Vocation day has been one of the highlights of Mt. Carmel School celebration of the Annual Catholic School’s Week. Last Wednesday, led by His Excellency Ryan P. Jimenez, the clergy, religious and some lay faithful visited the classrooms of students from 3rd to 12th grade to speak about vocation.
Students listened attentively as priests and the religious sisters shared their journey from first hearing the ‘call’ to follow God, to the sometimes rough but joy-filled period of formation and discernment and finally to a life-fulfilling ministry of the priesthood and or religious life.
Students also had a chance to have a glimpse on the marriage and family life from the wonderful experiences of the married couples who shared how grateful they were to God for guiding their marriage and their family through many difficulties and challenges. These lay faithful are currently active in the different ministry in their respective parishes and they also impart to the students the joy of serving God either as Eucharistic ministers, lectors or in the choirs.
The vocation talk was done in the respective grade levels to make the setting more interactive and to engage the students to ask questions about priesthood or the religious life. Some 10th grade students shared how hearing the experiences from the priest and from the married couple helped them to think and consider on ‘what God wants for them’. Most of the students if not all have their ideas on what they want to be someday or what their parents wants them to be but most of them have never actually consider on ‘what the will of God’ is for them.
The purpose of these vocation talks is to helped young people to open their horizon and make them aware that God is the one ‘calling’ each person to follow him in a particular vocation the God designed for them. This also gives the students and opportunity to consider whether God is calling them to the priesthood or to the religious life.
After the vocation talk in individual classrooms, the whole school community gathered in the school gym for a special tribute to honor Bishop Ryan for his many contributions and support to MCS ever since he was a priest and even now as the second bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. Members and representative of Saipan Municipal Council presented the plaque containing the special resolution adapted by the council.
Bishop Ryan in his remark, encourages the school community to promote vocation. “Our diocese will collapse if there are no vocations coming in our Catholic School”, he said. He then asked the students if there are any who would like to be priests of religious sisters and many young students enthusiastically stood up and raised their hands to the delight and applause of everyone. “There is hope then”, Bishop Ryan commented after. “There is hope for our diocese because of your vocations.”
