As the Year for Priests ends this Friday, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are called upon to reflect on the effort we have exerted to understand the real meaning of the Priesthood and to give support to the Holy Father and all his brothers in the Priestly ministry, realizing that the ministry of Priests is one “of governing, in the name of Christ, the flock entrusted to his care…”

There are many videos that explain the Year for Priests.  We share here two of those:

By now, thousands of Priests must be gathered together in Rome for the International Meeting of Priests, 9-11 June 2010.  The ceremonies will include TV connections from the Vatican with Ars, the cenacle in Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, and Hollywood. Let us offer a lot of prayers and sacrifices for this important event.

Related article:

• Year for Priests

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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 150^thanniversary 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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]]> http://opusdeitoday.org/2010/04/prayer-for-vocations/feed/ 0 http://opusdeitoday.org/2010/04/year-for-priests/ http://opusdeitoday.org/2010/04/year-for-priests/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:01:36 +0000 Aliza Racelis http://opusdeitoday.org/?p=206 Year for Priests

“Faithfulness of Christ, Faithfulness of the Priest”

Pope Benedict XVI has declared the period 19 June 2009 – 11 June 2011 as “Year for Priests”.  Please visit and bookmark the official website Annus Sacerdotalis.

One of the many great initiatives we’ve found along these lines is the website “Sacerdote yo?“, created precisely for the Year for Priests.  Please don’t fail to watch the introductory video.

We would also like to share here the fantastic ministry of just a few of the Priests who are Facebook friends of ours:

• Fr. Robert Barron and his “Word on Fire!“
• Fr. Zuhlsdorf and his “What Does the Prayer Really Say?“
• Fr. Piotr Wiśniowski (Polish) and his “Circle of Rosary” Facebook group.

We’ve also joined some great FB groups created for this purpose:

• “Year for Priests“
• “We are praying for our Priests“

Please send in any information that you think we should add to this blog post.  :-)