Pope’s message for 47^th World Day of Prayer for Vocations

(February 16, 2010) It is the priests and religious themselves who through their witness and life can offer the greatest and most convincing motivation and inspiration to other men and women to dedicate themselves to the Lord in the priesthood and consecrated life. Pope Benedict hit home this point in his annual message for this year’s World Day of Prayer for Vocations to be marked on April 25, the fourth Sunday after Easter. In the current Year for Priests, the Pope’s chose, “Witness Awakens Vocations” as the them of his message. “The Lord makes use of the witness of priests who are faithful to their mission in order to awaken new priestly and religious vocations for the service of the People of God,” the Pope said in the message released in the Vatican on Tuesday. The Holy Father focussed three key aspects of the life of a priest or religious, which he said are essential for an effective witness – namely, friendship with Christ, complete gift of oneself to God and a life of communion. As a man of God, the Pope said, a priest cannot fail to cultivate a deep intimacy with God, especially by making space for Word of God and prayer, which he said is “the first form of witness which awakens vocations.” “The story of every vocation,” the Pope noted, “is almost always intertwined with the testimony of a priest who joyfully lives the gift of himself to his brothers and sisters for the sake of the Kingdom of God.” The life of profound communion, of priests and religious, he said, helps in overcoming divisions, healing rifts, settling conflicts and misunderstandings, and in forgiving offences. Pope Benedict noted that if young people see priests who appear distant and sad, they will hesitate and hardly feel encouraged to follow their example. Through their life and witness, religious become “signs of contradiction” for the world, whose thinking is often inspired by materialism, self-centredness and individualism. By letting themselves be won over by God through self-renunciation, their fidelity and the power of their witness constantly awaken in the hearts of many young people the desire to follow Christ in their turn, in a way that is generous and complete, the Pope added.