THE EUCHARIST AND VOCATIONS

THE JUBILEE AND VOCATIONS

The Jubilee ... enjoins all believers to consider their own personal vocation, to complete in their lives what is lacking in the passion of the Son, for the sake of His body, which is the Church (cf. Col 1:24).

"THE MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE"

The Eucharist constitutes the culminating moment in which Jesus, in His Body given for us and in His Blood poured out for our salvation, reveals the mystery of His identity and indicates the sense of the vocation of every believer. In fact, the meaning of human life is totally contained in that Body and in that Blood, since from them life and salvation have come to us.

GIVE YOURSELF AS GIFT

In the Eucharist ..., the believer who is nourished by that Body ... and with that Blood ..., receives the power to transform himself, in turn, into gift. As St. Augustine says, "Be what you receive and receive what you are" ...

"THE COURAGE TO BE HIS APOSTLES"

Go to meet Jesus, the Savior! Love Him and adore Him in the Eucharist! ... You are able to draw from Him the courage to be His apostles ...

DISCOVERIES

In their encounter with the Eucharist, some men discover that they are called to become ministers of the Altar, other people, that they are called to contemplate the beauty and depth of this mystery, others that they are called to pour out again its impelling force of love on the poor and weak, and others again that they are called to grasp its transforming power in the realities and gestures of everyday life.

FIND THE KEY AND THE COURAGE

Each believer finds in the Eucharist not only the interpretative key of his or her own existence, but the courage to actualize it, indeed to build up, in the diversity of charisms and vocations, the one Body of Christ in history.

JESUS CALLS YOU

The Lord Jesus has pitched His tent among us and from this His Eucharistic dwelling, He repeats to each man and each women, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I shall give you rest" (Mt 11:28).

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS

The world needs young people capable of "building bridges" to unite and reconcile; after the culture of man without vocation, men and women are needed who believe in life and accept it as a call that comes from Above, from the God Who calls, since He loves.

"A JUBILEE OF VOCATION"

Only courageous young people, with minds and hearts open to high and generous ideals, will be able to restore beauty and truth to life and human relationships. Then this Jubilee time will truly be for all a "year of the Lord's grace", a Jubilee of vocation.

(Source: Message for the 37th World Day of Prayer for Vocations [May 14, 2000], issued September 30, 1999)