Rome (Italy). In view of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations (GMPV), which will be on 21 April 2024, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the Youth Ministry Sector of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians proposes to the Educating Communities a Rosary with reflections drawn from the Message of Pope Francis for the GMPV 2024 and from the Acts of General Chapter XXIV.
The World Day of Prayer for Vocations is dedicated, in particular, to prayer to invoke from the Father the gift of holy vocations for the building of His Kingdom: “Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that He may send workers into His harvest!” (Luke 10:2).
In this year’s Message – Called to sow hope and build peace – Pope Francis invites us “to consider the precious gift of the call that the Lord addresses to each of us, His faithful people on the journey, so that we can take part in His project of love and embody the beauty of the Gospel in different states of life.”
In the same way, the first choice of General Chapter XXIV encourages us to “revitalize and bear witness together to the beauty of the Salesian vocation by placing ourselves in a state of ongoing formation for a renewed vocational impulse.”
In the logic of a Youth Ministry which is intrinsically vocational, vocation is not just a moment at the end of the journey of maturation in the life of young people. It is a reality that must qualify every stage and every phase of development. For this reason, we are called to promote a vocational culture, both by activating processes and through the testimony of life, elements that lead to the discovery of existence as a gift and as a project.
“Knowing that in every age God calls some people to follow him more closely, let us take special care of those young women who show signs of a religious vocation” and who demonstrate a particular vocation to service in the ecclesial community” (Art. 73 FMA Constitutions). This criterion calls for Educating Communities to accompany such young people, offering them opportunities to share more closely the educational mission, life in the Spirit, the proclamation of the Gospel, to the point of orienting them towards an explicit vocational path (Cf. LOME 147).
In this year 2024, dedicated precisely to prayer in preparation for the Jubilee, Pope Francis urges us to “rediscover the priceless gift of being able to dialogue with the Lord, heart to heart, thus becoming pilgrims of hope, because ‘prayer’ is the first strength of hope. You pray and hope grows; it goes forward. I would say that prayer opens the door to hope. There is hope, but I open the door with my prayer” (Catechesis, 20 May 2020).
Obrigada pelo terço vocacional. Que o Senhor ouça a nossa oração enviando muitas vocações generosas para a Igreja e para o nosso Instituto, especialmente nos lugares onde a escassez de seguidores e seguidoras de Jesus Cristo é maior. Que Nossa Senhora, Mãe e Mestra, nos ensine a “cultivar” as jovens que se sentem chamadas por Jesus, em nosso meio.
Grazie per questo regalo. Per el PPT.