“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

As I was preparing my homily for daily Mass recently, I was reflecting on these words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Our Lord’s statement reveals that a little faith doesn’t just go a long way, it also produces miracles. After all, it is impossible for a mulberry tree, or any other tree, to be planted in the sea!

But our faith can be shaken. A mustard seed is tiny and is easily lost if we don’t protect it. This is one of the reasons I continue to write this column. We need to be reminded that our faith is shared and we need to build one another up to keep up the fight. It is hard to be a Catholic in a land that has so few. It is hard to promote priestly vocations from our parishes when there are so many other forces in our culture that might distract young people from their calls. But it is a fight worth fighting, and with a little faith, God can work miracles through us!

As Joanna King reported elsewhere in this edition of the Mississippi Catholic, our 3rd annual Homegrown Harvest Festival was a great success, and I have come away from that experience more confident than ever that the Lord is going to do great things in our vocation department. Our POPS group (Parents of Priests/Seminarians/Sisters) continues to solidify with many of our parents supporting one another and coming up with great ideas for the coming year. I am also working with our diocesan chancery on new ways to engage Catholics throughout the diocese to help more people get involved in our vocation initiatives and in supporting our seminarians.

But the most important thing we can all do is pray. Please continue or begin to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life in our diocese. If everyone who reads this would pray regularly for this intention, I know that it would make all the difference. We ask for the intercession of Mary, Mother of Priests to nurture and protect the vocations of those who are discerning or who will discern the priesthood in the coming year.

The next time you attend Mass, I invite you to offer your Mass intention for an increase in vocations, or better yet, offer your Mass for a young man or woman you know in your parish who you think would make a great priest or religious. Some people ask me: how do I offer an intention at Mass? Well, when the gifts are coming up to the altar, in your mind’s eye ‘place’ your intention on the altar with the bread and the wine. God can work miracles with all that his people present offer to him in the Mass!

Thank you for your continued support of our mission for a Homegrown Harvest, let’s continue to build one another up so we can keep the faith because God is working and he will work miracles as long as we are open to his will for us!

– Father Nick Adam

If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.