‘United in faith, we can do many great things’

I will never forget this year’s iRace4Vocations. Not only was it my first time in helping to lead and run this event, but the weather for the day was not as cooperative as I had hoped. Regardless of the challenges, we had a beautiful Mass where we prayed for an increase of vocations, especially for more priests and religious brothers and sisters here in our Diocese. We had a great turnout from the faithful in our Diocese who braved the elements to come together, asking the Lord to send more laborers to His vineyard. 

The Mass is always the highlight of the day, and as the sun came out, God gave us that time to pray together. I was so happy to see such a great number of people there. Our Knights of Columbus helped in leading our entrance procession, and they were followed by our seminarians, a good number of our priests and Bishop Dennis Sullivan. Everything seemed to be working out just fine as we began the great celebration. 

Thankfully, the bad weather did hold off for the whole Mass, but as we began to prepare for the race and picnic, things began to take a turn for the worse. We read in the Gospel of Matthew: “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew and buffeted the houses. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.” (7:24-25) These words came to my mind as the storm clouds soon were over us. I really thought it was going to end the day on a sour note as people began to run for cover. 

As I made my way to the registration tables, my thoughts were not on the bright side of things. However, I was soon amazed at what I saw. Volunteers were literally holding down the tents as the winds blew and the hail and rain fell. This is an image I will never forget. They were not going to let things fall apart, and in the mess of the storm, they continued to serve and worked together to keep the day going. This was one of the most beautiful things I witnessed that day, as I saw everyone coming together to help and to serve. They had faith in what we were doing, and I was so humbled by their great witness and their example of going above and beyond to keep things organized and moving, even in these difficult and trying circumstances. 

I learned many lessons during this year’s iRace4Vocations, but this was the most important: Nobody can do it all by themselves. We need God, and we need the foundation of our lives to be our faith. We will encounter those storms in our lives, and we need our faith in God to help us endure and overcome. We also need the support and help of our brothers and sisters, who also help to keep us steady and faithful during uncertain times. When we come together united in faith, we can do so many great things. 

I am so thankful for all of the help and prayers we had for our iRace4Vocations. Even though it was a little disappointing to cut things short, it was a victory in the end as we celebrated the Mass and prayed together for an increase of vocations. It was a blessing to be with the people of our Diocese, as their love and faith were felt in such a strong way, especially as we huddled together under our tents. I pray our next iRace4Vocations will have that same spirit, just without the wind, hail and rain. 

Father Adam Cichoski is director of vocations for the Diocese of Camden.