Fr. Tim Birney
Special to The Michigan Catholic

If there is one question I receive most frequently from people in my ministry as the Director of Priestly Vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit, it is the same one asked several years ago by the well read theologian, Fr. Karl Rahner, SJ: “Why would a modern man want to become or remain a priest today?”

Fr. Rahner finds the answer to this question, not in the vast world-wide social service that the Church provides, and not in the many ministries faithfully carried out each and every day by countless numbers of priests and laity. “Rather,” he says, “I still see around me living in many of my brother priests a readiness for unselfish service carried out quietly, a readiness for prayer, for abandonment to the incomprehensibility of God, for the calm acceptance of death in whatever form it may come, for the total dedication to the following of Christ crucified.”

While this is only one good answer amongst a multitude of good answers, it does highlight the “unselfish service” that is, or at least should be, the foundation of every vocation — especially the vocations of priesthood and consecrated religious life.

If there is one misunderstanding I encounter in my ministry, it is lack of appreciation that on the day of baptism, through water and the Holy Spirit, we became a son or daughter of God.

Another way of saying this is that all baptized men and women have a vocation.

Our primary vocation or call is to lead a life of “unselfish service” through holiness, reflecting for all to see, what it means to be a child of God.

The question then becomes, “How will I live out my baptism?” – as  married, single, in the priesthood, or in religious Life?

God loves each and every one of us uniquely and God also calls us to follow Him in the same manner. Do we have the courage to ask ourselves not “What do I want to do?” but rather, “What does God want me to do?”

It is a powerful question and one that is too seldom asked. If this seems like a daunting task, remember the words of Christ to his apostles, “Be not afraid!”

On January 9, 2011, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and it began National Vocations Awareness Week.

How fitting that we use this week-long celebration to engage in a deeper reflection on our Lord’s very own baptism in the Jordan River. I encourage all our young people, while celebrating the Eucharist this weekend to ask the Lord, “As your child, where are you calling me to serve you in ‘unselfish service?’”

Perhaps you will hear the answer: as a priest celebrating the sacraments with God’s people or as a religious walking with the people of God as their brother or sister.

Let this be a consistent question that often resounds in your heart.

Lastly, please remember to keep in your prayers all of our dedicated priests and Religious, our  44 Detroit seminarians, the many candidates, postulants, novices and most especially those still discerning their vocation.

Through your prayers, through your living out your faith, through your celebration of the sacraments, through your “unselfish service” to the Lord, perhaps in the near future the most frequent question I am asked will become, “Father, I feel the Lord might be calling me to the priesthood, can you help me discern my vocation?”       

---

 Fr. Tim Birney is director of priestly vocations for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Contact him at [email protected]  or by calling the vocations office at (313) 237-5875.