Come after me: A Vocation is an Invitation
by Father Jeffrey Cabral

As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.

-Matthew 4:18-20

As a country, we prepare to commemorate National Vocation Awareness Week, a special time in which the Church prays for the renewal and strengthening of vocations with dedicated people to serve as priests, deacons, brothers, and sisters. Here in our own Diocese of Fall River, we prepare to kick off a new campaign to foster vocations, especially vocations to the priesthood, called Go Out and Fish. It owes its name to the passage from Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus calls Simon Peter and his brother Andrew from fishermen to become fishers of men.

Many people perceive a vocation as a calling, and rightly so. A vocation is classically defined as a calling from God. The root word for vocation is vocare, which is Latin for “to call.” God has created each one of us for a particular calling. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, God calls each one of us to live out that calling in love, holiness and service to God and one another. The path we choose to follow is important, because by actively discerning God’s call and responding, we will live our lives in true joy and fulfillment.

However, a vocation is more than just a calling – it is also an invitation, an invitation from God. It is important to remember that a true vocation is an invitation from God to assume some responsibility to share in the mission of the Church. God never forces Himself upon us. The Lord constantly encourages, nurtures and pulls us in the direction we should be heading. If we truly listen with our hearts and not to our fears and doubts, the authentic invitation from God will be easier to know.

Throughout our liturgies in the Christmas season, which we still celebrate until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Monday, January 8, we have heard many invitations made by God to various people—invitations that were deferentially and humbly consented. Mary was invited by God, through the archangel Gabriel, to become the Theotokos, the Mother of God. She humbly trusted in the Lord, declaring that she was the handmaid of the Lord. Her husband, Joseph, was invited to not divorce Mary, but to receive her into his home, along with her child, whom he was to name Jesus. He did so, with great righteousness. Joseph was also invited to take his Holy Family to Egypt to protect the Christ-Child from King Herod, which he did unassumingly. The shepherds in the fields were invited by the heavenly host of angels to go to Bethlehem to witness the miraculous Incarnation, making known to others the message that had been told them. The Magi came from the east, from the invitation of the star, to honor the newborn King with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All invitations—all vocations—found throughout the Christmas Nativity story!

As Christ first came into our world in that lowly stable on that first Christmas, He still comes to us everyday. Jesus is Emmanuel — God-is-with-us! Jesus Christ comes to us through our priests and, in particular, through the Eucharist, through which our priests consecrate each and every day. Through the invitation of young men to the priesthood, we see Christ, Emmanuel, desiring to be with us always…to go out and fish! Let us make it our New Year’s resolution, but in particular to my brother priests, to encourage and, above all, invite young men to consider responding to the call of ordained ministry. Statistics have shown, time and time again, that many priests considered a priestly vocation because they were invited to do so by another priest. Now, more than ever, in a time of declining numbers, we priests should take our role seriously as fishers of men! Go out and fish! Go out and invite!

This article appeared in the January 12, 2007 edition of The Anchor.