Sixth-graders told to be like clay in the Potter’s hands
About 625 youngsters from all over the diocese took part in 28th annual Sixth Grade Vocation Day at cathedral
God wants to use everything — the good, the bad, the ugly, the strong and the weak — to build up His kingdom.
The key is to yield to the gentle movements of His fingers.
“We want to be like clay in the hands of the Potter,” Sister M. Karolyn Nunes FSGM, vocation director for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George, told more than 600 children at this year’s Sixth Grade Vocation Day in Jefferson City.
“God is good and gentle, and His plans are to make us happier than we could imagine,” she said in her keynote talk.
Sponsored by the diocesan Vocation Office, Sixth Grade Vocation Day has been drawing Catholic students and their chaperones together at the Cathedral of St. Joseph each spring since 1990.
The purpose is to remind the youngsters that God calls them through baptism to be holy and has given each of them a unique vocation for living out that call.
The surest way to find fulfilment is to discern and pursue that vocation — be it to marriage, Priesthood, the Diaconate, religious life, or committed single life — through prayer and action.
This year’s Sixth Grade Vocation Day theme was “Lord, You are the Potter, we are the clay.”
In addition to Sr. Karolyn’s keynote and another by Father Paul Clark of St. Patrick parish and the Newman Center in Rolla, participants got to hear from people with various vocations — including Bishop W. Shawn McKnight.
“What a great, profound mystery it is to know that God has a specific vocation for each and every one of you!” the bishop stated in his homily at Mass. “He has you in mind! So to what extent are you willing to say yes to the Lord?”
Worth their salt
Participants took turns playing games such as “Vocation Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Vocations.”
Boys and girls gathered separately for a session called “To Tell the Truth.”
For the boys, a priest and four other men sat behind a partition, out of sight, while the young people asked questions.
A religious sister did the same with four other women for the girls.
The object was to ask the right questions in order to figure out which man was the priest and which woman was the sister.
Questions included: “What’s your favorite Scripture verse?” “When did you first hear a call to your vocation?” “What’s your favorite God movie?” “What’s your favorite religious song?” and “How many hours a week do you spend in church?”
Students from Sacred Heart High School in Sedalia performed a skit in which they argued over the value of being the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).
“Salt adds flavor to everything we eat.”
“Yeah, well you can rub salt in wounds, and it can really hurt.”
“Sometimes we need to be salty, like when things are not right and we need to take a stand for what we believe. ... Jesus wants us to add flavor to our lives and to the lives of others.”
Inquiring minds
Bishop McKnight answered students’ questions during a break-out session in the cathedral.
Most were about his growing up, the various symbols of his office, what he likes to do when he’s not working, how he became a priest and how he became a bishop.
“I only found out that I was chosen to be a bishop when the Pope’s ambassador called me and asked me if I would accept the nomination to be bishop of Jefferson City,” he told them.
Then, he couldn’t even tell his mother about it until Pope Francis announced the appointment 10 days later.
Ways of praying
Sister Julie Brandt SSND, associate superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese, led a session on prayer and discernment.
“If we’re to be disciples and followers of Jesus, we have to be in relationship with Him,” she said. “And we enter that relationship through prayer.”
She said prayer is essential in discerning what God wants, and that there’s a big difference between saying prayers and leading a prayerful life.
She invited each student to work with a small piece of modeling clay in order to understand the reference to God as the potter.
One sixth-grader noticed that the clay got softer the longer she held it.
“Just like when we pray, we become softer and more malleable in God’s hands,” said Sr. Julie.
Another noted that the clay was getting stuck to her fingers.
“Just like how God loves us so much, we become a part of Him,” Sr. Julie replied.
She talked about several ways to be drawn into prayer, including the use of Scripture, journaling, artwork and contemplation.
She invited the students to clear their minds and spend three minutes in silent, contemplative prayer.
“They all admitted that it was probably the three longest minutes of their life,” she said afterward.
A crate of thunder
Father Emmanuel Chinedu, a base chaplain at Whiteman Air Force Base in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, said his is “a vocation within a vocation.”
“The Priesthood and the military are separate callings, and for a priest to work in the Air Force means that he is engaging in a different life occupation in order to serve the spiritual needs of our active duty airmen and their families,” he said.
A student asked him what is job is in the Air Force.
“My job is to be a priest!” he said. “I perform the same priestly duties as the pastor in your parish.”
Although he as a noncombatant has a security detail while deployed overseas and does not carry a firearm, Fr. Chinedu must undergo routine computer-based trainings (CBTs), hands-on training, professional military education, physical training and an annual physical fitness test.
He has served in two overseas deployments and will begin a third one soon.
Several students convinced him to try to do 60 pushups in a minute. They were amazed when he dropped to the floor and cranked out one per second.
The Lord provides
Sister Elizabeth Youngs SCL, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools, recalled how spending time with sisters while she was growing up helped her realize that she wanted to be like them.
She talked about how important it is not only to talk to God in prayer but to listen to Him.
A Sister of Charity of Leavenworth, she explained the promises or vows most religious sisters take — poverty, chastity and obedience.
She reminded the students that they were baptized into the life of Jesus Christ, Who was anointed priest, prophet and king. Therefore, they are to pray with confidence, speak with authority and lead with compassion.
Father Dylan Schrader, a priest of the diocese, recalled how surprising and awkward he felt when he first began to realize that God might be calling him to Priesthood. It took him over a year to talk to his parents about it.
He said a seminary is “a community of people who are thinking about it, a community of people who are interested in trying to live a good and holy life and helping each other.”
One thing that bothered him was what he’d say to a family experiencing a crisis.
Shortly after he was ordained, he was summoned to a hospital to minister to a woman who was close to death, then to her grieving family.
The woman had been away from the Church for most of her adult life.
“God allowed me to be there at that crucial point at the end of her life, to share with her the divine grace of the sacraments,” said Fr. Schrader. “And my big fear about not knowing what to say simply didn’t matter.”
Trust in God’s grace
At Mass, Bishop McKnight acknowledged that it’s sometimes difficult to say yes to God. But God takes what is hard, even painful, and uses it to bring people closer to Himself.
“God knows what will happen and what could happen with His grace, if we simply trust in Him,” the bishop said. “So we have stay connected to Jesus, Who gives us all the graces we need to bear abundant fruit in life.”
He encouraged the sixth-graders never to forsake the grace of the sacraments, especially reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.
He thanked all the sixth-graders, their chaperones, the volunteers and all who helped organize the event.
He also congratulated Father Gregory Oligschlaeger, the diocese’s vocation director, who is celebrating his 25th priestly anniversary this spring.
