Prayers for Vocations

Prayer for Vocation by Pope Francis
Lord of Harvest,
Bless young people with the gift of courage to respond to your call. Open their hearts
to great ideals, to great things.
Inspire all of your disciples to mutual love and giving-for vocations blossom in the
good soil of faithful people
Instil those in religious life, parish ministries, and families with the confidence and
grace to invite others to embrace the bold and noble path of a life consecrated to you.
Unite us to Jesus through prayer and sacrament, so that we may cooperate with you in
building your reign of mercy and truth, of justice and peace.
Amen

Prayer for Vocation – Broken Bay
Loving God,
You are the Lord who calls and
sends out labourers into the harvest.
In your great love you call us
to belong to you, to be holy as you are holy,
to be your people and to live
in loving service of others.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon the
Catholic community of Broken Bay,
as we turn to you in faith and hope.
Call from among us priests and deacons,
shepherds after your own heart,
to gather and guide us in your name,
to serve our faith community,
to proclaim your gospel, in word and deed,
to minister through the sacraments
and to lead us ever closer to you.
Amen.

Prayer for all the Baptised
God of all creation,
Through Baptism, you gift us with new life.
You call each of us to live that life in a unique way
So that we may truly become the witnesses of your love.
Bless all those you call:
All single and married people
All priests and deacons,
All sisters and brothers.
May we all become builders of your kingdom
And sacraments of your love
As we live out the mission of Jesus Christ
Through living our vocational call.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayers of Intercession
Vocations (a ‘Prayer of the faithful’ for Sunday Mass):

For all the baptised.
That they may experience your great love for them and be faithful to the call of the
Gospel. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear our prayer.

For marriage and family life
That you will renew all married couples in their commitment, and that family life and
family values be cherished and protected in every society. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord
hear our prayer.

For all bishops, priests, deacons and religious:
That they may know true joy and fulfilment in their vocations and inspire others to
follow in their steps. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear our prayer.

For the seminarians of Broken Bay:
That they may be men of prayer and commitment, who follow you
wholeheartedly. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear our prayer.

For those discerning their vocation:
That they experience the guidance of your Holy Spirit in their discernment and get the
courage and support they need to answer their call. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear
our prayer.

For the faithful departed:
that they will receive your mercy and rise in glory. In a special way we pray for all the
priests, deacons and religious who have served your people in Broken Bay. Let us pray
to the Lord: Lord hear our prayer.

Further intercessions for Vocations:
For vocations: that young men and women will listen to the Spirit in their hearts and
respond to the call from God. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear our prayer.

For those who recognise a call to the priesthood, diaconate or religious life: that they
may find the courage to say yes to what God asks of them. Let us pray to the Lord;
Lord hear our prayer.

For those in seminaries and religious formation programs: that they may know the
support and love of our parish community as they grow in holiness and maturity, and
continue to discern God’s call. Let us pray to the Lord; Lord hear our prayer.

Mother’s Day

Heavenly Father,
We pray for mothers, in thanks for their love and care so freely given. We remember
all mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and all who have fulfilled motherly roles in
our lives. May they be blessed with joy and fulfilment.
We pray for those who on this Mother’s Day are unhappy, sick, sad, lonely or anxious.
We place them in your care that they may know the comfort, reconciliation and peace
which your love brings.
We pray for all the faithful departed, especially mothers, that God may bring them
into the joy of his kingdom.
We make this prayer through our Lord, Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns
with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever.
Amen.

Some reflections on Vocations.

• For the Fathers of the Church, the parable of the lost sheep, which the
  shepherd seeks in the desert, was an image of the mystery of Christ and
  the Church. The human race — every one of us — is the sheep lost in the
  desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this
  happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He
  leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in
  search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it
  upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all — he is the
  good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
• The priest and deacon is inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a
  matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And
  there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the
  desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of
  destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of
  souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The
  external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts
  have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to
  build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve
  the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and
  all her pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert,
  towards the place of life, toward friendship with the Son of God,
  towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.
• ‘Feed my sheep,’ says Christ to Peter (in last Sunday’s Gospel), and now,
  he says that to you and me as well. We too, are called to be the voice of
  the Good Shepherd: as disciples, and as priests and deacons and
  Religious – and also as mothers and parents, as we celebrate today.
• To feed means to love, and loving also means being ready to suffer,
  making sacrifices for the one I love. Loving means giving ‘the sheep in my
  care’ what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s Truth, the
  nourishment of His presence, which He gives us especially in his Word
  and the Eucharist – and through the love we have for one another.
• The image of the Good Shepherd was easily understood by the people of
  Jesus’ time. They pictured a person going before his flock, feeding and
  guiding them, leading them to good pasture, defending them, looking
  after them. And the people of that time readily understood themselves
  as the ones led and protected by a higher wisdom and a higher power.
• Gathered today as followers of Christ, can we also picture ourselves as
  the ones led and protected by a higher wisdom and a higher power than
  our own? In the answer to that question lies our freedom – or continued
  slavery. The choice is ours to make. We can let God lead, or we can
  insist that we remain in control of our lives. “The sheep that belong to
  me listen to my voice”.
• Jesus indicates there are at least three characteristics which mark the
  good shepherd:
  Firstly: He cares for his sheep to the point where he is willing to die for
  them. And Jesus did give his life for his sheep. He loved us unto death.
  Every time we celebrate the Mass the reality of Jesus’ sacrifice (‘this is
  my body given for you….this is my blood given for you’) is made present
  – handed down to us from Jesus to the apostles at the Last Supper.
  Secondly: The good shepherd knows his sheep and they know him.
  Indeed, he knows each [sheep] by name. “I know them and they follow
  me.” The good shepherd leads the sheep to good pastures. Indeed, Jesus
  says, “I am the true bread which comes down from heaven; the one who
  eats this bread will live forever”. (John 6)
  Thirdly: He cares for all of them, even those who go astray, and indeed,
  he shows most concern for those who go astray. We may be in difficult
  terrain, experiencing terrible storms or attacked by the enemy.
  St Pope John XXIII once said: “Every day is the right day for the lost
  sheep to return to the care of the tender shepherd, who calls to [the lost
  sheep] and goes out to seek it with great longing.” Perhaps today you
  hear this Gospel as someone who needs to be found and carried home,
  by the Good Shepherd, the Lord.