By Father John Adamski

Recently all the priests of the Archdiocese of Atlanta took time to express their own convictions and regard for the value of priesthood by preaching on vocations. Father Jerry Hardy prepared an outline for that homily which contains some very important ideas that beat our further reflection.

It’s necessary at the outset to make sure that the needs of the Church in North Georgia are clear. Out of a population of approximately 2 million people in the northern half of our state there are about 60,000 Catholics. Sixty-seven diocesan priests seek to serve these Catholic people. I think that kind of priest-people ratio demonstrates the reason for our need to spread the vocation message with some sense of urgency.

But even our great need for priests is not the ultimate reason or rationale for our young people. Rather, each Christian person must seek to follow Christ throughout his life. A vocation to the priesthood or religious life is one response in that effort and willingness to follow the Lord wherever he leads. The effort to understand the Lord’s call is especially critical for those people who have not yet committed themselves to any particular lifestyle and are still undecided about what they want to do with their lives. The person who is still looking for more out of life might experience more of its meaning by allowing the Lord to find him. Listening for the Lord’s call is a crucial part of a Christian’s understanding of the meaning of his life.

So often, young people seem to think that they couldn’t spend their lives as a priest or a sister because they are not exceptionally holy, or perhaps they never even considered the possibility of that life choice. The important thing is not that a person has already considered the idea or had some life-long feeling about a vocation. The important thing is a willingness to take the time to try and understand the Lord’s call in a deeper and more serious way than may have been possible until this time. Jesus’ first disciples were fairly ordinary men with simple talents, but they were those who were willing to take the chance and run the risk that following this man Jesus just might be the best way for them to do everything they’d ever wanted to do. They wanted to be closer to the Lord and share that closeness with others.

Many of our young people today express that same sort of search for the meaning of the Lord in their lives and are willing to share that search with others. That openness includes a willingness to give the Lord a chance to find you and tell you what he thinks your life should become. The Lord’s word may be spoken in many different ways. It may come through prayer and a personal effort to get in closer touch with oneself. It may come through the needs of the people around us and our interest in serving those needs. It may come through the example and interest of priests and parents. As believing people, we recognize the fact that the Lord’s word and call is real. Each of us needs to determine what his word means in our lives and where his call will lead us. That may be one way of describing the Christian challenge, but it is also a recognition of the pain and personal struggle, which is necessary if one hopes to find meaning and purpose through his life.

Young people realize quite clearly the errors, problems and injustices that exist in our world today. Without being able to verbalize it, they understand that mankind hasn’t reached its fullest potential. The believing person recognizes that full human potential is very much associated with the life and kingdom of God. Hopefully, priests and sisters are those who believe in this meaning and relationship with God so strongly that they give their entire lives with the goal of helping their brothers and sisters in the Lord come to a deeper appreciation of God’s call.

I can certainly attest to the meaning of all of this in my own life. Perhaps my deepest satisfaction as a priest comes in the knowledge that I can share some faith and love about God with others. That’s important for me because I see over and over again how important that dimension of faith and trust can be in a person’s life. I’m happy to be a man who can celebrate that faith in God with others through the sacramental liturgy, in a formal way, and also, just through the daily hopes, joys, sorrows, anxieties and dreams of every living person.