Vocation Sunday (Year A)

Many Chinese had and have mistaken Christianity for a Western religion, forgetting that Jesus was an Asian, a Jew. This is no historical accident. The Greeks, under Alexander the Great, had missionary zeal in spreading and building Greek culture wherever they went. Then came the Romans. After the Romans had embraced Christianity, the Church took up the baton, sending out missionaries to evangelize the world from Europe. In the East, only the Mongolians managed to build up a huge empire spanning across Asia and Europe. But their days were short and did not leave many footprints on civilization. The Chinese Empire had very strong cultural roots and had influenced her immediate neighbours. But her civilization has been very inward-looking, especially since Ming Dynasty. So, the Christian missionaries encountered few rivals on the global theatre. They only had the local or regional elites to deal with.
The rise of capitalism created an affluent life in the West. Church attendance began to decline. So was the number of people responding to God's call. On the other side of the globe, many young people enter the seminaries and convents. For the first time in history, Asians are able to send missionaries overseas, even back to Europe. Nowadays, there are an increasing number of cardinals from the Asian Pacific region. Perhaps one day, we will have a Pope of Asian descent. By then, the Asian face of Christianity may be restored. Of course, the Catholic Church is Catholic. We should focus more on our similarities rather than our differences. St. Paul once said,
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him (Romans 10:12).
We are familiar with the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John. Yet, Jesus also called himself the Door (John 10:9) before he called himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14). In fact, the gospel of John provides us with a rich repository of images of Jesus: the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Door (John 10:9), the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), the True Vine (John 15:1), the King (John 18:37) etc. Whichever image Jesus/John projects, it leads to one thing: through him, we may gain life.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10b).

My sweet Jesus, You came to bring us life. Yet, You do not do it all by Yourself but to invite many people to help You bring this life to all. I thank You and pray for Brian, my godson who is now seriously contemplating his vocation. May he find favour in Your eyes and grant him abundant grace to follow You through. Amen.