Evangelization and the Call to Holiness and Mission
By Monsignor Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G.
 

Our Diocesan mission statement begins with these words: “We the Catholic faithful … are called.”  It acknowledges the Church as a mystery of vocation, of our being called together to holiness and mission.

It reflects the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church from the Second Vatican Council, which states: “God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness.” (Lumen Gentium, Chapter 2, #9); and, “Fortified by so many and such powerful means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state, are called by the Lord, each in his own way, to that perfect holiness whereby the Father Himself is perfect.” (Chapter 2, #11)

The Diocesan Pastoral Plan for Vocations comments on our Mission Statement: “This statement speaks of vocation; it says we are all called. Through parish self-study and pastoral planning for the mission of evangelization, we answer the call; we respond to our vocation. Evangelization then becomes our work of calling others to their call from God or, in others words, to their vocation.”

Pope John Paul II has stated in a variety of ways the connection between the vocation or call to holiness and the vocation or call to mission: “The call to mission derives, of its nature, from the call to holiness….The universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission. Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission.” (#90, Redemptoris Missio)

A deeper understanding of the meaning of call or vocation in Catholic theology and spirituality is necessary for a parish to appreciate its mission. Both the Parish Pastoral Council and the Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton are concerned with deepening that understanding and providing motivation for developing a culture of vocation.

The Diocesan web site has information that can help a parish to accomplish this aspect of its mission by clicking on “Clergy Formation,”  and then clicking on “Pastoral Plan for Vocations.”

Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton has two criteria that support the importance of prayer and the promotion of vocations.

“Parishioners are encouraged to cultivate a culture of vocation in the parish and are educated to ‘live their lives as a vocation’ (Pope Benedict XVI) to holiness and mission.” And “Formation and education in vocational awareness is an integral part of the parish catechetical programs and the religious formation program in the Catholic school.”

In Veritatis splendor, sections 7 and 8, Pope John Paul II states: “In the rich young man, whom Matthew’s Gospel does not name, we can recognize every person who, consciously or not, approaches Christ the Redeemer of man and questions him about morality. For the young man, the question is not so much about rules to be followed but about the full meaning of life. This is in fact the aspiration at the heart of every human decision and action, the quiet searching and interior prompting which sets freedom in motion. This question is ultimately an appeal to the absolute God which attracts us and beckons us; it is the echo of a call from God who is the origin and goal of man’s life.”

It is important to understand our life as a vocation as we search for personal meaning and responsibility. Pope John Paul continues in Veritatis splendor: “The question which the rich young man puts to Jesus of Nazareth is one which rises from the depths of his heart. It is an essential and unavoidable question for the life of every man, for it is about the moral good which must be done, and about eternal life. The young man senses that there is a connection between moral good and the fulfillment of his own destiny.”

We need to deepen our awareness of the meaning of vocation or calling. In a message to the 1997 Congress on Vocations in Europe, Pope John Paul II stated: “Life has an essentially vocational structure. In fact, the plan for it stems from the heart of the mystery of God: ‘He chose us in him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him’ (Eph 1:4).”

Pope John Paul looked at life in terms of four general vocations or callings that can help human beings in their search for meaning and responsibility. He writes: “All human existence is therefore an answer to God, who makes his love felt especially on some occasions: the call to life; the entrance into his Church's communion of grace; the invitation to bear witness in the Christian community to Christ according to a completely personal and irreplaceable plan; the definitive call to communion with him at the hour of death.” In other words, life is a gift and a responsibility and finding our vocation in life satisfies the deep human hunger for meaning.

Writing in Pastores Dabo Vobis, Pope John Paul shared some important thoughts on the mystery of the Church as Vocation and the theology of vocation in the life of every member of the Church. When we see our lives in terms of vocation, we see ourselves in terms of responsibility and gratitude. Because we have a vocation we are called to be active members of the Church and parish, we are called not only to receive, but also to contribute. We are also moved to see our lives not as individuals independent of the Church, but as members of the Church, giving and receiving.

Our American society places a high value on individualism. We tend to be formed by individualism and often are unaware of its influence and its potential to distort the Gospel message and the nature of the Church. These words of John Paul II come as a challenge and a correction, a call to conversion on the level of our understanding and our thinking and acting. Pope John Paul reminds us that we are called to communion with God and with one another, and communion leads to community and social concerns about charity and justice.

One of the criteria of Called to Holiness and Mission: Pastoral Planning in the Diocese of Scranton states: “Evangelization is recognized as an essential aspect of the life and mission of the parish.” Evangelization and the pastoral care for vocations and the promotion of vocational awareness are aspects of the evangelizing mission of the parish and not simply occasional activities.

