47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations
The 47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, to be celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday – 25 April 2010, shall focus on the Theme: Witness Awakens Vocations.
Part of the message of the Holy Father for this day reads: “The fruitfulness of our efforts to promote vocations depends primarily on God’s free action, yet, as pastoral experience confirms, it is also helped by the quality and depth of the personal and communal witness of those who have already answered the Lord’s call to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life, for their witness is then able to awaken in others a desire to respond generously to Christ’s call. This theme is thus closely linked to the life and mission of priests and of consecrated persons. Hence I wish to invite all those whom the Lord has called to work in his vineyard to renew their faithful response, particularly in this Year for Priests which I proclaimed on the 150thanniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, the Curé of Ars, an ever-timely model of a priest and a pastor.”
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The following video “I will give you Shepherds…”, from “Vocation Boom”, shows young men ready to serve and to be generous:
In response to the Pope’s message, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has launched a vocations campaign ForYourVocation.org, which shall offer resources for people in discernment and will include info for parents, teachers, catechists, vocation directors. Watch out for this!
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- Vocation to Opus Dei: For this topic, please read the “Essay on the Vocation to Opus Dei” written by John Coverdale.
- Recent General Congress: The official website in Spanish tells us of an Ordinary General Congress that was just held in Rome. As the news item says, General Congresses are held in the Work every eight years. For info on what a General Congress is, see the entry in the Opus Dei today forum on the General Congress of Einsiedeln in 1956.
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In the next video, Father Jim Steffes talks about the Year for Priests and encourages all the faithful to participate in prayer for the strengthening of this special vocation:
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For more information about the Year for Priests, go to:
- Annus Sacerdotalis official website
- USCCB Year for Priests
- An earlier Year for Priests entry here at Opus Dei Today
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