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WORLD DAY OF PRAYER
FOR VOCATIONS
April 25, 2010 |
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| Franciscan Vocation Office
Province of the Immaculate Conception | April 25, 2010 |
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INTERCESSION | |
ADD THIS INTERCESSION TO THE PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL:
For all those discerning their vocation as priests, deacons, sisters and brothers, especially to our Franciscan Province, that they will be be faithful to the voice of the Good Shepherd, we pray to the Lord. |
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PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS |
O Mary Immaculate, Patroness of the Americas
and Queen of the Order of Friars Minor,
we ask you to inspire humble and chosen souls
for a life in Christ and in the spirit of St. Francis.
With
Motherly care,
foster vocations to our Order and to our Province,
so that seraphic love, labor and sacrifice
will ever flourish in this land dedicated to your protection.
Amen. |
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Dear brothers,
Next Sunday, April 25, the Church marks the WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to promote vocations to our Franciscan way of life through prayer, conversation and fellowship.
I hope you find in this email some resources that you can use in your community and place of ministry to help us pray and promote vocations to our beloved Province.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance.
Fraternally,
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HOMILETIC SUGGESTION
Jesus says in our Gospel today, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me." Consider sharing in your homily today your own story of being called to a religious and/or priestly vocation. One of the most important things that we can do to encourage vocations is to tell our own stories; to make it personal. Take the time this Sunday to tell the people you minister to why you have taken up this call; why you are a Franciscan and perhaps a priest. When they recognize how you heard the voice of the Shepherd, they might come to recognize that voice speaking in their own lives too.
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MAKE CONTACT
When I ask the young men who come to our Vocation Discernment Retreats why they are there, the most common response is this: "Because you asked me."
We cannot emphasize enough the power of personal invitation when it comes to accepting a vocation from the Lord.
This week, perhaps you can recall at least one young man who you've thought might make a good religious or priest. Take the time to tell them. Speak to them, write a letter, send an email, take them out for dinner. You might be surprised with their response. |
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 VOCATION DISCERNMENT RETREAT - May 28-30
The Vocation Office will hold a Vocation Discernment Retreat Weekend on May 28-30 at St. Leonard's in Boston.
Please take the time to advertise this in your bulletin, on your website and other publications. And perhaps take the time to make a personal invitation to someone you think could benefit from this retreat.
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 Message of the General Minister: "I dream of a Franciscan life..."
ROME - During the 2009 General Chapter in Assisi, General Minister Jose Rodriquez Carballo, OFM, gave a rousing speach to the Provincials gathered there. The speach called, "It Is Time to Dream," is an excellent tool for discussion of vocations. Below are some excerpts:
I dream of a Franciscan life in which poverty does not generate so many arguments, but is a reality of the heart that gives rise to joy; in which obedience is not lived as struggle and resignation but as a passionate search for dialogue and discernment of the will of God; in which chastity and celibacy are lived with a heart open to all, generously, and thus joyful. I dream of a Franciscan life that is lucid, able to see far away, in order to see what others do not see, full of imagination and courage, able to commit itself in searching for alternative forms of life. I dream of a Franciscan life that, in the style of St. Francis, loves the Church with creative fidelity, and that is essentially paschal, that is, a sign, symbol, parable and prophecy of the Kingdom. I dream of a Franciscan life that is a prophecy of fraternity for all and, in the midst of a world torn by rivalries and violence of every kind, offers spaces for encounter, for welcome, for gratuity and festive celebration, with serene and joyful sharing. This is a Franciscan life that would be the unsettling memory of the vital desire sheltered in every person's heart, made to live with others, not around the edges of others.
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 Message of Pope Benedict for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations
ROME - Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has issued the following letter for this year's World Day of Prayer for Vocations:
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER FOR THE
47th WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
25 APRIL 2010 - FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The 47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, to be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday - 25 April 2010, gives me the opportunity to offer for your meditation a theme which is most fitting for this Year for Priests: Witness Awakens Vocations. The fruitfulness of our efforts to promote vocations depends primarily on God's free action, yet, as pastoral experience confirms, it is also helped by the quality and depth of the personal and communal witness of those who have already answered the Lord's call to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life, for their witness is then able to awaken in others a desire to respond generously to Christ's call. This theme is thus closely linked to the life and mission of priests and of consecrated persons. Hence I wish to invite all those whom the Lord has called to work in his vineyard to renew their faithful response, particularly in this Year for Priests which I proclaimed on the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars, an ever-timely model of a priest and a pastor.
In the Old Testament the prophets knew that they were called to witness by their own lives to the message they proclaimed, and were prepared to face misunderstanding, rejection and persecution. The task which God entrusted to them engaged them fully, like a "burning fire" in the heart, a fire that could not be contained (cf. Jer 20:9). As a result, they were prepared to hand over to the Lord not only their voice, but their whole existence. In the fullness of time, Jesus, sent by the Father (cf. Jn 5:36), would bear witness to the love of God for all human beings, without distinction, with particular attention to the least ones, sinners, the outcast and the poor. Jesus is the supreme Witness to God and to his concern for the salvation of all. At the dawn of the new age, John the Baptist, by devoting his whole life to preparing the way for Christ, bore witness that the promises of God are fulfilled in the Son of Mary of Nazareth. When John saw Jesus coming to the river Jordan where he was baptizing, he pointed him out to his disciples as "the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29). His testimony was so effective that two of his disciples, "hearing him say this, followed Jesus" (Jn 1:37).
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IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PROVINCE
FRANCISCAN VOCATION OFFICE
14 North Bennet Street, Boston, MA 02113
800-521-5442
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