Christ is currently inviting each of us to follow after Him each day. Of course this invitation is a hard one to respond to because it requires us to enter into the unknown and thus to have total unending faith in Christ. This is even true of the apostles whom Christ called in our Gospel. They were going about the mundane activities of any other day when they were called to leave everything behind that they were doing and to come and follow after Him. Their decision to do this was a tough one to make because it was as a fishermen that they worked and thus in return it was as a fisherman that they made their living, but Christ called them to follow after Him and they did so leaving behind all the comfortability of their daily life to follow after this man who had called them.
We in this day and age fear the reality of commitment because commitment requires us to change some aspect of our life as we currently know it to be. It is Christ who calls couples to marriage, it is Christ who calls men to be priests, it is Christ who calls both men and women to the religious life, and thus too it is Christ who calls all of us towards holiness and to eventually enter into the rewards of the Heavenly Kingdom. There is not one person here (married, single, young, or old) who Christ has not called to make a commitment to Him; that we will follow after Him no matter where it may be that He leads us. No matter how tough the path that He sets before us nor how much we are unsure of where it is that we are being led; we must trust with unending faith placed in Christ and in return set out upon what He desires of us.
Therefore we can say that Christ has called each of us by name and that we must each answer His call. It is for this reason that the 2015 bishop's appeal has been entitled "Answering His Call." Msgr. John Enzler of the ArchDiocese of Washington DC states: "Remember that each day is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God." It is through the annual bishop's appeal that we are able to sustain the many ministries of the diocese that one parish could never support on their own. The bishop's appeal allows us to show by our stewardship that we are not just a little parish in Oak Ridge, but instead that we are a diocese built of many parishes and thus many people. The bishop's appeal allows us to join together and to respond to God's profound call for us to not only respond to Him, but also to the needs of those around us.
So what exactly is it that we are able to support with our pledge to the annual bishop's appeal? Through it we are able to support the continued education of our priests and also the formation of our seminarians. This parish receives the reward to this because of its priests and in the pews today are young men who have been called by God by name to follow after Him as one of His priests. May you fear not to answer this most profound call. Money also goes to support Christian formation which includes our religious education program and our parish school that we are most fond of. It is a true work of this parish to support the children and teachers of our school and desire to give them the means necessary to continue to be a light that shines brightly to build up the Catholic faith. This appeal goes to aid the charitable works of Catholic Charities as well as supporting the new mobile clinic which goes out to bring medical support to the impoverished. Finally this appeal goes to assist campus ministry that our youth may retain their faith and this appeal also supports efforts of justice and peace that proclaims the Gospel of Life to the world.
May we indeed always be open to God's call in our life. It is not always easy to respond to such a call, but indeed in the end it is always worth it. I hope that you will continue to strengthen the vocation that God has called you to through your unending trust in Him and the abandonment of all which impedes upon this reality. To our youth it is my hope that you will silence the busyness of your life in order to hear God's profound call that is coming to your ears; and please embrace it and not run away from it in fear. May we as a parish community truly support our annual bishop's appeal in order that we may assist in making God's call heard among our youth, among the impoverished, among those how have become abandoned and cast to the side, and thus in return to all of us who desire to follow after Christ and that call that He makes to us today.
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