no shortage. Even so, praying for vocations is one of the most important tasks of any Catholic.
In honor of Vocations Awareness Week, we asked two priests and two nuns about the favorite parts of their vocations, as well as advice for those who may be discerning.
Sister Faustina, Carmelite Sister of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, Sts. Peter and Paul
“The first step is to have a growing prayer life. You really have to know the Lord. It is he who reveals who we are. He’s planted in our hearts at baptism our vocation, and it’s really about discovering what’s already in our hearts and how we’re made. We can only find that through God’s revelation, and that comes mostly through prayer.”
Saint who’s inspired her vocation: St. Faustina (obviously)
Father Sam Morehead, pastor of All Souls Parish
“To be a priest brings two realities together: the life of God and the life of human beings. I love on the one hand the relationship you can have with almighty God in deep prayer and the service of the sacraments, but then how you bring that alive in real people’s lives as you share their lives over family meals, as you’re playing with the kids, as you’re just engaging people in the reality of their lives. God and man come together in the priest right at the crossroads of that.”
Saint who’s inspired his vocation: St. John Fisher
Father Humberto Marquez, pastor of St. John the Baptist
“The most important things in my priesthood are the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation. Through the Eucharist I fell in love with priesthood, and that is what finally led me to say ‘yes’ to the Lord. The sacrament of Reconciliation, [it’s important] because, to see a person who arrived full of sins leaving the confessional with a clean soul, it is priceless.”
Saint who’s inspired his vocation: The Virgin Mary and St. Joseph
Mother Martha, Carmelite Sister, John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization
“God does not cease to surprise us at every moment of our life. He certainly calls us and invites us, and along with that, He allows us to perform different missions in different parts of the world, something that in another state of our life would not have been possible. To travel to different countries, to meet new people, different cultures, this is something that does not cease to amaze me. God has allowed me and has lead me to different parts of the world. I have lived in Argentina, Chile and now here in Denver.”
Saint who’s inspired her vocation: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
