Bishop leads Diocese’s Holy Hour for World Day of Prayer for Vocations

PARSIPPANY  A teacher in high school asked a young Roberta Reifsnyder if she ever considered becoming a religious sister. Her answer? “No way!” This sophomore was dreaming of a fulfilling career and loving family. Although not that interested, she later went with another woman on a discernment retreat sponsored by the Sisters of Christian Charity.

“I went [on the retreat] and stayed [in discernment],” said Sister Mary Amata Reifsnyder, now a Sister of Christian Charity in Mendham and known by her religious name. She told the inspiring story of her journey to religious life at a Holy Hour for World Day of Prayer for Vocations with Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney at St. Peter the Apostle Church May 6. She said the other young woman with her on retreat entered religious life a few years later. “My vocation didn’t come with signs or voices but with a gentle call sometimes as soft as my own heartbeat. I wanted this joy,” said Sister Mary Amata, who made final vows in 2020.

Today, a nurse at St. Joseph University Medical Center in Paterson, Sister Mary Amata offered her vocation story at the Holy Hour before that of Rev. Mr. Wade Trainor, a transitional deacon and a diocesan seminarian. He is scheduled to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders with six other men from Bishop Sweeney on Saturday, May 28 at 10:30 a.m. in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Paterson. The Bishop led and offered a reflection at the Holy Hour, sponsored by the diocesan Vocations Office to mark the 59th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, observed on “Good Shepherd Sunday,” this year held on May 8.

Churchgoers included some priests and religious but mostly lay people from children to seniors with a few young people present who are discerning God’s call — whether to consecrated life, married life or single life.

Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance on the altar of St. Peter’s, Bishop Sweeney prayed that young people and all those who are still discerning God’s call, “would have the courage to respond.

“We pray for a greater respect for the vocation of marriage and those who respond to your call to the single life,” said Bishop Sweeney, who prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who said, “Yes” to God to be the mother of the Savior, which “led her to Calvary and the Cross.” “We pray to know the peace that only you can give and that through our own vocations, we can be instruments of your peace,” said the Bishop.

The purpose of World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill the Lord's instruction to, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers” (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2). The faithful are asked to pray “that young men and women hear and respond generously to the Lord's call to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, societies of apostolic life or secular institutes.”

Sister Mary Amata said she peppered God with questions during her discernment process. One day, when she “was begging for clarity” about her path, she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. Then she prayed the words of Psalm 37: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

“I asked, ‘What did I desire?’ My heart cried out, ‘You, Lord,’ ” said Sister Mary Amata, who learned to find grace by living in the “present moment.”

“Our call is to a relationship with God. He is good and helps me every day to grow more and more into what he wants me to be. We can trust him. He will give us everything that we need,” she said.

Rev. Mr. Trainor admitted that he fears public speaking — but that there he was giving a talk in front of people.

“God provides us the strength to do difficult things,” Rev. Mr. Trainor told the congregation, saying, “Jesus has summoned you here tonight to speak to your hearts. Vocations are ways to glorify God by loving, trusting, and obeying him. God calls us to share in bringing his healing into the world.”

A cradle Catholic, Rev. Mr. Trainor was born into a faithful family of loving parents and three brothers who love him — blessings that God gave him from birth and that he did not earn. They were among the many people who helped with his vocation decision. He was inspired by his parish priests, who were “good examples of what it takes to be a good person,” and his oldest brother, who went most deeply into his faith. While a student at a Catholic high school, Rev. Mr. Trainor was “thinking through things” in life, when a teacher brought him closer to “Catholic traditions and the reasonableness of faith.

“Then I thought, ‘The only reasonable thing for me to do is to give up everything and go after Jesus,’” Rev. Mr. Trainor said.

In his reflection, Bishop Sweeney noted that Good Shepherd Sunday and World Day of Prayer for Vocations this year fall on the same day as Mother’s Day. He encouraged everyone to “help one another to hear, discern, and respond to God’s call to holiness and be saints.

“Take this opportunity to listen to him and be with him [in Adoration]. Let us continue to listen to his voice,” Bishop Sweeney said in his reflection.

Afterward, churchgoers filed into St. Peter’s parish hall for a small reception. There, Father Ed Rama, diocesan director of the Office of Vocations, who coordinated the Holy Hour, told the Beacon that it “reminds us all for the need to pray for vocations.

“We pray for the Lord to send us workers and for many graces from Eucharistic Adoration,” Father Rama said.