Thine Own Service

Thine Own Service

Tag Archives: vocation

Homily for Easter IV

08 Monday May 2017

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Homily

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easter, homily, mary, priesthood, vocation

6964091272_160f6109df_z.jpg

The month of May, dedicated as it is to the Blessed Virgin Mary, presents us with an opportunity to reflect upon the readiness of Our Lady to say yes to God. In the annunciation of the Lord’s will by the message of an angel, the young Mary freely and completely gave herself to God. This act we call her fiat, taken from the Latin phrase of scripture: Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum; let it be done unto me according to thy word (Lk. 1:38). Mary’s yes to the Lord made possible the great act of the incarnation—the coming amongst us of the Word made Flesh; the person of Jesus Christ. Mary’s selfless act of obedience undid the selfish act of disobedience of Eve, and it is for this reason that the Fathers of the Church often call Mary the new or second Eve.

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Living the Journey?

31 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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catechesis, discipleship, formation, intentional catholicism, vocation

The Road to Emmaus: the Blessed Sacrament chapel of St Matthew's Cathedral, Washington DC.

Emmaus: the Blessed Sacrament chapel of St Matthew’s Cathedral, DC.

This morning I had the chance to catch-up with a friend who has been working with some women religious in the last month or so. In a conversation with one sister, there was a concern raised that those entering the religious life these days often want to know – above all else – what they have to do to reach final vows or solemn profession. There is a sense that this goal – the culmination, as it were, of postulancy and the noviciate – must be achieved, and that a plan to reach that goal needs to be laid out clearly from day one.

Nobody can blame an enthusiastic discerner, either of the Religious Life or the Priesthood (or Marriage, for that matter), for wanting to know the path that leads to solemn profession, final vows, holy orders, or matrimony. It is entirely natural and good to want and desire to fulfil the vocation that is being discerned, and to want to see how God and the Church expect one to be prepared for that call. What is wrong, though, is when this attitude becomes influenced, as my friend wisely pointed out, by a culture of ‘project management’, as if the process of discernment and formation is less a journey through life to be travelled, and more a process to be undergone.

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WYD: Nazareth of the New Evangelisation – Part 2

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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catechesis, formation, new evangelisation, vocation, wyd

This post follows on from Part 1, which can be found here.

Pilgrims with Quo Vadis? at World Youth Day in Madrid

Pilgrims with Quo Vadis? visit Avila during World Youth Day in 2011

3. Sense of the Universal Church
For many of the pilgrims, World Youth Day is their first experience of a major Catholic event. Only at large celebrations in Rome, really, is such a beautiful example of the universal Church otherwise offered. A quick glance at the national flags in the crowds shows one part of this, but it is also the range of religious habits, of the New Ecclesial Movements and communities, that reveals something of the healthy plurality that exists in the Church, and which becomes a strengthening factor in the experience of World Youth Day. That plurality, too, is of course maintained and disciplined by the guidance of the Holy Father. His presence at World Youth Day is not simply as a crowd-pleaser, but as an essential sign of the universal nature of the Church, which gathers with Peter to say to the Lord, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you”. World Youth Day pilgrims take this idea away with them – they learn something about the universal nature of the Church, and they glimpse the real and paternal care exercised by the Pope as the Vicar of Christ. They learn something by experience that in the past was reserved to seminarians sent to Rome for their studies and, in doing so, they gain a profound understanding of their incorporation into the mystical body of Christ. Whether they come from thriving parishes, or are relatively isolated as young, faithful Catholics, such an encounter creates a personal sense of discipleship, and an intentional sense of mission, making them more confident to speak of their own experience of Christ’s love to their friends and peers.

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Invocation 2013: Rome

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Evangelisation

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discernment, discipleship, invocation, new evangelisation, priesthood, rome, vocation

Invocation_Rome

Last week I accompanied more than 100 pilgrims from England, Wales, and Scotland, on a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Peter as part of the Year of Faith. The pilgrimage, for seminarians, novices, and those discerning their vocation, was organised by the Pontifical Council for the promotion of the New Evangelisation, and included 6000 young adults from across the world. It was an impressive sight, but even more impressive was a profound sense that – close to Peter – this was a space in which these pilgrims could echo Peter’s words and say, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you”.

