Fulton Sheen's Insight on Vocation

Sheen has some interesting insights into the dearth of vocations even in his time, which i think is even relevant today:

He says that we advertise ourselves with the thrill and feel of life in the congregation.What he says is that Many young people feel called to religious vocation but they do not find challenge in it because it does not present the element of sacrifice in it. Young people love sacrifice and feel challenged by it. According to the statistics that he mentions - he says that many of them are drawn by the sacrificing and mortified priests.

Christmas tells us that God became man. This states the fact that He became one like us with flesh and blood. We are embodied beings, tangible and endowed with sensory knowledge. Why there is a dearth in vocations? This answer can be partly found in our own body itself. In the Bible we read, "You are not your own body, you are bought for a price." That price was paid by Christ on the Cross. He was a sacrifice and the sacrificed at the same time. There was no separation. Today we have not properly understood our own body. We remain an enigma to ourselves - "a mysterium tremendum". Many young men and women are led astray in the aspect of chastity. Viktor Frankl would say that when there is meaninglessness, an inner void is being created and to fill this inner void - depression, addiction and aggression take their place.

Few questions that props up in my mind are - how are we presenting ourselves as persons? Are we thoroughly convinced of our role as a priest-victim? We are not social workers but called apart to partake in the saving mission of Christ. 

It is St. John Bosco who said, "A Priest is a blessing to the family". Yes indeed, A priest is a blessing not only to the immediate family but to the family of whole humanity. Just think of the Eastern wisdom, "while you act, it has its resonance and impact on all".