It is not an easy task to discover our vocation because it is all about the calling of God in our life to do His will. Then, to find our vocation requires a process of discernment of discovering what God wants for us. Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, therefore, I would like to share three ways of discernment based on today's celebration.

The first one is to listen to the Good Shepherd. Today's Gospel says that the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd and follow him. In order to know God's will in our life, we need to practice deep listening of God's will. It is not easy and it requires a great effort to create external and internal silence. Nowadays we are threatened by a lot of noise and distractions which makes difficult to concentrate on God's voice coming to us in unexpected ways, hence, deep listening is accompanied by the awareness of what is happening around us to be ready to identify when God is talking to us.

The second way is to take courage to risk for God’s promise. This is the title of Pope Francis' message for this year on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Jesus called his apostles to become "fishers of man," a calling to something greater than just fishers. This is God's promise which demands the courage to risk making a decision. 

Finally, I would like to quote St. Francis Xavier: "It is not the actual physical exertion that counts toward one's progress, nor the nature of the task, but the spirit of faith with which it is undertaken." The third way is a strong spirit of faith. The discernment of our vocation is not about knowing what we're going to do in the future, but the openness of knowing God's will through the activities that we're doing right now. Consequently, we discern our vocation by our commitment to our daily activities by a strong spirit of faith.

I wish you a happy Good Shepherd Sunday and Day of Prayer for Vocations.