In today’s Gospel, Jesus once again reminds us of His ever faithful mission- “to seek and to save what was lost.” It is a profound gift to allow Jesus to “seek us out” and to find us. Such an encounter brings about a change of heart, a conversion from the old to a new way of life. In the Gospel, Jesus uses the repentance of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, to reveal the nature of His mission. “The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” He is pursuing Zacchaeus in order to bring about His salvation. And the same thing needs to be true of the Church today. The Church exists for mission to bring the Good News of salvation to a world in desperate need of truth, freedom, integrity, and authenticity. The Church does not exist to merely exist, to keep the status quo to keep her going. The Church exists for the salvation of souls. The Church has the same mission that the Son of Man has. And so the question for us today is- In what way am I carrying on Christ’s mission to seek and to save the lost? Would the Lord call us, despite all that we had done, and want to come to our house today? Or are we like the crowd murmuring, “Oh gosh. He’s going to eat in the house of a sinner?”
The week of November 3-9, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates National Vocation Awareness Week. During this week we lead the effort to uphold and encourage the fostering of vocations among the faithful and to pray for those currently discerning a call to marriage, ordained ministry, or consecrated life.
In his message for the 2019 World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that unlike a secular career, a vocation is a gift born from God’s own initiative: “The Lord’s call is not an intrusion of God into our freedom; it is not a ‘cage’ or burden to be borne. On the contrary, it is the loving initiative whereby God encounters us and invites us to be a part of a great undertaking.”
Whereas choosing a career requires much “doing” – such as the accomplishment of various tasks and goals- vocational discernment requires much “being.” At its core, vocational discernment is a process of self-discovery. Assisted by divine grace, each person is invited by the Lord to receive the gift of a specific vocation whereby they manifest God’s love in a particular way to the outside world. In the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony, the husband and wife image the Trinity by their communion of love that produces new life; in ordained ministry, priests and deacons are called to minister in the person of Christ, the High Priest and Servant; and in consecrated life, each member is called to bear Christ’s love through a particular charism. (USCCB)
Next weekend, November 8-10, is the Annual St. Luke Festival. Thanks to the Festival Team, many supportive parishioners, people of good will and businesses, we are very excited to present- with Ascension Healthcare St. Vincent’s- a tremendous time of joy and community building event. As we enter the final week before the festival, please make sure to sign up to serve at the festival, to buy pre-sale ride tickets, raffle tickets with great and exciting prizes in order to express your support for the success of the festival.
Since the festival is getting bigger and better I need to bring to your attention some aspects of housekeeping for the festival weekend. There will be no parking on the church’s property. Additional parking will be like in the past years on the lot of Old Jennings Rd. and Blanding Blvd. There will be limited handicap parking as well as some mobile transportation (golf cars) that will be available to and from the parking lots for all in need. Please, I ask for your patience, cooperation, and understanding to follow the direction and instruction of the traffic officers to be safe and to help assure the success of this wonderful event.
Please extend an invitation to everyone you know to experience the joy of the Festival. I hope to see you all at the Festival!