Jesus Wants You to Send It

Mount 2000

When you said “yes” to come on this retreat, you were already saying “yes” to Jesus’ invitation in today’s Gospel to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk. 6:31).

Now, if we’re honest, being packed in an arena with over a thousand people for a jam-packed three-day schedule of activities might not exactly be a “deserted place” for you to “rest a while” but you have come away from the world for these days to be with the Lord. And that is what’s important. It is good that you are here: to be with the Lord who wants to be with you.

We’ve been reading through Mark’s Gospel, and a couple weeks ago we heard Jesus appoint the twelve as Apostles—Simon-Peter, James and John, Andrew, you know them. Jesus tells the Apostles that they will do great things in his name, preaching and casting out demons. But in Mark’s Gospel Jesus makes clear his primary purpose in calling them and making them his closest co-workers. Mark says, “And he appointed twelve, to be with him…” (3:14). First and foremost, what defines the life of any disciple is their friendship with Jesus. Before we can ever know what Jesus wants us to do, we have to know what we are. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (Jn. 15:15-16).

Sometimes people my age and older talk about a ‘vocations crisis’ within the Church. There was a time when I think that was an accurate description of the fact that fewer men were becoming priests and fewer women becoming religious sisters. Perhaps in some ways that term still applies, but let me tell you, it’s very difficult to look out at you all and see a ‘crisis’ of anything.

In my ministry, every single young adult not married, ordained, or wearing a habit has discerned or is actively discerning the vocation God is calling them to—with all the options on the table. Across the country, even here in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, we’re seeing a record number of men in seminary and being ordained priests. Religious communities, too, can be picky about who they accept into the convent. So, I don’t think it’s a ‘vocations crisis’ per se, but I think the problem is that young people today don’t know how to discern. I’ve talked to many men and women who are actively discerning, but they don’t know what they’re doing. And that puts me in a difficult position because, I entered the seminary right out of high school at 17 with a barely a clue as to what I was getting myself into! Thankfully, I’ve had enough experience since then to gain a bit of wisdom, and what I find myself telling them time and again is this: God has already called you.

You see, the problem is that we wait around for vocations like we wait for college acceptance letters to come in the mail. And until that happens, we are nothing. But once the letter comes and we get into our favorite school, then we accept and we become what we’ve always wanted to be: a Towson Tiger, a Maryland Terrapin, a Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineer. (I had to, I work here).

In a similar way, people wait around for God to give them their vocation, and until he tells us what he wants us to be, we are nothing. Now, it’s true, we do need to wait for certain signs from God that indicate what he’s calling us to. But the point that I try to make, and the point that I want to make to all of you, is that you’re not nothing. You’ve already been called. You’ve already been accepted. You’re already in. God has already called you to a great and amazing vocation. God already has an incredible and fulfilling life in store for you and he has already begun that life in you. You don’t need to wait around for God to do something more. You need to lean into what God has already done. By your baptism, you became a disciple of Jesus: Jesus chose you from the world, took you to the mountaintop, called you to himself, declared you his friend, and committed himself to you for all eternity. That is done. What remains is only for God to reveal what specific form or shape your discipleship is meant to take. Vocation is the specificity of discipleship. That’s my point. If you want to know what Jesus wants for you—whether to be married, to be a priest, to be a religious sister or brother—then you have to know the one who calls you, who has made you his disciple, who calls you his friend: the Lord Jesus Christ. You are his.

Sometimes vocational discernment can feel like you’re stuck in neutral—neither moving forward or backward or anywhere at all. What I want you to remember that, in the Christian life, there is no neutral. You’re already in drive and Jesus wants you to put the pedal to the metal—and they told me that if I use a trendy saying you’ll all like me so here we go—Jesus wants you to “send it.” Jesus wants your discipleship to be a “full send.” How might a theologian define what “full-send-discipleship” looks like? Well, she wasn’t exactly a theologian, but Mary understood discipleship better than anyone else, so let her words be yours: “Let it be done to me according to your wo

rd” (Lk. 1:38). Being all-in on your discipleship means that every day and, in every circumstance, you say “yes” to God. That means that you’re all-in on charity—in what you say, in how you treat people, especially the poor, in how you think about yourself. That means you’re all-in on prayer—making time for God every day, constantly seeking deeper friendship with him. That means you’re all-in on virtue—always seeking after the good life and never settling for anything less.

I promise you this, if you’re all-in on your discipleship, you’ll figure out the vocation piece. It might take some time, but you’ll get there. What’s at least equally important, though, is that if you take your discipleship seriously, you won’t feel like your life is a waste of time until you get your vocation. Embrace the call the Lord has already gave you, and the challenge of being a disciple will push you and pull you to do incredible things with Christ and for Christ. And then, in the Lord’s good time, he’ll show you what form friendship with him will take next.

But for now, you are here. You are with the Lord in this not-so deserted place where you will get not-that-much rest. You are here as Jesus’ friend. You have said “yes” to his invitation to be here. Now say “yes” to that same invitation every day to be with him, as he has already said “yes” to you. Live in the space of Jesus “yes” to you, and you will find what it means for you to say “yes” to him and the strength to say “yes” completely, faithfully, and joyfully. God bless you.

Given February 8, 2025 in the Knott Arena at Mount St. Mary’s University