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Inner Life of a Catholic

The Profession of Faith 

Somtimes an idea is so simple it is just brilliant. The Circle of Prayer recently got a request to help promote a campaign for an increase in worldwide vocations. A website in the US has launced a great idea - Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations all over the world. 

By Christmas 2003 they had hoped to present the Pope with 100,000 hours of Eucharistic Adoration dedicated specifically for vocations. On January they actually presented him with over 125,000 hours! The worldwide effort has already attracted registered adorers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Germany, Venezuela, Austria, Singapore, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, New Zealand, Slovakia, Uruguay, Ireland and Swaziland and now there are 41 different countries participating, thank be to God. It's easy to sign up - just go to www.vocations.com and complete the form. But perhaps you might think about helping out too. It's really very simple!

Here in Galway City we have a Perpetual Adoration Chapel and I know many of the Adorers don't have computers or internet access. So a poster and some forms were printed and left in the Chapel. Within just 4 days we had over 100 dedicated Holy Hours for vocations. By Christmas we had gathered 258 hours in a few short weeks and now that Christmas is over it continues and grows.

The Circle of Prayer website is visited by folk from all over the world who have internet access, but I'm sure there are people spending time in Adoration Chapels or times of Eucharistic Adoration in hundreds of thousands of parishes worldwide, who don't have computers or internet access. So, in order to harness this powerful medium to the very best of outcomes, we have placed both a poster and a form on plain pages to allow folk to print them off and display them in their own areas where Eucharistic Adoration takes place. All it needs is a date, time, signature and location every time someones dedicates their Holy Hour for vocations.

The form has a returning address on the bottom and the folk at Vocation.com have set December 20th as the deadline for this campaign, in order to be able to get everything together and presented to the Pope or sent to Rome in time for Christmas.

If any of you reading this would like to promote Eucharistic Adoration for Vocations in your own area just print off the posters and as many forms as you need, suggest the campaign to your Parish Priest and ask if you can leave them in your Churches or Adoration Chapels. You must be responsible for their collection as our Priests have so much to do without adding to their workload. You can either email vocation.com your list of Adorers, their times and their location, or post the completed forms back to the US. using the mailing address is on the bottom of the form. I just registered our Adoration Chapel here and email Father Bannon from their website every two weeks or so with the total of our completed dedicated hours.

This initiative is one which will run continuously, I think, and once started there may be no stopping it. But like all good ideas, from tiny seeds do great things grow. Here's some lovely quotations used by Michael Heneghan, the man who organises Eucharistic Adoration in Mervue Parish in Galway, Ireland:

"Saint John Vianney saw with his very own eyes Jesus cup the face of each person who visited Him in the Blessed Sacrament and gave each one a tender kiss of gratitude."

"Blessed Mother Theresa once wrote (15 Aug. 1993), 'Perpetual Adoration with exposition needs a great push. People ask me "What will convert America and save the world?" my answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in holy hours of prayer'"

Michael tells us that 'we don't have to be 'praying a lot of prayers'. Just be there - and look at Him with love. Fix your eyes on Jesus in the Host.' I am reminded of the story of the little old man who used to sit in the church for hours at a time every day and when the Priest asked him what he did during his time he replied: "Oh, I just look at Him and He just looks at me"
 

There is a great need for vocations all over the world and an even greater need for good seminaries that are loyal to the Teachings of Christ, the Traditions of the Church, the Teachings of the Church and to the Pope. Much has changed in our Church since Vatican II closed, not all of it for the good. This great Council of the Church has been used and abused by those who would push a liberal agenda which goes against all of the above.  There is need for much prayer and we as the Lay Apostolate can do much in this area. There are areas in the world where the Catholic Church is persecuted, where the Priests and Seminarians are murdered, arrested or forbidden to minister, teach or learn. We here in Ireland know what that is like and for hundreds of years during the Penal Times we experienced the same persecution. The Catholic Church in Great Britain also had its periods of persecution from the 16th to the 19th century. The Church in communist countries suffered, and still suffers, for the faith. Prayer is the only answer.

We have added a page with some prayers for vocations and would suggest dedicating your Masses and the Rosary, as well as dedicated hours of Perpetual Adoration and intecessory prayers for vocations.