The conversation was brief, but its impact lasted long after it was finished. While sweeping the floors of my sixth-grade classroom one day during lunch recess (it was my turn that week), I was asked by Sister Marie Julia: “Mr. Jasper, have you ever thought about becoming a priest?” Matter-of-factly, I replied: “No, Sister,” all the while quickening my cleaning pace so that I could end this conversation as soon as possible. Without looking up from marking her set of grammar tests, Sister simply replied: “Well, young man, I think you should.” That was it; nothing more was ever mentioned again that year.
There is something both beautiful and humbling about being invited to be a part of something greater than oneself, whether it is as a member of a team or a part of a group of friends or even to the possibility of being called to serve the Church. Sister Julia planted a seed that day, and even though it took thirty years to sprout, her invitation sparked something within me: a desire to help; a willingness to put others first; and a greater search for God in my everyday life.
Recent studies show that most young people today who are discerning a call to priesthood or religious life are doing so because someone was bold enough to ask them. As Jesus would invite Peter to become a fisher of men, are we also willing to look within our own families and parish community to encourage someone to consider loving and serving God and the Church in this way? This weekend, every parish in the diocese of Wilmington will be inviting parishioners to prayerfully suggest names of young persons whom our Lord may be inviting to consider a vocation to priesthood or religious life. Do you know anyone in our parish who you think might make a holy priest or religious? Is it possible that a future priest or religious sister is sitting here among us, just waiting to be asked? Fr. Gebhart’s excellent interview on the “Called by Name” program, which can be found on the Dialog website/the Catholic Forum radio program, address the vocational call quite beautifully. Please take some time to listen to it.
As Sister Marie Julia once did for me, perhaps we can do for someone right here at Immaculate Conception- St. Jude: if you see something, say something.