St. Margaret’s, St. Joseph’s & St. Finnan’s
Parish priest: Fr. Tom Wynne. Tel/Fax: 01397-
e-
Blessed Mary MacKillop web site: www.gaeldom.com/mmk
Weekly
Bulletin Online: www.gaeldom.com/bulletin
RC Diocese of Argyll & the Isles Charity
Registration No. SC002876
Sunday April 13th. 2008
Christ, the Good Shepherd
Vocations Sunday
Vocations Sunday
Good Shepherd Sunday is dedicated as Vocations Sunday throughout the Church. It is a day on which we recall our Lord’s words: “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers into the harvest. The harvest is indeed great, but the labourers are few.”
Our Lord’s appeal is more important now than ever before, as the numbers offering to serve God in the priesthood and religious life have declined seriously over the past few years. One of the most serious problems facing many bishops is the closure or the amalgamation of parishes because of the shortage of priests. Although there are some encouraging signs for the future, the present situation requires a lot of careful thought.
We are all called to a vocation according to God’s plans. For the majority of people, marriage is the common vocation of all. By God’s divine providence, a couple meet, are attracted to each other, and this attraction develops into a romance, and a deep love that they wish to seal in God’s presence at the altar before their family, friends and the community. They invite God to witness their marriage vows to be faithful to each other until death parts them. By the power of God the two become one. “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh”.
This beautiful sacrament allows them to share in the creative power of Almighty, and increase the children of God on this earth. It is a sacrament that gives them all the grace that they will need to commit themselves to bringing up a family. Although this has many joys attached to it, it has equally many responsibilities, and parents have to be prepared to make many sacrifices for their children. Each child is like a flower, and requires all the love and attention to help it blossom forth with all its varied talents with which God has endowed it.
It is within the family that vocations to the priesthood and religious life are nourished by the example of good, devout parents.
The following story is told about Fr. Giuseppe Sarto. After he was consecrated a bishop, he returned home to his bedridden mother to give her his blessing. As she clasped his hand to kiss his new episcopal ring, he took her hand gently in his hand and kissed her wedding ring, and said: “Mama, if it was not for your wedding ring, I would not be wearing this episcopal ring today”. Later he was to become Pope Pius X, and was canonised a saint in 1954. It was he who allowed little children, when they reached the age of reason, to receive their First Holy Communion.
Our Lord’s appeal is more important now than ever before, as the numbers offering to serve God in the priesthood and religious life have declined seriously over the past few years. One of the most serious problems facing many bishops is the closure or the amalgamation of parishes because of the shortage of priests. Although there are some encouraging signs for the future, the present situation requires a lot of careful thought.
We are all called to a vocation according to God’s plans. For the majority of people, marriage is the common vocation of all. By God’s divine providence, a couple meet, are attracted to each other, and this attraction develops into a romance, and a deep love that they wish to seal in God’s presence at the altar before their family, friends and the community. They invite God to witness their marriage vows to be faithful to each other until death parts them. By the power of God the two become one. “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh”.
This beautiful sacrament allows them to share in the creative power of Almighty, and increase the children of God on this earth. It is a sacrament that gives them all the grace that they will need to commit themselves to bringing up a family. Although this has many joys attached to it, it has equally many responsibilities, and parents have to be prepared to make many sacrifices for their children. Each child is like a flower, and requires all the love and attention to help it blossom forth with all its varied talents with which God has endowed it.
It is within the family that vocations to the priesthood and religious life are nourished by the example of good, devout parents.
The following story is told about Fr. Giuseppe Sarto. After he was consecrated a bishop, he returned home to his bedridden mother to give her his blessing. As she clasped his hand to kiss his new episcopal ring, he took her hand gently in his hand and kissed her wedding ring, and said: “Mama, if it was not for your wedding ring, I would not be wearing this episcopal ring today”. Later he was to become Pope Pius X, and was canonised a saint in 1954. It was he who allowed little children, when they reached the age of reason, to receive their First Holy Communion.
The saintly Pope always held his parents in great reverence because it was their example that gave him, and the rest of the family, a deep love of God, and devotion to the saints and respect for the Church, which led him to the priesthood.
May God inspire our parents to give a similar example, so that their home and family may become a nursery for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
May God inspire our parents to give a similar example, so that their home and family may become a nursery for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
