National Vocation Awareness Week, celebrated Nov. 2-8, 2025, is an annual celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.
“Do whatever he tells you.” This line from the Gospel of John remains one of my favorite lines from Scripture. I love that scene in the series “The Chosen.” After Jesus has called a few of his disciples, he is invited off the beaten path to a wedding in Cana. As they travel there on one of their first excursions together, the disciples are full of excitement in anticipation of their time with Jesus and the wedding celebration to come. Along the way Jesus tells them that the most powerful person he knows will be there. They think this means the most religious and political figures. He simply responds, “My mother.”
Every vocation is, in some sense, a response to this “most powerful person Jesus knows.” We hear her firm, feminine and compelling voice echo in our hearts saying, “Do whatever he tells you.”
The interaction between Jesus and Mary and the whole story at the wedding feast at Cana is not only a guide for every Christian, but in particular, it is a guide for our hearts as we pursue the particular way that Jesus calls us to give our lives away.
“A vocation is the place where our own need to give and the needs of the world and the Church align.”
A vocation is born out of our need. Just as the servants had a desperate need for wine, so each of us has a desperate need in our hearts to give ourselves away to something greater. This desire can get lost in our culture and in challenging moments.
A vocation is the place where our own need to give and the needs of the world and the Church align. A vocation is always Marian. We need to hear the voice of Mary pointing us to Jesus as a reminder that he is worth listening to and following with our whole lives. So often I hear someone tell their vocation story and there is a familiar line, “I began praying the rosary every day…”
A vocation is always centered in the person of Jesus. Only by truly following him, knowing that “his time has come and now is the time of salvation,” are we able to know this for ourselves. In this, we experience the Kingdom of God in our own lives as we seek to imitate his example of self-giving.
I pray that this Jubilee Year of Hope bears much fruit for our diocese. I feel there is a movement beginning this year as we reflect on the legacy of Pope Francis and the guidance of Pope Leo XIV. His first homily as pope fell on Good Shepherd Sunday. He emphasized the need to listen, “My sheep listen to my voice.”
As we continue in the All Things New planning process, we are aware of the needs of our local Church at this time. I encourage each of us to be aware of our own needs: to listen, to follow and to give. Keep praying the rosary. Let your own heart guard those words from our Lord’s Mother, “Do whatever He tells you.”