Thought for the Day – 10 July – Wednesday of the Fourteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Matthew 10:1–7
“Jesus sent these Men on Mission as the Twelve”
Saint John-Paul II (1920-2005)
Pope from 1978 to 2005
Prayer for Vocations,
35th World Day of Vocations,
3 May 1998
Spirit of eternal Love,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
we thank You for all the vocations
to be apostles and saints
that have made the Church fruitful.
Continue Your work, we beg You.
Remember the moment when, on Pentecost,
You came down on the Apostles united in prayer
together with Mary, the mother of Jesus
and look at Your Church, which today
has a special need for holy priests,
for faithful and authorised witnesses of Your grace,
which needs consecrated men and women
who radiate the joy of those who live only for the Father,
of those who make their own.
the mission and offering of Christ,
of those who build the new world in love.
Holy Spirit, eternal Source of joy and peace,
You open our hearts and minds to the divine call,
You make effective every surge
towards the good, towards truth, towards love.
Your inexpressible groanings
rise up to the Father from the heart of the Church
that is suffering and struggling for the Gospel.
Open the hearts and minds of young men and women,
so that a new flowering of holy vocations
might show forth the fidelity of Your love,
and that all might know Christ,
the true light who came into the world
to give every human being
the assured hope of eternal life.
Amen
AnaStpaul 