ALL SAINTS' HOUGHTON REGIS
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Safeguarding
    • Survey
  • The Parish
    • People
    • All Saints' Parish Church
    • St Thomas'
    • Choir
    • Bells
    • Schools
  • Our Faith
    • Learning
    • Prayer Resources
    • Rosary
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Easter
    • Mass
    • Walsingham Cell
  • Life Events
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Confession
    • Anointing
    • Home Blessings
  • What's on
    • Coffee Mornings
    • Knitting Group
    • Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage
  • Giving
    • Parish Giving Scheme
    • Lagacies
    • Restoration
    • Memorial Path

Homilies

(Sunday sermons, talks, and teaching)

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (A)

7/5/2017

0 Comments

 
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is a time dedicated to pray for vocations. There are other days set aside four times a year to pray for all those who minister within the Church, these are called Ember Days, however today the particular focus of our prayers ought to be the sacred, or ministerial, priesthood.
But prayer, as important as it is, is not the only thing we can do to help with vocations. We should also support the training of priests, and we should encourage in every possible way those who are genuinely being called to this type of ministry. 

When I was discerning my vocation to the priesthood, the people of St Botolph’s, my church in London, did precisely this; they helped me to understand what God wanted me to do and what level of trust would be placed on me at ordination. I was in my mid-twenties the, but quite often a sense of vocation (not just to the priesthood) accompanies people for a very early age; and in those years the loving support of family and congregation can go a long way. I remember, when my cousin and I were only young boys, people in our local congregation were ready to spot the “early signs” of a vocation to the priesthood, and how they encouraged us both to say our yes to the Lord. Things may have changed since then; my cousin is a diocesan registrar, whilst I resisted putting myself forward for ordination for a few years, and then have become the black sheep of the family by becoming an Anglican… but even now, we both have people from our home congregation who regularly check up on sense of vocation, and support us with their prayers.

If we want to foster and encourage vocations we must remember that priests do not exist in a vacuum. We all share in the royal priesthood of the Lord Jesus by virtue of our Baptism, and it is from among our number that God calls men and women to become ordained in order to serve his Church in a specific way. Ordained ministry takes its mandate from Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who from age to age shares the pastoral care of his flock with his priests. He calls them to feed his people with his Word and with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, to administer his forgiveness to those who seek reconciliation with God, to provide leadership and focus for mission in his name. In turn, the Lord calls each one of us to work with our local priests to transform our communities; to pray for the needs of the world, and to share the love of Jesus with everyone.
Another thing worth remembering is that priests do not grow on trees. Vocations arise and increase when they praying for them. Vocations are fostered within the parish context; they take time to develop in a well-informed and realistic sense of what God is calling the candidate to do, and they can only thrive through with support. As a consequence, you and I play a fundamental role in ensuring that anyone called to the ordained ministry is able to respond to this call as generously and as selflessly as they can.

It is always a great blessing to help each-other to fulfil our individual vocations and even more so to help priests in fulfilling their call. So let us commit ourselves to pray for and encourage vocations so that Christ, the Good Shepherd may raise more and more priests formed according to his heart.

Father, you gave us Christ
as the shepherd and guardian of our souls;
may your people always have priests
to care for them with his great love.
Father, give us priests:
to establish the honour of your holy name;
to offer the holy sacrifice of the altar;
to give us Jesus in the Eucharist;
to proclaim the faith of Jesus;
to baptise and to teach;
to seek the lost;
to give pardon to the penitent sinner;
to bless our homes;
to pray for the afflicted;
to comfort mourners;
to strengthen us in our last hour;
to commend our souls;
Almighty Father, give us priests!
We make this prayer, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017

    Categories

    All
    1John
    1Peter
    1Thessalonians
    1Timothy
    2Corinthians
    Acts
    Advent
    All Souls
    Amos
    Angels
    Baptism
    Beatific Vision
    Benedict XVI
    BVM
    Catechesis
    Charity/Love
    Christian Unity
    Christmas
    Church Fathers
    Civic Service
    Compassion
    Creed
    Daniel
    Death
    Deuteronomy
    Divine Mercy
    Easter
    Ephesians
    Epiphany
    Ethics
    Eucharist
    Eucharistic Adoration
    Ezekiel
    Faith
    Francis
    Friendship
    Galatians
    Genesis
    Gratitude
    Healing
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Week
    Homily
    Hope
    Humility
    Hymns
    Incarnation
    Isaiah
    James
    Jesus Christ
    Job
    John
    Joy
    Judgment
    Justin Welby
    Lent
    Leviticus
    Liturgy
    Luke
    Mark
    Matthew
    Ordinary Time
    Parables
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Prayer
    Prayer For The Dead
    Psalms
    Remembrance
    Revelation/Apocalypse
    Romans
    Sacraments
    Sacred Heart
    Saints
    St Alphonsus
    St Anselm
    St Augustine
    St John The Baptist
    St Paul
    St Peter
    The Christian Life
    The Church
    The Cross
    Thy Kingdom Come
    Vatican II
    Vices
    Virtues
    Vocations
    Worship

    RSS Feed

All Saints' Parish Church
Bedford Road, Houghton Regis
LU5 5DJ

St Thomas' Church
and Parish Office
Lowry Drive, Houghton Regis.
LU5 5SJ
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
  • Home
    • Contact Us
    • News
    • Safeguarding
    • Survey
  • The Parish
    • People
    • All Saints' Parish Church
    • St Thomas'
    • Choir
    • Bells
    • Schools
  • Our Faith
    • Learning
    • Prayer Resources
    • Rosary
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Easter
    • Mass
    • Walsingham Cell
  • Life Events
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Weddings
    • Funerals
    • Confession
    • Anointing
    • Home Blessings
  • What's on
    • Coffee Mornings
    • Knitting Group
    • Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage
  • Giving
    • Parish Giving Scheme
    • Lagacies
    • Restoration
    • Memorial Path