By Father Rodnev Lapommeray

Recently, the youth ministry of St. Sebastian’s parish, Woodside, Queens, embarked on two trips to encourage young people to deepen their faith and discern well their God-given vocations.

First, on the eve of All Saints’ Day, along with the youths of Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians parish, also in Woodside, we visited the Little Sisters of the Poor Novitiate House for night prayer, preaching and fellowship.

We learned about the lives of some of the newly canonized saints, such as St. Junipero Serra, a priest who evangelized southwestern U.S., and Ss. Louis and Zelie Martin, the married parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and how they all lived lives of holiness in their respective vocations.

We were able to meet and interact with the Little Sisters who always exude the joy of their vocation to religious life. It was great to see them because they once a year they visit our parish and St. Sebastian’s School annually conducts a food drive for the residents of the Queen of Peace Nursing Home they run.

During the All Saints’ Day Vigil, one of our young high school men and parish altar servers, Patrick Dioso, 15, proclaimed the reading for the whole church from the First Letter of St. John.

From both the reading and the preaching, Dioso was touched by the message that “God is love.”

He was also moved by “learning of the Christian faith” and those saints who followed their vocation – their universal call – to holiness.

Then, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we traveled to the Immaculate Conception Center where college seminarians and pre-theologians receive their formation to become priests. We watched an interesting video on faith, prayed during the Vocation Holy Hour, and enjoyed time with other young people from around the diocese.

One of our high school altar servers, a graduate of St. Sebastian’s School, Kevin Martinez, 15, was impressed by “how beautiful the architecture of the [chapel] was.” The message that stuck with him from watching the video where a priest rapped about Christ was that young people “should not be afraid” to express their belief in Jesus through different cultural expressions.

He especially appreciated how the Holy Hour was conducted, with the lights off and all the spotlight focused on Our Lord Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament.

“You couldn’t get distracted,” he recalls because everything focused your attention to Jesus on the altar.

Patrick Dioso also enjoyed the Vocation Holy Hour. He liked the opportunity to interact with other youth and feels that “young people should [encourage] their friends and family” to attend spiritual events like it. Summing up the message about vocations he learned, he said, “When it is God’s time, He will show you the path to your vocation.”

Father Lapommeray is the parochial vicar at St. Sebastian parish.