Diocesan vocations director Father Richard Rocha told the fifth graders that he was a football coach at both the college and the high school levels before he responded to his call to the priesthood.
He introduced seminarians Michael Leeper, who told the fifth graders he heard the call in the U.S. Navy, and Sean McCaffery, who said he had a Hollywood acting career going, including a part in a Hannah Montana video, when he responded to his call.
God may be calling any of the fifth graders to religious life, to married life, or to single life. But he is calling them to something, the priests and religious told the fifth graders.
“Don’t be afraid to listen to his dreams for you,” Sister Mary Clare said. “You’ll be amazed.”
The fifth graders got the message, as well as learning about the lives of priests, religious brothers and sisters.
“We learned what it is like to be a sister,” said Isabel Flores, of St. Peter School in Kansas City. “It means you are married to God.”
“Being a priest is fun, but sometimes it can be sad when people die,” said Xavier Lamros of Nativity of Mary School in Independence.
“We learned there is a difference between nuns and sisters,” said Madison Clark of Our Lady of the Presentation School in Lee’s Summit. “Sisters are more missionary, and more active in the community. Nuns are more cloistered and they pray a lot.”
“If you pray and listen to God,” said Emilie Connors of Presentation, “God will tell you your mission in life.”
Bishop Robert W. Finn, in his homily at Mass that ended each day, told the fifth graders, that it isn’t always easy to hear God’s voice through all the distractions and noise of living.
“We have to know which voices to follow, which paths to follow,” he said.
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“We have to listen to him in our hearts. We have to listen to him in the Word of God. We have to listen to him in the teachings of the church, and we have to listen to him in our prayers,” the bishop said.
“Sometimes we just need to be quiet with God in prayer,” he said. “If we do that more and more, we can recognize God’s voice calling us.”
Bishop Finn said time spent in prayer will help a young person recognize the voice of God just as easily as they recognize their best friend’s voice or a parent’s voice immediately over a telephone.
“We learn to recognize the voices of people we care about and love immediately,” he said.
“We need to spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ so we can begin to recognize his voice,” Bishop Finn said. “This is the voice that really matters, the person who loves us and cares for us through and through. We have to learn to listen to Our Lord, Jesus Christ. He will call you.”
Bishop Finn asked the fifth graders to pray for him, and he promised to pray for them as well.