In his 2008 Message for World Day of Prayer for vocations, Pope Benedict XVI stated: “Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life can only flourish in a spiritual soil that is well cultivated. Christian communities that live the missionary dimension of the mystery of the Church in a profound way will never be inward looking. Mission, as a witness of divine love, becomes particularly effective when it is shared in a community, ‘so that the world may believe’ (cf. Jn 17: 21). ..Gathered around the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, as in the beginning, the ecclesial community learns from her how to implore the Lord for a flowering of new apostles, alive with the faith and love that are necessary for the mission...”

The outward, missionary attitude of the parish and the quality of its life as a community, its unity and holiness will be a sign and instrument of its evangelizing mission, and it will support the thinking of our Diocesan pastoral plan for vocations and the criteria approved in Called to Holiness and Mission. A parish not in unity within itself or with the diocese is not a sign or expression of an evangelizing mission.

A parish that prays, promotes and educates about vocations also will enrich its own self-understanding of what a parish is and make its mission more fruitful

In the Vatican document In Verbo tuo, we can learn from the following inspirational message: “The pastoral care of vocations is the same age as the Church; it arose at the same time as the Church, in that poverty unexpectedly inhabited by the Spirit…The Apostles gather together in the cenacle ‘and with one accord devoted themselves to prayer...with Mary, the mother of Jesus’ (1, 14), and immediately they act to fill the post left vacant by Judas with another chosen from among those who had been with Jesus from the beginning: so that ‘he might become with us a witness to His resurrection’ (1, 22).

“And the promise is fulfilled: the Holy Spirit descends with riotous effect and fills the house and the lives of those who before had been timid and fearful, with a rumble, a wind, a fire... ‘And they began to speak in other tongues...and each one heard them speaking in his own language’ (2, 4.6). And ‘Peter standing..., lifted up his voice and addressed them’ about the history of salvation (2, 14), an address that cuts those that hear it ‘to the heart" and provokes the decisive question about life: ‘what shall we do?’(2, 37).

“At this point the Book of the Acts describes the life of the early community, which was marked by some essential elements, such as their diligence in listening to the teachings of the Apostles, brotherly union, the breaking of bread, prayer, sharing of material goods; but at the same time the feelings and goods of the Spirit (cf 2, 42 48).” [This passage provides the inspiration for our Diocesan Mission Statement.]

“In the meantime, Peter and the Apostles continue to work wonders in the name of Jesus and to proclaim the kerygma of salvation, regularly risking their lives, but always supported by the community, within which the believers form ‘one heart and soul’ (4, 32). In it, as well, needs begin to grow and diversify, and so deacons are instituted to meet these needs of the community, even the material needs, especially of the weakest (cf 6, 1 7).

“Such strong and courageous witness can only provoke the ire of the authorities, leading to the first martyr, Stephen; this underlines that the cause of the Gospel requires the whole person, even his life (cf 6, 8-7,70). Saul, the persecutor of Christians, also assents to the sentence condemning Stephen; this is the same man who, shortly, will be chosen by God to proclaim to the pagans the mystery hidden for centuries and now revealed.

“And the story continues, ever more as a sacred history: the story of God who chooses and calls men to salvation, even in unforeseen ways, and the story of individuals who allow themselves to be called and chosen by God.

“These notes are enough for us to recognize in the early community the basic lines of pastoral work in a totally vocational Church: on the level of methods and contents, of general principles, of the programs to be followed and the specific strategies to realize it. 

“‘The pastoral care of vocations springs from the mystery of the Church and places itself at her service.’ (55) The theological foundation of the pastoral care of vocations, therefore, ‘can only arise from an assessment of the mystery of the Church as a mysterium vocationis’ [a “mystery of vocation or call”].

“John Paul II clearly recalls, in this regard, that ‘concern for vocations is a connatural and essential dimension of the Church's pastoral work’, i.e. to her life and mission. Therefore, in a certain sense, vocation defines the deepest being of the Church, even before her work. In the very name, ‘Ecclesia,’ is indicated her vocational make-up, because she is truly an assembly of those called.”

A deeper understanding of the evangelizing mission of the Church as a mystery of vocation helps a parish and its members to see the pastoral care for vocations and the promotion of a deeper understanding of vocation as an essential aspect of its evangelizing mission. To evangelize is to promote the awareness of every person being called, having a vocation, and given a responsibility to share in the mission of the Church. To evangelize is to call people to respond, to accept their responsibility.