A Prayer For Vocations

O God our Father, You promised "I will appoint shepherds for My sheep who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble: and none shall be missing." (Jer. 23:4-5). Hear the prayers of Your flock. Through the intercession of Your beloved priest, Saint John Vianney, we beg You to call to the sacramental priesthood generous men who will desire nothing more than to serve You in imitation of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest.

And after You call them, we pray that You sustain the doubtful, console the discouraged, and strengthen the weak as they start the long and demanding preparation for the priesthood.

Mary, Mother of priests, and example of faithful, humble, and joyful acceptance of God's will, help all those who are called to the priesthood to open their ears and hearts to the gentle call of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Some Thoughts and a Story

For as long as I can remember, my life has been marked by an intense desire for it. I cannot explain why this is the case and I cannot articulate what it is that draws me so deeply into it. I have wondered about it, grappled with it, and prayed about it for nearly my entire life. Not a day has passed that it has not plagued my mind and moved my soul. I am enslaved and victimized by it, as a man dying of thirst is captured by the cool water of a flowing spring. Even when my own sinfulness prompts me to bury my head and turn myself away from it, its own radiating beauty pierces my very being and pulls me in all the more. It follows me and hounds me, gently but ever so consistently. The priesthood, the love of the heart of Jesus Christ, beating with love for mankind, has smitten me.

I suppose this love story begins in my early childhood. I grew up outside of Lewiston in a Catholic family of French-Canadian descent. From a young age I was involved in the parish as an altar boy and loved spending as much time as possible at church. It was during this tender and formative years that the seeds of a priestly vocation were sewn. I would find myself playing Mass in my bedroom and devouring the wonderful little children's books about the lives of the Saints. People in the parish would often say to me, "Have you ever thought of becoming a priest?" For me, nothing seemed more natural...even as a little boy I felt like only the priesthood could bring me happiness.

By the time I entered St. Dominic's Regional High School, my desire for and love of the priesthood continued to grow. Area priests really took me under their wings and show me what it means to be a priest. I studied diligently and began to come to a deeper and more adult understanding of the faith. I graduated from high school in 2005 and two years later I was accepted as a college seminarian for our Diocese.

As it stands now, I am a fifth-year seminarian and am preparing to begin my second year of theological studies at the Theological College of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. This journey, though itself still very young, has been filled with many blessings and challenges. At nearly 24 years of age, I am currently the youngest of our seminarians and have so much more to learn and experience before God, through His Holy Church, might bestow upon me the great gift of the priesthood. I look forward to being able to share my thoughts and experiences on this blog during the coming years.

Hello Maine Vocations

I am posting a little blurb I included in this weeks' bulletin here at Corpus Christi Parish (Waterville). This way you can get to know me better.

I was raised in South Berwick by my loving parents, Alan and Brianne Dickinson. I am blessed with one sister, Kate.

In South Berwick, I attended Marshwood High School and was a parishioner at St. Michael’s Parish (now a part of the Parish of the Ascension of the Lord). From an early age, I was active in the parish as an altar server and was very active playing sports. While in high school, I was asked to do a research paper on a career. Since I attended a public high school, it was a unique that I decided to write on the priesthood. God was making it clear to me that I needed to consider my vocation.

Being young, I thought about my vocation for a while but pushed it off for the future. Upon the end of high school, I decided to attend Providence College, a Catholic school in Rhode Island. In college, I continued my discernment sporadically, as I dated and became involved in many activities. Between my professors and the Dominican priests, I realized that I might be called to something more in life. By junior year, I was seriously discerning where God was calling me. The voice of God continued to guide me in subtle ways to enter seminary upon graduation. During my discernment, I felt God strongly asking me to serve in Maine. What a great joy it is to be called to serve where I grew up!

The Diocese of Portland upon accepting me as a seminarian sent me to study at Theological College Seminary at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. After five years of prayer and study, I was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Richard Malone on May 28, 2011. As a priest, I look forward to providing the opportunity for others to meet Christ through the sacraments, scripture and personal encounters. When an individual truly meets Christ in their life, then they will be forever transformed.

In my free time, I enjoy reading, running, hiking, kayaking, and skiing.

I look forward to contributing to the Maine Vocations Blog from the perspective of a newly ordained priest, who has been through the discernment process. May God bless every one who views this website, that it may be an instrument to help you hear the voice of God calling you to your own special vocation.

We have a new priest!

Father Jack Dickinson

Fr. Seamus on the meaning of the priesthood

Currently serving as a Parochial Vicar at Saint Paul the Apostle Parish in the Bangor area, Fr. Seamus Griesbach reflects on the priesthood!

Notice the important place that the priest has in people's lives. He is a representative of Christ, of God. He represents the relationship that people have with God, and so in his very humanity the priest becomes a bridge to God - even when folding laundry in a strangers house!

Reflections on the vocation to the priesthood (Part 5) By Jonathan Spera

We are well into Lent. Almost half way through... Do we need a little motivation to stay faithful to the disciplines which we are imposing on ourselves; those gestures of faith which are intended to draw us to Christ?

Prayer and fasting for vocations just might be the motivation we need! Have you offered up prayers during the time you would normally be eating? Can you offer your pain whether self-imposed or given by your circumstances to God for holy priests and religious. I hope so. Suffering by itself is meaningless, but we can offer it for the salvation of souls, for the holiness of our families and for vocations. This way our lenten sacrificial sufferings can take on a lot of meaning!

