Though the global situation risks plunging people into pessimism, Christians are called to pursue their vocation of becoming “men and women of hope”, Pope Francis said in his message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Source: OSV News.
“As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges,” the Pope wrote in his message for the day, to be marked on April 21.
Global challenges such as war, migration, rising poverty rates and climate change, in addition to personal difficulties encountered daily, “risk plunging us into resignation or defeatism,” the Pope wrote in the message released yesterday. He encouraged Christians to instead “cultivate a gaze full of hope and work fruitfully in response to the vocation we have received, in service to God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace”.
To be “pilgrims of hope and builders of peace” means “to base our lives on the rock of Christ’s resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out will never be in vain,” the Pope wrote.
Pursuing a vocation, he explained, is not an imposed duty but rather “the surest way for us to fulfill our deepest desire for happiness”.
“Our life finds fulfilment when we discover who we are, what our gifts are, where we can make them bear fruit, and what path we can follow in order to become signs and instruments of love, generous acceptance, beauty and peace wherever we find ourselves.”
The Pope expressed his gratitude for the “hidden efforts” of those who consistently respond to their calls in life, namely parents, workers, consecrated men and women and priests, and he urged young people to make room for Jesus in their lives to discover their vocation.
FULL STORY
Vocational message: ‘Be pilgrims of hope and builders of peace’ (By Justin McLellan, OSV News)
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Pope’s Vocations Day message: ‘Pilgrims of hope, builders of peace’ (Vatican News)
