Vocation: Sister Disciples Of The Divine Master

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A Pauline Centenary Pastoral Tool

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION, n. 8 ***

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR VOCATIONS

May 11, 2014: Good Shepherd Sunday and 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations (or another suitable date)

“Rogate Dominum Messis … Pray the Lord of the Harvest”

(+) Jesus Master …

SONG: “Like a Shepherd” (Bob Dufford, SJ) or another appropriate song

WORDS OF POPE FRANCIS (Cf. Message for the 51st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, n. 1)

The Gospel says that Jesus went about all the cities and villages … When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Mt 9:35-38) … The prayer which Jesus asks of the Church concerns the need to increase the number of those who serve his Kingdom. Saint Paul, who was one of “God’s fellow workers”, tirelessly dedicated himself to the cause of the Gospel and the Church. The Apostle, with the awareness of the one who has personally experienced how mysterious God’s saving will is, and how the initiative of grace is the origin of every vocation, reminds the Christians of Corinth: You are God’s field (I Cor 3:9). That is why wonder first arises in our hearts over the plentiful harvest which God alone can bestow; then gratitude for a love that always goes before us; and lastly, adoration for the work that he has accomplished, which requires our free consent in acting with him and for him.

SILENT ADORATION AND PRAYER

BLESSED ALBERIONE’S CHAPLET FOR VOCATIONS

1. O Jesus Divine Master, you have said to your apostles: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few; pray the heavenly Father to send forth laborers into his harvest.”

In your goodness listen and present to the Eternal Father our prayer for priestly and religious vocations.

2. O Jesus Divine Master, you have said: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must lead them too, and they shall hear my voice. There shall be one flock, then one shepherd.”

Call many generous souls to your service. May these attract other sinners and all who do not know you.

3. O Jesus Divine Master, you have said: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his soul.”

Inspire young people to the beauty and attractiveness of the apostolate. Reveal to parents how beautiful and great it is to give you their own children. Give teachers the necessary light to help those whom you are calling.

4. O Jesus Divine Master, you have said through the words of the prophets: “If today you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.”

Make all those who are called to your service listen to your voice with docility and grant them the grace to persevere faithfully in their vocations.

5. O Jesus Divine Master, you have said: “Go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; then, come, follow me.”

Inspire many and good vocations to enter into the Pauline Family. May they offer themselves with enthusiasm and generosity in the apostolate and distinguish themselves in the duty of religious observance with assiduous prayer, constant mortification and perfect adherence of their will to yours.

6. O Jesus Divine Master, you have prayed for the apostles to your Eternal Father: “O Father most holy, protect them with your name which you have given me that they may be one even as we are one. Guard them from the evil one, that they may be consecrated in truth.”

Grant to all those whom you have called the abundance of your graces, blessings and light, so that united in one heart they may be powerful magnets attracting souls to you, who are the Way, the Truth and the Life.

FIRST READING: Jer 1:4-11 “The Call of Jeremiah”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 40 (Cf. BB 2014 # 772)

Response: “Here I am, Lord; here I am. I come to do your will.

WORDS OF POPE FRANCIS (Cf. op. cit., n. 2)

In the account of the calling of the prophet Jeremiah, God reminds us that he continually watches over each one of us in order that his word may be accomplished in us. The image is of an almond branch which is the first tree to flower, thus announcing life’s rebirth in springtime. Everything comes from him and is his gift: the world, life, death, the present, the future, but – the Apostle assures us – “you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s”. Hence, the way of belonging to God is explained: it comes about through a unique and personal relationship with Jesus, which Baptism confers on us from the beginning of our rebirth to new life. It is Christ, therefore, who continually summons us by his word to place our trust in him, loving him with all the heart, with all the understanding and with all the strength.

Therefore every vocation, even within the variety of paths, always requires an exodus from oneself in order to center one’s life on Christ and on his Gospel. Both in married life and in the forms of religious consecration, as well as in priestly life, we must surmount the ways of thinking and acting that do not conform to the will of God. It is an exodus that leads us on a journey of adoration of the Lord and of service to him in our brothers and sisters. (…) We need not be afraid: God follows the work of his hands with passion and skill in every phase of life. He never abandons us! He has the fulfillment of his plan for us at heart, and yet he wishes to achieve it with our consent and cooperation.

ALLELUIA – GOSPEL: Jn 10:27-30

HOMILY and/or PERSONAL REFLECTION

CHAPLET TO JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD, n. 1 (Cf. The Prayers of the Pauline Family, p. 130)

SONG: “Shepherd Me O God” (Marty Haugen) or another appropriate song

POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART: From the Words of Pope Francis (Cf. op. cit. n. 3-4)

I turn now to those who are well disposed to listen to the voice of Christ that rings out in the Church and to understand what their own vocation is. I invite you to listen to and follow Jesus, and allow yourselves to be transformed interiorly by his words, which are spirit and life. Mary, the Mother of Jesus and ours, also says to us: “Do whatever he tells you.” (…) The true joy of those who are called consists in believing and experiencing that he, the Lord, is faithful and that with him we can walk, be disciples and witnesses of God’s love, open our hearts to great ideals, to great things. (…)

Let us dispose our hearts therefore to being “good soil” by listening, receiving and living out the word, and thus bearing fruit. The more we unite ourselves to Jesus through prayer, Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the Sacraments celebrated and lived in the Church and in fraternity, the more there will grow in us the joy of cooperating with God in the service of the Kingdom of mercy and truth, of justice and peace. And the harvest will be plentiful, proportionate to the grace we have meekly welcomed into our lives.

EXAMINATION OF THE HEART AND PERSONAL RESOLUTION (in silence)

BLESSED ALBERIONE’S PRAYER FOR ONE’S VOCATION

Heavenly Father, I believe in your wisdom and love. I believe you created me for heaven, marked out for me the way to reach it, and await me there to give me the reward of the faithful servant. Give me light and show me this way. Grant me the strength to follow it generously. I beg this of you, through Jesus Christ your Son and through Mary my Queen and Mother. At the moment of death, may I be able to say with St. Paul: “I have finished the course. I have fought the good fight. Now there is laid up for me the crown of the just.”

SONG: “Here I Am, Lord” (Dan Schutte) or another appropriate song

ROSARY FOR VOCATIONS

(N.B. The prayer that accompanies each mystery is based on the “Prayer for Vocations” by the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops.)

First Mystery: The Annunciation

“Hail Mary, full of grace, all generations call you blessed! Hail Mother of God, when asked by the angel to bear the Son of the Most High, filled with faith, you responded: “Let it be done unto me.” Teach us to say “Fiat” to the saving will of God.