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