Vocation Sunday
Dear Parishioners,
In 1963, Pope Paul VI designated the 4th Sunday of Easter a World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Pope Benedict appeals to us to constitute a public witness of each parish community at prayer in obedience to the Lord’s command: pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” (Mt 9:38) A vocation is a precious gift that God sows in the heart, the late Holy Father Pope Francis wrote. “It is a call to go out of ourselves and begin a journey of love and service.”
In recent years we have seen a steady decline in priestly and religious vocations in the United States and Europe. We have seen many parishes closed or consolidated. The challenges and demands on priests and sisters are becoming extraordinary. When only a few answer the call, we risk the danger of not having sacraments that nourish our spiritual life.
A vocation is like a seed. “A seed cannot take root or grow in just any kind of soil or climate. To reach its fullest flowering, it must be cared for and cultivated. It is up to each catholic home to provide the proper atmosphere for growth and development of this seed.”
What have you done to support or encourage vocations lately? Will you consider praying for those young men and women in seminaries and other formation houses? Will you consider a financial assistance for our Archdiocesan seminarians? If you have children, would you consider encouraging them to be open to the possibility of a priestly or religious vocation?
In response to the Pope’s request, as a parish community, I encourage you to extend this World Day of Prayer for Vocations to Pentecost. I ask all families in our parish to pray for Vocations that God may call our sons and daughters to serve Him as Priests or Religious. Pray the Rosary for vocations before each Mass and also in your family.
Speak out in support of your priests and nuns. Let them know that you appreciate their sacrifice and service. Let us pray that our parish will produce priests and sisters in the near future. Remember, the priests and religious of tomorrow are in our midst. They are members of this parish and belong to our families. Please do not stand in their way.
“To be pilgrims of hope and builders of peace, then, means to base our lives on the rock of Christ’s resurrection, knowing that every effort made in the vocation that we have embraced and seek to live out, will never be in vain. Failures and obstacles may arise along the way, but the seeds of goodness we sow are quietly growing and nothing can separate us from the final goal: our encounter with Christ and the joy of living for eternity in fraternal love.”
“This ultimate calling is one that we must anticipate daily: even now our loving relationship with God and our brothers and sisters are beginning to bring about God’s dream of unity, peace and fraternity. May no one feel excluded from this calling! Each of us in his/her our own small way, in our particular state of life, can, with the help of the Spirit, be a sower of seeds of hope and peace.” Pope Francis.
Sincerely yours in the Lord’s Vineyard,
Rev. Vitalis Anyanike
Pastor
