Priestly Vocation in Christian Families
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 18, 2019 at 01:00AM in Quotes
The blessing of Heaven upon a Christian family is the gift of a priestly vocation to one of its children.
It is the reward of the fidelity to God; it is the sure mark of such fidelity. There are families, where,
short of a special miracle of grace, a vocation never germinates, or if somehow it is there born, it
quickly withers and dies. Those are the families, where the usual atmosphere is repellent, to the
sweetness and comeliness of Christian life, where the example of parents so lowers the spiritual tone
of the child, that it banishes from his mind all supernal thought, from his heart all freshness of grace
and purity. In quest for vocation, we must first discover the Christian home, the Christian father and
mother. Granted to a parish, or to a diocese true Christian families, vocation will not be wanting.
They are the choice flowers of the well-cultivated garden, whose soil is rich, whose nutriment is the
descending dew of the skies. The Christian home is the nursery of vocations; other agencies - presbyteries,
colleges or seminaries - are the mere helpers to growth and development.
Source: Maine Catholic Historical Magazine 1916
