Here and Now with Francis 12/8/15 (Church, Christ, calling, vocation, belonging, joy)
From a letter for World Day Prayer for Vocations 2016
All the baptized may experience the joy of belonging to the Church and rediscover that the Christian vocation, just like every particular vocation, is born from within the People of God, and is a gift of divine mercy. [...]
Each vocation in the Church has its origin in the compassionate gaze of Jesus. Conversion and vocation are two sides of the same coin, and continually remain interconnected throughout the whole of the missionary disciple’s life. [...]
The ecclesial dynamism of the call is an antidote to indifference and to individualism. It establishes the communion in which indifference is vanquished by love, because it demands that we go beyond ourselves and place our lives at the service of God’s plan, embracing the historical circumstances of his holy people. [...]
No one is called exclusively for a particular region, or for a group or for an ecclesial movement, but rather for the Church and for the world.[...] [full text]