Vocation Awareness Week November 2 - 8
National Vocation Awareness Week (NVAW) is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations. Each day I will be posting some prayers that focus on Vocations as well as the readings for the day. I will also talk on discernment and what we each can do to help promote Vocations.
Today I just ask that we pray that more people consider this as an option in their lives. To many today do not even think about this or pray about a vocation to the priesthood, religious life or diaconate. In the fast passed over stimulated world the calling can be lost among the daily living and sounds of life. Hearing God is harder not because He is not speaking but because we are not hearing. We are not taking the time to stop and turn down the world to listen or pray. If as adults who lived lives where there was not as much noise going have a hard time hearing God, How do we expect those who are growing up with all that noise and know no different to hear God?
Praying helps. Believe me it does. Knowing that people are praying for me and my vocation is great. What also has helped is not just that they are praying for me and my vocation but they are praying for whatever that vocation is. There is not pressure of people praying for me to be a Priest but praying that I am able to discern what that vocation is and that I am open to whatever that vocation will be. That is so very important because I do not feel I would be letting people down if it is not the Priesthood for my vocation. That they are praying that I come to realize God's will in my life and my vocation. If you know someone is discerning this life, let them know you are praying for them and you will continue praying for them. I go to a group that prays the Rosary once a month for Vocations and it is great knowing this group is taking time to pray for vocations. It is a great thing to do and tell people that you are doing it.
Thank You for all your prayers and please continue as we find what God is calling us all to. Below is just some prayers that you can pray. Please share them with others as well.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may we pray for all vocations.
Prayer #1
Parents Prayer for Vocations
Almighty and eternal God,
in your unfailing love you provide
ministers for your Church.
We pray for those whom you call
to serve the Church of ___________
as priests
Inspire in them a generous response.
Grant them courage and vision to
serve your people
May their lives and service call your
people to respond to the presence
of your Spirit among us
that, faithful to the Gospel and
hope of Jesus the Christ, we may:
announce glad tidings to the poor
proclaim liberty to captives,
set prisoners free
and renew the face of the earth.
Prayer #2
O God, Father of all Mercies,
Provider of a bountiful Harvest,
send Your Graces upon those
You have called to gather the fruits of Your labor;
preserve and strengthen them in their lifelong service of you.
Open the hearts of Your children
that they may discern Your Holy Will;
inspire in them a love and desire to surrender themselves
to serving others in the name of Your son, Jesus Christ.
Teach all Your faithful to follow their respective paths in life
guided by Your Divine Word and Truth.
Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
all the Angels, and Saints, humbly hear our prayers
and grant Your Church's needs, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Prayer #3
Loving and Generous God,
it is You who call us by name
and ask us to follow You.
Help us to grow in the Love
and Service of our Church
as we experience it today.
Give us the energy and courage
of Your Spirit
to shape its future
Grant us faith-filled leaders
who will embrace Christ's Mission
of love and justice.
Bless the Church of ______________
by raising up dedicated and generous leaders
from our families and friends
who will serve Your people as Sisters,
Priests, Brothers, Deacons and Lay Ministers.
Inspire us to know You better
and open our hearts
to hear Your call.
We ask this through our Lord.
Prayer #4
Loving God, you call all who believe in you
to grow perfect in love by following in the footsteps
of Christ your Son.
Call from among us more men and women
who will serve you as religious.
By their way of life, may they provide a convincing sign
of your Kingdom for the Church and the whole world.
We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Gracious and loving God, help the
men and women of our parish to hear the
call to serve in the Archdiocese of ____________.
Our needs are great and our people
thirst for your presence.
Open the hearts of many, raise up
faithful servants of the Gospel, dedicated,
holy priests, sisters, brothers and deacons,
who will spend themselves for your people and their needs.
Bless those who are serving now
with courage and perseverance.
Grant that many will be inspired by their
example and faith.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer #5
He said to them "Come and See."
They came and saw where he was staying (John 1:39).
God of all nations, we are most grateful
for the first Catholic missionaries and explorers who came to ______________.
As strangers in a strange land they brought with them countless skills,
talents and traditions, but their greatest treasure was their faith.
May the good News of Jesus Christ, which molded and shaped their lives,
continue to mold and shape our lives today.
Bless our diocese with men and women
who will follow in their footsteps to serve the Church
as religious brothers, sisters, priests, and deacons.
Lord Jesus Christ, help to hear your call to "Come and See."
Prayer #6
Hail Mary, full of grace;
all generations call you blessed.
Hail Mother of God; when asked by the angel
to bear the Son of the Most High,
filled with faith, you responded:
"Let it be done unto me."
Holy Mother of Jesus, at the wedding feast at Cana,
you prompted your Son to perform his first sign.
Be with us as we discern our life's work
and guide us in the way we are called to follow
in the footsteps of your Son.
Holy Mother of the Savior, at the foot of the cross
you mourned the death of your only Son.
Bless and embrace the loving parents of all priests,
deacons, brothers and sisters.
Holy Mother of the Good Shepherd,
turn your motherly care to this nation.
Intercede for us to the Lord of the harvest
to send more laborers to the harvest
in this land dedicated to your honor.
Queen of Peace, Mirror of Justice, Health of the Sick,
inspire vocations in our time.
Let the word of your Son be made flesh anew
in the lives of persons anxious to proclaim
the good news of everlasting life.
Amen.
Monday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 485
Reading 1
PHIL 2:1-4
Brothers and sisters:
If there is any encouragement in Christ,
any solace in love,
any participation in the Spirit,
any compassion and mercy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also everyone for those of others.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 131:1BCDE, 2, 3
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O LORD, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted
my soul like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap,
so is my soul within me.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
O Israel, hope in the LORD,
both now and forever.
R. In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.
Gospel
LK 14:12-14
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.
He said to the host who invited him,
“When you hold a lunch or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters
or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors,
in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.
Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
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