Vocations Event Vespers Tuesday 24th Week
Saint Mary’s Seminary
September 17, 2024
Evening Sacrifice of Praise
We’ve gathered on this joyful evening to offer God our evening sacrifice of praise. In praying Vespers together, we pray the same prayer that we, your priests and seminarians, pledge to pray each day, for our own needs, but especially for you whom we serve and hope to serve. Tonight, as an expression of deepest thanks, we join together in prayer.
The centerpiece of Vespers is Mary’s Canticle of Praise, the Magnificat. The Magnificat speaks is first and foremost Mary’s inspired expression of amazement, gratitude, and fidelity, as with her cousin Elizabeth, she contemplates the birth of the Messiah and his forerunner. Yet, Mary’s song is every Christian’s song, as together we journey — laity, religious, clergy and yes our seminarians – towards the Kingdom of God where Christ is seated at God’s right hand.
My Soul, My Spirit Finds Joy
Just as Mary rejoiced, so too let our souls find joy in God our Savior, not earthly joy which evaporates, but the lasting joy of knowing the wonders of God’s love in our lives. Looking at the increasing numbers of vocations and the many other blessings God bestows upon each of us, we can say: “The Lord has done great things for us, we are glad indeed!” It is those great deeds of salvation that Jesus accomplished for us that these, your seminarians, aspire to proclaim and make present among us through the celebration of Holy Mass and the Sacraments. And just as we bow our heads at the mere mention of Jesus’ Name, so too these your seminarians look towards that day when they will bear witness as priests to the Holy Name of Jesus, the only Name in which salvation can be found, in heaven and on earth.
Mercy
Mary sings of God’s mercy, indeed his mercy from age to age. Following Christ means humbly opening our hearts to his mercy and then doing the works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal. Your seminarians are preparing to be ministers of mercy, those who know the joy of forgiveness in their own lives and those who will share that gift in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Strength of His Arm
He has shown the strength of his arm – Mary says – not an arm flexed in earthly might and anger, but the arms of Jesus outstretched, outstretched upon the wood of the Cross, the Cross by which you and I are saved. It is this mystery that is at the heart of faith and at the heart of the priesthood, as Christ’s one saving sacrifice is renewed daily in the celebration of Mass.
Lifting Up the Lowly
In a world still dominated by Caesar’s and Herod’s, we acclaim Christ as our God and King, for it is he who rescues the poor and the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, while the self-satisfied are turned away. Mary’s Canticle is thus like a forecast of the Beatitudes in which Jesus extols the poor, the hungry, the downtrodden, the persecuted, and in so doing paints for us his self-portrait. These, your seminarians, seek to model their own lives on the Beatitudes so as to bear priestly witness to Christ, by their preaching, their way of life, and their love of the poor and lowly.
Abraham and His Descendants
From the dawn of creation, to the calling of Abraham, through the long history of the Chosen People, and now to us who, in Christ, are Abraham’s descendants, God’s plan of salvation unfolds amid the turmoil of history. In these troubled times, we put our trust, our hope, in Christ, for God’s promise of mercy will not fail. It is these, your seminarians, who are preparing to be witnesses of hope.
So let our souls magnify the Lord, let our spirits find joy in God our Savior. His promise of mercy does not fade as ages roll along. His love is everlasting! Magnificat!