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VOCATIONS SUNDAY 2014
Today we pray for an increase for vocations especially to the priestly and religious life.
Pope Francis has a simple way of both speaking and living. He has used many memorable phrases and images to communicate the ‘Joy of the Gospel’ – but, most of all, he shares that joy in the way he interacts with people.
However, this Gospel joy is not just a pleasurable feeling, some sort of spiritual candy floss. It is a joy born of mission. In his message for this year’s Vocations Sunday 2014, he encourages all in the Church to expect great things from God, and from ourselves in his service. Joy for that sort of disciple enables him or her to venture beyond the narrow limits of our comfort zones.
That means taking risks, being prepared to journey, allowing God to be God in our lives. In ‘Evangelii Gaudium’, he wrote of the “unruly freedom” of the Word of God, for “we are neither its masters or owners, but its guardians, heralds and servants”.
In this year’s message, he calls for heroes who will go into the great harvest where many people are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. “And the harvest will be plentiful”.
Today, we also pray for our diocesan seminarian, Shane O’Neill, as he prepares to be ordained deacon in the coming weeks.
“Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” – Mother Teresa