The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced that the 2018 National Vocation Awareness Week would be from November 4-10. Regnum Christi members all over the North American territory have been participating this week through providing discernment tips, praying for vocations and sharing vocation stories.
Discernment Tips
The Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi have been sharing discernment tips each day, all week, on their Instagram page. They said “This National Vocations Awareness Week, we want to offer you a few tips for preparing your heart to hear God’s call to the mission he has for you.” The consecrated women have done a beautiful job helping us all prepare our hearts to hear God’s call, you can check out their tips and follow them by visiting their Instagram page @consecratedwomen_rcna
Here’s a little sample of what the consecrated women have been sharing this week:
“Get to know God. God wants a relationship with you, and this relationship of love is going to be at the center of whatever vocation he is calling you to. The better you know God, the better you are going to know who you truly are and who he calls you to be. There are two places we get to know him: Sacred Scripture and the Eucharist. Making extra time for Mass, adoration, and reading Scripture is an excellent way to start preparing your heart for the mission he has for you.”
Prayers for Vocations
In a USCCB news release, dated October 1, 2018, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations states: “Quiet reflection and prayer are essential elements for vocational discernment. It is in the interior depths of our heart where we hear the voice of Christ, where he speaks to us, and where he reveals his will for our lives.”
Please join us in a prayer for vocations.
Lord Jesus, Eternal Shepherd, in your kindness, look with mercy in this part of your beloved flock. Lord, we cry out to you as orphans: Grant us vocations! Call many of your people to be Holy Priests and Consecrated men and women.
We ask Mary, your tender, holy Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to intercede for us.
Jesus, grant us priests and Consecrated persons after Your own Heart! Amen.
The USCCB also offer many additional prayers for vocations. One is to St. Juniper Serra:
O sincere and humble Saint Serra, we ask for your intercession that those called to serve our Lord through priestly and religious vocations might do so with the same obedience, zeal, and humility you exhibited as a priest, brother, teacher, and spiritual father. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Consider a Vocation
National Vocation Awareness Week is designed to help promote vocation awareness and to encourage young people to ask the question: “To what vocation in life is God calling me?”
In answering a question as big as this it’s sometimes helpful to hear how others have responded to the same question and how they heard God’s call. So, we’ve included a testimonial from each of the four vocations within the Regnum Christi spiritual family below.
Fr. David Daly, Legionaries of Christ
“I’d already been in Regnum Christi for a year or so…it kind of resonated (with me): the lifestyle, the prayers. I liked the fraternity, the brotherhood, the discipline, the intensity, and seriousness of the Legionaries I saw and the other young men in the candidacy program. I was really attracted by the clear mission and the great ideals of changing the world for Christ.” Read Full Story
Antonio Maza, Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi
“God placed in my heart a strong inclination to help others at an early age. I remember working Sundays as a volunteer at a local orphanage. Later on, this inclination was transformed, through the tragic death of a friend, into a desire to become a physician. But, during my last year of high school, God changed my plans and helped me see that people need Christ more than they need a physician.” Read Full Story
Emily Roman, Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi
“My dad sent my sister and me on one of the first ECYD retreats in North Carolina. We didn’t have a choice but, after I went, I was super grateful. The way the consecrated women would speak about Christ, the way they led these different activities set my heart on fire and made me realize that they had something that I wanted. I was ready to change the world. I wanted to give my life for Christ from the first retreat.” Read Full Story
Katie and Chris Baker, Lay Members of Regnum Christi
“It was a long journey of coming to know who we are, being inspired to go deeper, and also recognizing God’s love. The more we experienced God’s love, the more we grew to trust him and encounter him in our lives, in our marriage, and in the people he was placing in our lives. We kind of both came to a point where we thought, ‘we want to give back what we’ve received,’ and that was the moment where suddenly we realized we wanted to become a part of Regnum Christi.” Read Full Story
