Prayers for Vocations II
I know I have already listed prayer for Vocations and yet I feel that I should post all the different ones because each one speaks about either friends, families, yourself or the community.
For some people it may be " Yes, I pray for Vocations but just not from my family". Some may feel that the person in their family may lose out in life or not be as happy as one who has a family. So, while they believe in prayers to foster a vocation it may be that of outside of my own family. You want the best for the person you care about and that is fully understandable. Yet, what is best just may be a vocation. Tomorrow I will be discussing my own questioning and doubts as well as my certainties and understandings. It is not an easy yes for many and it is not always an easy no either for people. This is why prayer is important as you discern and have people pray for you as well.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and continue in both your discernment and prayers.
Prayer #13
Creator God,
Life is your gift to me,
Through Baptism you invite me to share
the gift of my life in service to others.
Be with me as I choose each day to show
Your presence in our world.
Give me the courage and generosity to
respond to Your love, to Your call.
I pray especially for those who serve you as
Priests, Brothers, Sisters, Deacons and Lay Ministers.
Open the minds and hearts of many other
men and women that they may accept
Your challenge to build the Kingdom.
Loving God, you have made me in Your image and likeness,
and for this I shall praise You forever.
Through baptism Your invite me to serve as Your son Jesus served.
I offer You this day all that I have and all that I am
in union with His saving cross.
Father, in the power of the Spirit,
You send us forth to build up Your kingdom.
I pray especially for those whom You are calling
to serve the church as priests, deacons, sisters and brothers.
Help them to hear and answer Your call to discipleship.
The harvest is plenty, but laborers are few.
Please provide for us men and women
who will help to gather in a great harvest of souls.
I make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer #14
O loving and gracious God, Father of all, you
bless your people in every time and season and
provide for their needs through your providential
care. Your Church is continually in need of priests,
sisters and brothers to offer themselves in the service
of the gospel by lives of dedicated love. Open the
hearts of your sons and daughters to listen to your
call in their lives. Give them the gift of understanding
to discern your invitation to serve you and your
Church. Give them the gift of courage to follow your
call. May they have the spirit of young Samuel who
found fulfillment in his life when he said to you,
"Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." We ask
this through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
Amen.
Prayer #15
Loving God,
You speak to us and nourish us
through the life of this Church
community.
In the name of Jesus, we ask you to
send your Spirit to us so that men and
women among us, young and old,
will respond to your call to service and
leadership in the Church. We pray
especially, in our day, for those who
hear your invitation to be a priest,
sister, or brother.
May those who are opening their
hearts and minds to your call be
encouraged and strengthened
through our enthusiasm in your
service.
Amen.
Prayer #16
Father in heaven, you sent us your
only Son to redeem us and to build
your kingdom on earth. Please give
us the wisdom and strength we need
to follow His call. Grant to the faithful
a spirit of generosity, that Church
vocations may flourish. Bless our
priests with holiness and courage,
that they may lead your people to
Christ. Help all sisters and brothers
to fulfill their sacred promises and so
be effective signs of your kingdom.
Lord, invite more men and women
to your service. We ask this through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer #17
Loving God, the provider of all our needs,
we, your faithful people, ask that you bless this parish
and our Diocese with an increase of men and women
for priestly and committed ministry.
Provide from among us those who will lead and work with us
in priestly and consecrated service.
As you call, so may you also provide the context for listening
so that they may respond with generosity and joy.
Form our hearts so that we may be a people
given to Gospel living and generous for Christian service.
Help us all to discern and pursue our vocation in life
with strength and courage, making of us a priestly people.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, Your Son,
the priest and servant of our hearts. Amen.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us!
Prayer #18
Loving God, to be your prophet is my
desire, but too often I am more
concerned about the bottom line. I
want to bring your message to the
world as so many before me have done.
My heart leads me to you, but I'm not
always sure how to respond.
Let me know what it is you are calling
me to do and the life you are asking
me to live.
Give me the strength to share with
others who are in need of the blessings
with which you have enriched my life.
Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer.
Amen.
Prayer #19
Good and gracious God,
you have called us through Baptism to
discipleship with your Son, Jesus Christ,
and have sent us to bring the Good News of
salvation to all peoples.
We pray you to grant us more priests and
religious to build up your Church here within
the Archdiocese of _________________.
Inspire our young men and women by
the example of Blessed Junipero Serra to give
themselves totally to the work of Christ and
His Church.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen!
Prayer #20
Thank you, Lord, for all the many great and
wonderful gifts you give to our family.
Help us to live each day with joy and humility.
Keep us totally dedicated to serving you.
Teach us to recognize the many ways you
make your Spirit known.
Then help each of us to accept your gift - the
grace to answer your call to form, strengthen
and expand the Body of Christ.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Prayer #21
Father, hear the prayers of your people,
and bring to maturity the seeds you have sown
in the field of your Church.
May many of your people choose to serve you
by devoting themselves to the service
of their brothers and sisters.
Raise up worthy ministers for your altars
and ardent but gentle servants of the Gospel.
May those who follow in the footsteps of Christ your Son
grow, and provide by their way of life
a convincing sign of your kingdom
for the Church and the whole world.
May all the ministers of your Church
increase in numbers,
and persevering in their prayer,
perform their ministry with gentleness and concern
for others.
Father, keep them all faithful to the call of the Gospel
that the world may see in them
the living image of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who is Lord for ever and ever.
Amen.
Prayer #22
Lord Jesus, we pray to you for the Catholic priesthood.
Give us more priests, but most especially we ask you
to give us holy priests. Messengers of a truth
that is all-encompassing and eternal, holy priests
who know how to offer this truth
to the people of their own time and place.
Holy men for today, priests firmly rooted in the tradition,
yet imbued with the spirit of this age.
They have undertaken a mission in your name, Lord.
May the reflection of your power in them always make it clear
that they are your witnesses.
Grant that they may conform their lives to the paschal mystery
that they celebrate each day in the Eucharist.
May they sense in this mystery the anxious hunger of the world
and of their own brothers and sisters for salvation.
May they know, despite this hunger,
how to respect the spiritual freedom of others;
for it is your word which has given the world a taste for this freedom.
May they understand and speak the language of their own time.
And may they be careful never to compromise,
with opinions that come and go, the imperishable newness of your Gospel.
May they always keep through the dark wintry night of the soul
an obstinate hope for the springtime to come.
And when they meet those who persecute you,
may they always remember the road to Damascus
and the hidden ways of your providence.
Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 487
Reading 1
PHIL 2:12-18
My beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose,
works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 27:1, 4, 13-14
R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
That I may gaze on the loveliness of the LORD
and contemplate his temple.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Gospel
LK 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
No comments:
Post a Comment