Pope: fostering vocations requires passion and
gratitude
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met on Thursday with
participants in a Conference organized by the national Office for Pastoral Care
for Vocations of the Italian Episcopal Conference. The theme of the conference
is “Arise, go forth, and fear not. Vocations and sanctity: I am on a mission.”
During the encounter, Pope Francis spoke off-the-cuff; his extemporaneous
remarks will be published when they become available.
In prepared remarks, which were consigned to participants,
the Pope said, “The complete and generous ‘yes’ of a life that is given is like
a spring of water, hidden for a time deep within the earth, that is waiting to
gush forth in a stream of purity and freshness.” Young people, he continued,
“have a need to quench their thirst and then continue on their journey of
discovery.”
The duty of calling for and accompanying vocations requires
“passion and a sense of gratitude”, the Pope said: the passion of personal
involvement and care for those who are called; and gratitude “of service in the
Church that involves great respect” for those who are called to be “companions
on the journey.”
“In order to be credible and to be in harmony with young
people,” the Pope continued, it is necessary to be particularly devoted to
listening, to be able to “waste time” in order to hear and understand the
questions and desires of young people.
Recalling the theme of the conference, Pope Francis said it
is important to be convinced that “I am on a mission,” and not simply that “I
have a mission.” “To be continually on a mission requires courage, daring,
imagination, and a desire to go beyond, to go further,” again recalling the
theme, “Arise, go forth, and fear not.”
The Holy Father concluded his written remarks with the plea,
“May we feel ourselves pushed by the Holy Spirit to identify new ways in the
proclamation of the Gospel of vocation, to be men and women who, as sentinels,
know how to welcome the rays of light of a new dawn, in a renewed experience of
faith and of passion for the Church and for the Kingdom of God.”
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