Painting by Bernadette Lopez
Prayer for Vocations - 25th April 2024
Right through the month of April we have been hearing Easter Alleluias ringing through our dark and broken world, as it teeters on the brink of war, hatred, and migration of peoples, in search of new homes in countries not their own.
The greeting of the Risen Lord: Peace Be with You; It is I, Fear Not! restores equilibrium. Jesus walks with his friends, speaks the Word, shares a meal, breaks the bread, and then sends them out, empowered and transformed by the Spirit, to spread the good news to the whole world.
The hymn, Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know that He holds the future… yes, Life is worth the living, just because He lives captures it beautifully.
We are also reflecting this month on the 4th chapter of our Spiritual Journey: Aware of our Weaknesses, in which I get in touch with my heart, those pretexts, excuses, old resistances, which I use to protect myself, to prevent the One at the door from asking too much of me; the difficulties of community living; I expose myself just as I am, and ask for healing.
But I also know that the Lord brought me into the wilderness and spoke tenderly to my heart. I thank for such Divine graciousness which forgives and opens up possibilities of new beginnings; I entrust myself to the Spirit dwelling within us and transforming us through His power to remove whatever hinders His action.
Reflection
Having experienced the call of the Risen Lord to share His message of Love and Forgiveness with the whole world, how can I take care of those inner attitudes of understanding and tenderness that make me more human, and the places where I live and work more loving?
How can I widen my gaze to acknowledge the call to take action with others to advocate for structural and systemic change, so that our broken world may witness the power of the Resurrection, and be made whole?
How can I respond to the call to personal interior transformation, by the Spirit, that spreads outwards in interlocking circles of care, compassion, communion, to impact (i) Our world & (ii) Especially the young people I interact with so that they feel inspired to follow the call of the Risen Lord: “Come, follow me.”
Radiating Christ (Prayer of Cardinal Newman)
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
We end with the prayer of Kathleen Hughes RSCJ for vocations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjjTUJG5nGc
