Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore are being encouraged to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life in the week leading up to a special April 25 Mass to be celebrated by Archbishop William E. Lori on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
“These upcoming days afford individuals who are dedicated to their vocations to recommit even more fully,” said Father Steven Roth, director of vocations for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. “Yet this time also provides us with the imperative to invite many more men and women to say yes to God’s voice leading to the beautiful vocations of the church.”
Young people are facing challenges and distractions unlike any other generation, Father Roth said.
“Yet this week reminds them of our prayerful support as they discern God’s voice,” he said.
Each day this week, the vocations office is sharing videos on different aspects of vocations on its Facebook page, Bmore Vocations.
The April 25 Mass, which will be attended by seminarians of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. at St. Joseph, Fullerton, and will be livestreamed at archbalt.org. Weather permitting, the Mass will be outdoors. If it is indoors, it will be celebrated in the church with social distancing measures in place. If the maximum capacity is reached with social distancing, additional people will be able to participate in the Mass from the parish center.
This year marks the 58th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which is sometimes called “Good Shepherd Sunday” for a Gospel reading featuring the passage comparing Jesus to a good shepherd who watches over his flock.
In his 2021 message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, Pope Francis wrote that St. Joseph can be a model for vocations, which are meant to be the “ever-active hands of the Father, outstretched to his children.”
“The Lord desires to shape the hearts of fathers and mothers: hearts that are open, capable of great initiatives, generous in self-giving, compassionate in comforting anxieties and steadfast in strengthening hopes,” said the pope, who has declared a Year of St. Joseph in the Catholic Church from Dec. 8, 2020 to Dec. 8, 2021.
The priesthood and the consecrated life “greatly need these qualities nowadays, in times marked by fragility but also by the sufferings due to the pandemic, which has spawned uncertainties and fears about the future and the very meaning of life,” he wrote.
St. Joseph is a model of service “as a concrete expression of the gift of self,” the pope said.
He always adapted to different and unexpected circumstances without getting discouraged and without complaining because he was always “ready to give a hand to help resolve situations.”
St. Joseph was always faithful and always persevered, Pope Francis said, bolstered by God’s words: “Do not be afraid.”
God speaks those same words to priests and religious every day, but especially amid “uncertainty and hesitation” or “trials and misunderstandings,” because they are called, like St. Joseph, to “say ‘yes’ to God with their lives, through their fidelity each day.”
“This fidelity is the secret of joy,” he said.
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, World Day of Prayer for Vocations is focused especially on vocations to ordained ministry (priesthood and diaconate), consecrated life in all its forms (male and female religious life, societies of apostolic life, consecrated virginity), secular institutes in their diversity of services and membership, and to the missionary life.
Catholic News Service contributed to this article.
For more information about vocations in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, click here.
Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org
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