Tuesday, April 8, 2008

World Day of Vocations



I am happy to let you know that Esther and I have made an incredible progress on our Ministry of Spiritual Mothers. We are very close to completing the list of mothers chosen by God to pray for our priests and seminarians in our diocese. It was a struggle in the beginning as we sought women volunteers from different parishes, but a necessary step to its fulfillment.

God spoke to our hearts and encouraged us not to give up on his priests and seminarians. In many ways, God also lovingly reassured us that he had already chosen the spiritual "mothers" to pray for his precious priests. All we had to do was look for them.

Esther did an excellent job at matching the names of each of priest/seminarian to a volunteering spiritual "mom". We will most likely finish the task this week or next since Hawaii Catholic Herald has included the announcement to its latest issue. We will make a final list of spritual "moms" and meet with our beloved bishop, Bishop Larry Silva, so he can bless all the women.

The effect on me of this ministry is a greater awareness of the need to pray for our priests and a desire to encourage young men to consider the vocation to the priesthood. I find myself drawn to talking to a young man I see at church. I start with a smile, an contagious way of welcoming anyone to our church. More on this later...

Below is originally from Evann's site Homeschool Goodies.



As we head towards World Day of Vocations on Sunday, April 13,
let's remember to include all priests, living and deceased, in our prayers.


Pray for our Priests

O Jesus, our great High Priest,
hear my humble prayers
on behalf of your priests.
Give them a deep faith,
a bright and firm hope,
and a burning love
which will ever increase
in the course of their priestly life.
In their loneliness, comfort them.
In their sorrows, strengthen them.
In their frustrations,
point out to them
that it is through suffering
that the soul is purified and
show them that they are needed
by the Church,
they are needed by souls,
they are needed for the work
of redemption.
O Loving Mother Mary,
Mother of Priests,
take to your heart your sons
who are close to you,
because of their priestly ordination
and because of the power
which they have received
to carry on the work of Christ
in a world which needs them so much.
Be their comfort be their joy,
be their strength,
and especially help them to live
and to defend
the ideals of consecrated celbacy.
Amen.

-– John Joseph Cardinal Carberry, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis




7 comments:

Evann said...

Congratulations on the fruition of this Spiritual Mom project. Many Blessings to both Easter & Esther!

EC Gefroh said...

Thanks for posting about the new ministry Easter. But I can't take the credit for the matching. Each one was prayed for specifically prior to selection. The credit goes to the blessed Mother and the Holy Spirit. Thanks also for joining me in prayers for this intention on March 25th.

Thanks so much Evann! I saw your post too!! God bless you both.

Ann Murray said...

Easter, You and Esther are doung truly wonderful work in setting this up, and of course this coming Sunday will be a very special day for you.

Priests need encouragement and prayer and I know they do appreciate it these efforts.

Here in ireland we have a St. Joseph's Young Priests Society which I believe was originally set up to support seminarians and newly ordained priests who can get discouraged at times.

I must make a few enquiries and find out if there are other bodies doing similar and much needed work.

May the Lord bless you abundantly.

EC Gefroh said...

Thank you so much Veritas!

Easter Almuena said...

Evann,
I thank you for your posts which led us to and reminded us of the Year of Vocation!
Love,
Easter:-)

Easter Almuena said...

Oh you sweet Esther,
Well said. That is my dear Esther!
God be praised for his wisdom and for Mary who leads us to him!
Love,
Easter:-)

Easter Almuena said...

Ann,
I read this last week, but just didn't have enough time to reply.

What a joy to always hear from you. Thank you for your encouragement. If you find out anything about St. Joseph's do let us know. It is wonderful and very uplifting to hear these things because our priests, yes, the young ones espcially, and seminarians do need a lot of prayers.

And God bless you abundantly!