Our Vocation
January 15, 2018

Father Richard Taylor

Each of us as a believer seeks consciously the best way to live out our vocation. Normally we call this vocation our way of life, with our profession or our job. With others we make up the fabric of society, and together we make up the Church. So we have a twofold vocation, our own personal commitment and that of the communities in which we live. We continually try to turn our professions and jobs into our vocations as believers, and encourage others to do the same. Hence our sorrow when there are so many unemployed, and very often with that condition comes despair, self-depreciation, and the danger of violence. The evidence of this is before our eyes every day. The deprived and the poor and marginalized very often are most violent with each other. This is a well documented fact. But why are there so many poor and deprived? This is mostly a societal responsibility beyond the scope of most individual’s capabilities. And the Church has a voice here too.

The vocation of the Church is to bring peace and harmony among people. It exists to remove the walls of separation. There is a way of living which, if followed, will bring peace. That is what St.Paul is talking about in today’s reading; we make up one body, the body of Christ. He spells it out in the Epistle to the Galatians (3:28): There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

(Read the full homily at: http://matercare.org/news-publications/latest-news/peace-on-earth-world-day-of-prayer-for-peace/)