Good Shepherd Sunday celebrated on the Fourth Sunday of Easter is also marked as Vocation Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI in his message for the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations this May 15 encouraged the faithful to reflect on the theme, “Proposing Vocations to the Local Church.”
The Pope said, “Seventy years ago, Venerable Pius XII established the Pontifical Work of Priestly Vocations. Similar bodies, led by priests and members of the lay faithful, were subsequently established by Bishops in many dioceses as a response to the call of the Good Shepherd who, “when he saw the crowds, had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”, and went on to say: “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!” (Mt 9:36-38).”
From St. Mary Euphrasia |
Chapter 6 of the Conferences and Instructions: The Good Shepherd |
The work of carefully encouraging and supporting vocations finds a radiant source of inspiration in those places in the Gospel where Jesus calls his disciples to follow him and trains them with love and care. We should pay close attention to the way that Jesus called his closest associates to proclaim the Kingdom of God (cf. Lk 10:9). In the first place, it is clear that the first thing he did was to pray for them: before calling them, Jesus spent the night alone in prayer, listening to the will of the Father (cf. Lk 6:12) in a spirit of interior detachment from mundane concerns. It is Jesus’ intimate conversation with the Father which results in the calling of his disciples. Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life are first and foremost the fruit of constant contact with the living God and insistent prayer lifted up to the “Lord of the harvest”, whether in parish communities, in Christian families or in groups specifically devoted to prayer for vocations…”
Dear brothers and sisters, your commitment to the promotion and care of vocations becomes most significant and pastorally effective when carried out in the unity of the Church and in the service of communion. For this reason, every moment in the life of the Church community – catechesis, formation meetings, liturgical prayer, pilgrimages – can be a precious opportunity for awakening in the People of God, and in particular in children and young people, a sense of belonging to the Church and of responsibility for answering the call to priesthood and to religious life by a free and informed decision.“
Celebrations in Quezon City
In today’s Mass at the Good Shepherd Chapel, 1043 Aurora Blvd in Quezon City, Sr. Marion Chipeco RGS gave a homily and testimony of her own vocation to religious life recalling how the Good Shepherd gave her strength to respond to a life-long commitment as a Good Shepherd Sister. Now 42 years a religious, Sr. Marion shared the joys and challenges of this call marked by an openness and attentiveness to the surprises of each day and a willingness to be a Shepherd to those who are in need of mercy and compassion.
Temporary Professed Sisters
On the same day, May 15, Sr. Teresita Figueroa, directress of Temporary Professed Sisters in the Philippines, gave an orientation to the participants of the international intensification program for sisters preparing for final vows. The opening liturgy of the one-month program will be held tomorrow, May 16, in Quezon City.
The participants of this joint intensification are: Sr. Grace Chiong from Singapore/Malaysia Province, Sr. Rufina Shim – Northeast Asia Province, Sr. Marietta Yun –Northeast Asia Province and Sr. Theresia Kurniawati -Indonesia Province.
The goals of the program are: to experience an integration of one’s idealism and the realism of what religious life is from one’s lived experience, and be challenged to live out the Good Shepherd vocation in today’s context; to give a new impulse to one’s missionary zeal, to intensify one’s universality and willingness to inculturate the gospel, the vows and our charism beyond borders.
The program will cover the Call to religious life; Our Roots and Spirituality; Constitutions and Lived Experience of Religious Life; Article One; The Call to Mysticism; Mission and Charism: Shepherding Today; Community Life; and the Vows.
Vocation Promotions