In Matthew 16 and John 21, the mission given to Peter by the Lord is as a result of Peter’s own confession of faith: You are the Christ the Son of the Living God; You know all things, you know that I love. So it is in the life of all Christians, that the acceptance of the Lord’s divinity and our openness to his love for us, precedes our true realisation of the vocation he has given us, and so precedes any true hope we might have for happiness. The Christian must first truly follow Christ, in order for the Lord to entrust him or her with the mission and state of life which will bring us to heaven. As others have started to say: discipleship discerns vocation.

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The Priest & the Sacred Liturgy

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Liturgy

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eucharist, holiness, liturgy, priesthood, vocation

Some reflections on the life of the Priest and the Sacred Liturgy, given to a group of men discerning a call to the Sacred Priesthood in the diocese of Arundel & Brighton. To find out more about vocations work in the diocese, please visit their website here.

sacristy

One of the central aspects of the life of the Priest is, quite obviously, the Sacred Liturgy. Whether he has an interest in the particular intricacies of rubric and ritual, or a strained relationship with liturgical prayer, seeming to prefer private devotion or less-structured worship, the Priest is always a servant of the Church, and the Sacred Liturgy is the Prayer of the Church. The Priest must always have a deep and profound devotion to the Sacred Liturgy, and must always strive to serve the Church, which is the mystical Body of Christ, through the faithful celebration of her rites and ceremonies, as a outward sign of his love for Christ. In doing this, in being faithful to the texts and ritual, the Priest sets aside his own desires or ideas in favour of something given to him by the Church. This is why we refer to ‘Sacred Liturgy’, because it is not merely some man-made construct, but a gift to us for our sanctification, a gift given by the Church, and so by Christ himself (cf. SC § 22.3).

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A Little Different

29 Sunday Apr 2012

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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Benedict XVI, discernment, ministry, ordination, priesthood, vocation

My first Sunday as a Priest without the aid of 20 servers, 2 deacons, 4 concelebrants, an assistant Priest MC, a polyphonic choir, a plainchant schola, a dulcian, 2 baroque guitars, and nearly 500 in the congregation. A little different? Yes. Downer? Certainly not.

This morning I celebrated the Solemn Mass and preached on the importance of supporting vocations work. We have such a great focus on vocations to the Sacred Priesthood in this parish that it’s difficult to know how to improve on things. My challenge was this: if we can think of something we’d rather our son/grandson/nephew did, other than be a Priest of Jesus Christ, then we need to think again about the importance of the Sacred Priesthood, and to engage more strongly with the image of Christ the Good Shepherd who willingly lays down his life for his sheep.

After Mass one mother told me I had to keep working on her sons – she clearly wants a Priest in the family: great! But it must be hard for a parent to hold an ideal which runs so contrary to what society expects. The world wants us to marry, to be successful, to earn money, to have our own house, to have independence. Christ wants more: he wants everything we have, everything we are, set apart. Set apart for what? The plebs sancta Dei, the Holy People of God, whom he calls his priests to serve without limits, searching out the lost and gathering all into the safety of sheepfold.

Sure, not everyone is called to the Ministerial Priesthood, but our baptism does call us all to give ourselves entirely the vocation Christ gives each one of us, and that supernatural fulfilment must genuinely be the desire of Christian families before we can regain a proper sense of what Scott Hahn calls ‘the glory of the priesthood’.

If you haven’t read the Holy Father’s message for the World Day of Vocations (which we celebrate today), you can read it here. You can also read his homily from the Ordination Mass he celebrated this morning in Rome and there’s a short video of the event here.

You Are Called

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

Posted by Fr James Bradley in Uncategorized

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discernment, invocation, priesthood, vocation, vocationcast

Each one of us has a vocation – a unique call given to us by the Lord. It is our duty, our honour, our privilege to respond. This year why not come along to Invocation 2012 – a national vocations discernment festival? God may be calling you to the silence of the cloister, or the beauty of family life; he may be asking you to give your life to him in the single life, or he may be summoning you to serve as a Priest of Jesus Christ. With hundreds of others, come and give yourself the space to hear his still small voice. God is calling you to some definite service: do not silence him. Listen to the latest Vocationcast, which reflects on the forthcoming Invocation 2012.

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