‘You did not choose me, no I choose you and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last’ (John 15:16).
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you came to birth I consecrated you” prior to being told “You must go to all to whom I send you” (Jer. 1:4-7).
“I know who it is in whom I have placed my trust” (2 Tim. 1:12)
‘He called to him those he desired and they came to him’ (Mark 3:13).
“God has created my heart only for himself. He asks me to give it to him that he may make it happy”.
St John Vianney
“Only in friendship with Christ is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in his friendship do we experience beauty and liberation”.
Pope Benedict XVI, Opening Homily as pope.
“God has created me to do him some definitive service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission.”
St John Henry Newman
“I have done what is mine to do; may Christ teach you what is yours to do” St Francis of Assisi (From Thomas of Celano, First Life of St. Francis, 214).
‘Convinced of Christ: yes, I feel the need to proclaim him, I cannot keep silent. «Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!» (1 Cor. 9: 16). I am sent by him, by Christ himself, to do this. I am an apostle, I am a witness. The more distant the goal, the more difficult my mission the more pressing is the love that urges me to it (Cf. 2 Cor. 5: 13). I must bear witness to his name: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16: 16).
Pope Paul VI, Manila, 29 November 1970.
‘The call of God is one of the most beautiful things on earth. Think of the interweaving of divine and human love involved in a vocation. When God calls us to a particular way of life, he looks on us with his love; the moment we become aware of it a new life begins for us. Even before we were born, God was looking at us and loving us in the setting he had always planned for us, In fact, he brought us into being to put his plan for us into operation…
Anyone who hears his call often feels fear, and even doubts or terror, but when he discovers its implications, he also feels joy. So the most beautiful moment is not when a person hears the call, but when he says ‘yes’ making God’s call real, his will clinging to God’s. It is an allegiance for life, a continual ‘yes’ to God who repeats the invitation forever’.
Pasquali Forest.
‘Being united to Christ calls for renunciation. It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us. As Saint Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). In the words “I do”, spoken at our priestly ordination, we made this fundamental renunciation of our desire to be independent, “self-made”. But day by day this great “yes” has to be lived out in the many little “yeses” and small sacrifices. This “yes” made up of tiny steps which together make up the great “yes”, can be lived out without bitterness and self-pity only if Christ is truly the centre of our lives. If we enter into true closeness to him. Then indeed we experience, amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us. “The one who loses himself, finds himself”. When we dare to lose ourselves for the Lord, we come to experience the truth of these words’.
Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at Chrism Mass, 9th April 2009.
PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL FOR VOCATIONS SUNDAY
Priest:
With faith and confidence, we now bring our prayers to God our Father who sent his Son to be our Good Shepherd and to lay down his life for us in love and service.
1. We pray for the Church, that her members may care for each other with the spirit of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his flock so that we might have life and have it to the full. Lord hear us.
2. On this Vocations Sunday, we pray for those whom God is calling to serve him in the priesthood and religious life. May they sense that call with greater clarity and have the courage to respond generously. May they never be afraid to ‘Take the Risk for Christ’. Lord hear us.
3. We pray for our Diocesan Lay Vocations Council that they may work with our priests to create a culture of vocations in every parish community of our diocese. Lord hear us.
4. For Bishop Ger and all the priests of our diocese - that they might be renewed in faith and continue to be good shepherds of the people of God with truth, charity and joy. Lord hear us.
5. For all seminarians, especially Deacon Eamon Salmon who is studying for the priesthood for our diocese; also for Fintan Fanning who is preparing for the permanent diaconate May the Lord bless them and guide them. Lord hear us.
6. For peace in the world at this time, especially in Gaza and Ukraine. We pray for an end to conflict and violence. Lord hear us.
Priest:
Merciful Father, hear the prayers of your people who praise you for your care. Through these prayers of intercession may we never grow indifferent to the needs of your people. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.