Nurturing Vocations

“Your sharing and talk has helped us confirm the different things that we need to do to help nurture vocations” said Ate Lory, the leader of the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission.

Indeed it was an afternoon of affirming and confirming firstly our individual call as lay missionaries and highlighting different vital elements needed to nurture vocations as we shared with members of the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission (PCLM) at their Annual General Meeting of leaders. Reflecting on Luke 10:2 “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting”, the members of the PCLM were interested in ways to encourage more lay people to respond to God’s call as missionaries. In her presentation, Esther drew from the members the key elements of their own call to the mission and highlighted the importance of these elements in their efforts to nurture vocation. She also encouraged them to identify their core identity as PCLM to be able to communicate that clearly to those interested.

Reflecting on Christifidelis Laici, the apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II on the Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the world, the Church affirms the present urgency for a re-evangelization and our 'responsibility to foster the birth and growth of vocations...in the lay state, specifically directed to the missions" (#35). The vocation of lay missionaries is indeed a vocation that is needed in the Church and needs to be presented and fostered so that others may discover and respond to this particular call.

There was a question whether there is still a need for lay missionaries. Quoting the late Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in Asia, “The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give”, all agreed that this is still a big need, and that unless there is someone who will preach and share Jesus Christ and his Gospel, the thirst of the peoples of Asia will remain unquenched! As lay missionaries, our aim is primarily to share Christ and his Gospel.

We also shared our individual testimonies of how we responded to God’s call to be a missionary.

Domisiano and Caroline shared their story of encountering God and answering His call from the perspective of a married couple.

From our shared experiences, we concluded that the most effective promotion is the witness of our lives as missionaries, our prayer for more labourers, our passion for the Lord, and reaching out to others in love and inviting them to a deeper encounter with Jesus through ‘come and see’ experiences. The internet, media and publicity materials are then additional supports that would help stir and nurture the vocation in others.

We ended the session with a time of prayer, offering our lives anew to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to renew the members in their call and in their various mission fields. It was a blessed afternoon indeed, where we, ourselves, were refreshed by the time spent with brothers and sisters who were passionate to respond to the Lord as lay missionaries.

For more information on the Philippine Catholic Lay Mission, please visit their website http://www.philcatholiclaymission.com/index.php