(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 07.02.2025).- From February 7-9, the Catholic Church in Spain held in Madrid the Congress of Vocations “Who Am I For?” Pope Francis sent a Message, which was read by Monsignor Bernardito C. Auza, the Nuncio in Spain.
Following is the Holy Father’s full Message.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters:
I wish to join the celebration of this National Congress of Vocations, which you have titled “Who Am I For? Assembly of the Called for Mission,” thanking all that work for vocations in the beloved land of Spain. In the first place, those that carry out this task sent by their Bishops or Superiors, whether working in formation centers or simply accompanying young people. Also those that, with the example of life, make visible and — I would dare say — contagious to give oneself with generosity and confidence to the plan that God has for each one of us. Without forgetting here those that with their prayer and sacrifice obtain abundant blessings from God so that the shepherds and sheep, we, the teachers and disciples configure ourselves to the measure of Christ’s Heart.
It made me happy that the motto of the Congress includes the words of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit. “Many times – the document says – we waste time wondering: ‘But who am I?’” However, we don’t get to the fundamental question: ‘Who am I for?’ Without a doubt, you are for God. Bur He also wants you to be for others, and He put many qualities, inclinations, gifts and charisms in you that are not for you, but for others (n. 286).
On rereading these words, there came to mind the scene of the rich young man who asks the Lord what he must do to attain eternal life. In His answer, the Lord makes us see, with a gentle pedagogy, that the goodness to which we aspire is not obtained by complying with requirements and reaching objectives and, although we have tried to realize all this since our youth, we will always be lacking something very simple, the gift of ourselves following Jesus in the proof of the greatest love.
It is what He asks the rich young man: “go, sell all you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me” (Mark 10:21). It would seem that such a claim makes reference to a determined type of specific vocation, only to those that feel called to embrace the radicalism of evangelical poverty. But it’s not true, we can hear it addressed to each one of us. We are all administrators of the gifts of grace and nature that the Lord has given us, and our talents are to put them in the bank and get interest, are goods to be sold, so that the fruit reaches others.
Let us think of DANA, which struck several regions of Spain at the end of October. A situation that questions us profoundly, and that leaves alive the idea “who am I for.” How many testimonies of courage, of solidarity, we can see in that context that what I have, what I am, has a concrete purpose: others. And when it is not so, the bitterness is seen clearly, the clamor of the earth and of God that claim from us: “Are you not responsible for your brother? (cf. Genesis 4:8-11). On the contrary, all that we were able to give, we find as precious jewels enshrined in the bowels of mercy of his divine Heart (cf. St. John Baptist of the Conception, Works III, 368).
It’s curious that the rich young man of the Gospel does not ask himself to whom Jesus is sending him, he is not concerned about what or how he will act when he is with them: he is concerned about his goods, what he has, what he has done, about what he hopes to get, no matter how much it seems he is seeking eternal life. All his world ends in him and this doesn’t satisfy him, what’s more, despite having so much, he goes away saddened because he is unable to take the step of donation. He was unable to invest in the essential business to which God was inviting him. How different is the testimony of all these young people that, as we have seen in the DANA disaster, in the welcome of migrants or the volcano of La Palma, are the first to get down to work.
Let us follow, in the discernment or our own vocation, that example, to understand the values of the spiritual or material goods that we are called to manage. Like that dishonest administrator in Saint Luke’s Gospel, let’s not “waste” them, using them to alienate others from us and from God, but let us seek to be able to say that we do not owe ourselves anything more than love (cf. Romans 13:8). So does the personality of the Gospel: “How much do you owe, not to me, but to the Lord? Take your bill” (cf. Luke 16:6), so that these goods are to unite and not to divide.
Let us not think that what we have is not sufficient, neither did the Apostles have “gold or silver” but, after receiving the Holy Spirit, they attempt to perceive the need of the poor paralytic of the Temple (cf. Acts 3:1-8), even above their expectations. They don’t give him money but invite them to “look at them,” to see the example of their poverty and, catching his attention, they ask him to get up from his prostration. Peter makes it clear to all: it was not them, but Jesus who wrought the miracle.
In another context, it is Philip who meets with a minister of the royal treasury that, despite coming to the Temple to adore the true God and being versed in the Scriptures, is unable to understand the mystery of the cross, which Isaiah narrates in the story of the Servant of Yahweh. In the same way as in the case of Peter, Philip, moved by the Spirit, is able to see the other’s need and, above his expectations, announces Jesus to him, in the Word and the Sacraments, attending to a poverty that isn’t material but spiritual (cf. Acts 8:27-35).
Brothers, in this Congress of vocations, let us ask for a look capable of perceiving our brother’s need, not in the abstract, but in the concrete of eyes that are fixed on us as those of the paralytic of the Temple. In the office, in the family, in the apostolate, in the service, take God there where He sends you, that’s our vocation. With the question “who am I for? “ we introduce ourselves in the mystery of God and His plan for us, but don’t be afraid and abandon yourselves to the Divine Will, the Spirit will surprise you at every step, making you descend from the train of life, as He did to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, to shorten the distances that separate you from God and your brother, to change your direction and find Jesus in the embrace of the one to whom you are sent.
May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin look after you. And do not forget to pray for me.
Fraternally,
FRANCIS