A cardinal of the Church recently remarked: “We do not have a vocational crisis. We have a human crisis.” The problem is not simply that we don’t have enough priests and religious. The problem is that we live the majority of our life without God. You know as well as I that our culture does not support our belief in God, our vive Dieu. We are living in a time of much amusement and little meaning. We need to recall that He is present. He is there at your work, in your home, everywhere you go. The pressure of our culture is just the opposite! Our culture tells us we are self sufficient, self motivated, and selfish. These are lies which, like any lie, can only take us so far... and in fact we will always be frantically searching for pleasure and amusement in the midst of these lies.

God will call who he wills. But it is certainly within all our vocations to foster an environment full of goodness: devotion, culture, family, food and fun. Each of our homes can become a local culture where Christianity, where Catholicism is fostered. Think of it this way: in the Middle Ages monks invented beer for Fridays in lent because they couldn’t eat meat but still need sustenance to work in the fields. Now if that is not a connection between devotion, culture, family, food and fun, I don’t know what is! We Catholics need to reclaim all those traditions and ways of living that enrich our lives. Yes especially during Lent. We are to fast greatly, but always with that cheer in our hearts, that joy of knowing what this world is for, knowing that we are making our way to an eternal feast, and we best prepare!

Another way of saying this is: If ever we celebrate Saint Patrick’s day without devotion, culture and family - without true friendship with God and neighbor - then the food and the fun end in meaningless pleasure seeking, foolishness and drunkenness. But if God is present, if our devotion runs high, and if our friendships are formed around a culture which aims at high heaven, then Ah! what a Feast it is! Fasting and feasting, Lent to Easter, our life to heaven, every life to his or her vocation!

Thoughts on Vocation (continued - part 4)

Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning here in the Parish I have the great honor and pleasure of exposing the Blessed Sacrament and sitting for about an hour in prayer as parishioners trickle in for morning Mass. This quiet hour has been and continues to be a real school of prayer for me and a clinic on Catholicism and Catholic identity.

Last week one faithful couple brought their grandchildren in for adoration and Mass and during that hour taught them a very beautiful way to pray: “Do you remember the story of Fatima?” the grandmother asked. “Yes,” one of the girls responded. “Now is the time to think of that story, while your in front of Jesus.” In this very simple exchange, so down to earth, so human, the faith was being powerfully communicated. The grandmother taught her granddaughter so many things, in so few words.

Just picture this: A little girl musing over the compelling story of Our Lady of Fatima while kneeling in front of a candle lit golden monstrance thumbing her Rosary beads. This sounds more like the beginning of a fantasy novel than it does something that actually happened on a random Tuesday morning in Old Town, Maine in 2011. But it happened! That beautiful exchange happened right here in our Parish.

So what do we draw from this fact that happen in our parish? The communication of the faith, evangelization, is first and foremost a simple human act. In this instance, it started by simply recalling a story in front of beautiful art. That is one way we communicate our faith. We recall historical facts (the incarnation, a biblical event, or an apparition of Mary) in the form of stories in the presence of beauty! Do we give our children, or ourselves for that matter, enough time in the presence of beauty, whether in paintings, sculpture or music? Do we learn the stories of our faith? Are we inspired by the stories of the saints? Do we know and ruminate on them?

There are many compelling movies and books about the saints that we can use to draw us in to the grace that God is trying to communicate to the world. There are many beautiful images in our churches. Are we drawn in by them? Do we let ourselves really see what is in front of us? I propose to you that the beginning of vocation is this: To grow in the awareness of this Presence, to sacrifice our time in front of beauty with the events of our faith in our minds. Only in the quiet context of Christian experiences, like the one those little girls experienced, can our vocations grow, can we hear what God is trying to speak to us.

Thoughts on Vocation (continued - part 3)

Last week I wrote about how in the initial experience of serving the Mass I was given many joyful childhood memories. And likewise there are many joys that I have received since entering seminary; however, this week I want to focus on the fact that no vocation is given simply for oneself. All vocations are given by God for the sake of others.

As our life progresses it becomes more clear that God is calling in a certain direction. For most of you who read this, that means that at some point you met someone who you decided to commit yourself to for life. For others, like me, it means that God asked you to have a particular kind of relationship not just with one person, but with all people. The call to the priesthood, and similarly to religious life, is one whereby you commit yourself to the single state in order to make yourself wholly available to God in a spiritual relationship and neighbor in pastoral relationships. 

Most often the reaction I get is: How can you do this? Don’t you miss dating? Are you lonely? What about kids? But what I really hear within these and similar questions is: Can this single life you are living generate happiness? Does celibacy for the Kingdom, for God really cut it in this day an age?

If celibacy means simply being alone all the time, never developing deep friendships then yes, I can see the concern of friends and onlookers. But if celibacy allows for a deep, dare I say sometimes even deeper, relationship with God and neighbor then what is the celibate person really missing in their lives? Granted not every priest lives his celibacy to his own benefit, but then again not every married person lives his or her vocation to their benefit. There are unhappy priests, and there are unhappy husbands and wives. But this is not because the commitment to marriage, the single state or the priesthood necessitates misery. Rather it is all in our approach to the circumstances we are in.

The approach and direction of every vocation must be outward. After prayer and interior reflection, we must live toward others. In fact the only way we discover and recover our vocations is to live our lives for others. When we turn inward, our vocations and personal joys shrivel. My seminary advisor often says that gifts are only gifts when they are in the act of being given away. And this is so with our lives. It is only in spending our lives that we are able hold on to our call. It is only in giving that we discover why we were given this vocation in the first place.