Joke: Little Tommy was so impressed by his oldest sister’s wedding that he announced it. “I want to have a wedding just like Linda had.” “That sounds great,” said his father. “But whom will you marry?” Tommy announced: “I want to marry Grandma because she loves me and I love her.” “You can’t marry grandma,” his father said. “Why not?” Tommy protested. “Because she is my mother.” “Well,” reasoned Tommy. “Then why did you marry my mother?”

Behind any vocation, especially the vocation to the priesthood and religious life is always a mysterious hand of God leading and guiding us. A boy was so impressed with his sister Matrimony's vocation that he wanted to have a wedding Mass exactly like his sister had. However, the one that he wanted to marry was impossible, but it did portray what true love is. How do we discover true love? And how do we respond to it?

In today’s first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter preached to the crowd on the Pentecost, exhorting them to be baptized and received the Holy Spirit. What encouraged him to preach to the crowd and invited them to be baptized and received the Holy Spirit if it’s not his true love for the Lord? The true love that the Lord Jesus implanted in him slowly little by little. For example, the words of Jesus reminded him not to think with earthly thought and rebuked him to get behind him when his thought was earthly; his words also reminded Peter of his betrayal; and his words strengthened him when he entrusted him with the key of heaven and earth. Young brothers and sisters, the words of Jesus sometimes speak to us through a moment or many moments of clarity deep in our spirit during Mass, retreat, youth event, in school, at work, in our friends, or even in our family members. The question is: How do we respond to the Word of God? Just as Peter reflected the Word of God throughout his three years with Jesus so to be able to testify to the world the passion, the death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are invited, especially our young brothers and sisters, to reflect on the words of Jesus to discover their call in their lives.

Story: In growing up, I was an altar server. I loved to become a priest because he looked so cool acting on the altar with all the eyes focused on him. As soon as I graduated from high school, my pastor introduced me to go to study for the priesthood. I was rejected by the government because everything had to be approved by the government since it was a communist country. Four years later, I came to America under the sponsorship of my oldest sister. Before I left Vietnam, my spiritual director gave me a recommendation letter for studying priesthood in the United States of America. However, I was rejected again for the simple reason that I didn’t have a high school or GED diploma in America. Perhaps, because I couldn’t speak the language and because I couldn’t listen that’s why a vocation director, who happened to be the son of this parish and a present bishop of Brownsville, Bishop Daniel Flores, refused to accept me as a seminarian for the diocese.

Beautiful Psalm, Psalm 23, that we’ve heard today reminds me of the fear, the unknown ahead, and the impossible thing to think about getting a GED at the age of twenty-two with zero English. The Psalm said, “The Lord is our shepherd” who will lead us and guide us through even in the dark valley. After a year of living and working in America with a Ph.D. that I received shortly after four months living in America, I joined a school by the name Gary Jobs Corp Center in San Marcos, TX, a school like a jail with a fence around the school and security was all over the property. Just in case you wonder what was my Ph.D., my Ph.D. was pizza home delivery. Because of this Jobs Corp Center, I achieved my GED diploma after fourteen months of study as Electrician and GED. I once again decided to come back to this diocese to apply to study for the priesthood after I had my GED. Just as the Psalmist experienced distress, fear, and anxiety, even when he walked in the dark valley, he feared no evil because the Lord was at his side; I was encouraged and strengthened by the Lord to come back to apply for the priesthood again even though I was rejected before. Throughout my vocation to the priesthood, I have learned to discover the inner peace, where we hear Jesus best, and then trustingly respond to his call.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is the Good Shepherd, those who hear his voice will follow him. How do we hear his voice if it’s to have a quiet and prayer life? There are four stages of prayer, Anthony De Mello once said. First, I talk you listen; Second, you talk I listen; Third, nobody talks, just listen; Fourth, nobody talks, nobody listens just Silence. Young brothers and sisters and to all of us, can we spend thirty minutes of silence a day to rest in the Lord after a long day of work, of school, or whatever it is? How can we listen to the Word of God, and allow the Word of God touches our inner being when we cannot quiet ourselves and retreat ourselves away from all the busy activities of these earthly offerings? The decision is yours.