Serra Minneapolis

Vocations

Mother of Perpetual Help

Prayer for Vocations

O God, Who wills not the death of a sinner * but rather that he be converted and live * grant, we beseech you * through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, St. Joseph, her spouse, Blessed Junipero Serra* and all the saints * an increase of laborers for The Church * fellow laborers with Christ * to spend and consume themselves for souls * through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son * Who lives and reigns with You* in the unity of the Holy Spirit * world without end. Amen (7 years indulgence)

"God writes straight with broken lines"
-Irish saying

Come, Holy Spirit, and create in me
a renewed desire to proclaim the Good News
of Jesus Christ boldly, yet lovingly,
in my actions and in my words.

Fill my heart with God's love
so that I may share that love with others.
Fill my mind with the wisdom of the Almighty
so that my every word will be guided.
Fill my soul with the presence of God
so that I may know peace.

May I join with all who labor to communicate
the word of God, so that as one body,
we may help to bring the Lord's light to all people.
This I ask through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.

The Catholic Communication Campaign

Vocations: How is God Calling me?
by Fidelis Tracy, C.D.P.

After Abuse Scandal Much Remains Right With Vocations Ministry
by Dianne Perry, SSND

IS IT A LONG DISTANCE OR A LOCAL CALL?

We tend to share only bad news: I lost my job, the kids are sick, Dad has Alzheimer's. Rarely do we call someone up and say: "I'm having a great day and I wanted you to know that." It is the same thing with the priesthood. We tend to read secular newspapers and magazines and watch television documentaries that report only the sad and tragic news about a few priests. When an attempt is made to do an upbeat story, some political and ideological angle always seems to have to be included, thus tinging an otherwise positive story. With that kind of constant and slanted public relations reality, what can truthfully be said about the priesthood?

Priests come from families which often are not pious and are never perfect. Rather, priest-producing families have a mom and dad, an active participation in the life of the Church, a faith which is alive and not perfunctory, and a love which is unconditional and ready to offer itself quickly and completely for the children.

This kind of family and this kind of love spawns vocations to the priesthood because the priest's primary mission is to offer sacrifice, both the sacrifice of the Mass and the sacrifice of himself, in service to the people entrusted to his care. If he has never witnessed parental sacrifice done solely because of love then he will not be a priest. Doing a hitch in the Marines may teach discipline and how to sacrifice for a goal, but love is learned at home and priests come from homes.

Therefore, if we want good vocations and more vocations, we have to look first at marriage, not married priests, but rather husbands and wives. A Christian husband and wife are called to build a Christian home. They are called to build up the Church in their home by a life of love always open to life. In the sacramental vocational order, it is matrimony which gives birth to priesthood because it is husbands and wives acting as fathers and mothers who co-create with God our future priests.

People will not hear God's call in their lives unless they hear someone tell them how God sounds. That is what parents do for their children and that is what priests do for the Church. We need the Church and its liturgy and sacraments, its preaching and teaching. We need generous and sacrificial priests. But what we really need in the Church in today's society are men and women living out in their entirety the vows which they made to each other before God in the Church. Then all the proper modeling for the commitment necessary for a life-long sacramental vocation will be in place, and solid vocations to the priesthood will certainly follow.

The family is the first switchboard through which God places His call to the priesthood. When we refocus attention from priests' problems to families' problems, we will have stronger families and more priests.

Fr. Dan Conlin, St. Columba, Saint Paul.

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