The Catholic Church celebrates the 57th annual World Day of
Prayer for Vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter. It
is a special invitation to the faithful to ask our Good Shepherd to send us
more priests, sisters, brothers and missionaries who will offer their lives for
His service.
In our Holy Father Pope Francis’ World Day of Prayer for
Vocations message, he speaks of the risks involved in every vocation, the
gratitude we owe to the Lord for His call, and the courage and praise with
which we are called to live it. Pope Francis says: “Whenever fatigue or fear
make us start to sink, Jesus holds out His hand to us. He gives us the
enthusiasm we need to live our vocation with joy and fervor.” The Pope
concludes by calling on our Church to continue to promote vocations, to “touch
the hearts of the faithful and enable each of them to discover with gratitude
God’s call in their lives, to find courage to say ‘yes’ to God, to overcome all
weariness through faith in Christ, and to make of their lives a song of praise
for God, for their brothers and sisters, and for the whole world.”
The challenging times in which we are living certainly make us
more grateful for those dedicated servants among us who pray for us and help us
to stay spiritually connected to the Lord, while we cannot gather as a
community. May all in the Diocese of Arlington be united in our prayer for more
priests, missionaries, and consecrated men and women.
Read Pope Francis’ message
