THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This closes the Christmas Season as it recalls Our Lord’s Baptism in the Jordan River which is found in all four Gospels and which is a manifestation of the Holy Trinity as the Heavens open and in the Gospel of Luke we hear today “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)

So in thinking on these words and the Sacrament of Baptism in which we receive the gift of Sanctifying Grace I wanted to do a prayer today that reflected our gift through that baptism of being “beloved sons and daughters” of Our Father as Father Paul remarked in his homily and our call to each of our unique vocations.  So I found this prayer (a different prayer than I originally started with for this post.

 

PRAYER FOR OURSELVES AND OUR VOCATION

(Thanks to the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Cincinnati Province for letting me share this prayer; check out more prayers at cpps-preciousblood.org/prayers)

In the water of baptism, Lord God,
Your voice called out,
“You are my beloved sons and daughters,
with whom I am well pleased.”

You breathed your Spirit upon us,
and washed us in the saving blood of the Lord.

Open our ears to hear Your Word,
our minds to understand Your call,
our hearts to respond faithfully.

Give us courage to answer,
strength to persevere,
and a willingness to be sent.

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Christ,
in whose blood we have been saved.

Amen.

Trivia for the Day:

Vocation comes from the Latin vocare which means “to call.”

Vocational Guidance

We are ALL created by God for a specific vocation and it is through discernment and prayer that we work at finding that as God will not force His will on us to accept His call.  There is one’s “Primary” vocation (being called to the priesthood/religious life, marriage, or life as a celibate single person) and there is our “Secondary” vocation (what we do in our daily life) that helps fulfill God’s mission for each of us.

Some of us may find our vocation early in life; some of us may be still searching for it. No matter where you are, the important thing is to keep praying and when you may be unsure, look to Scripture for that vocational guidance.

As someone who often struggles to “find” my vocation (and hopes I haven’t “missed” it as a single person), I often turn to the call of Samuel the prophet in the Old Testament (1 Samuel, Chapter 3) as one of my places to turn. When we battle the confusion of the world in fulfilling our mission, the best thing to do is find a quiet place to ask, like Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” You may not hear the peal of thunder from Heaven (more likely, it will be a “small still voice”) but God will speak. We just need to trust.

Trust, Prayer and Never Giving Up

On that “Secondary” vocational front, I have wanted to be a fiction writer of some sort since middle school. It seems that every time I get moving back in the “right direction,” real life obligations or some crisis arises that diverts my path.

So as I write this, I find myself praying about that “right direction” God wants me to go. The one thing that gives me hope is that I am a beloved daughter of God. I was created for a purpose that may not be revealed to me in this life but I will trust, pray and never give up.

In the end starting this blog was to share writing (it may not be all the stories that populate my imagination) and hope that in someway, a word or prayer may help someone else in whatever small way God wills.

TODAY’S PRAYER MISSION

Reflect on the vocation prayer and some of its key points:

1. You are a beloved son or daughter of God
2. You have been saved by the blood of Jesus.
3. Open your mind and heart to respond to God.
4. Don’t be afraid to answer your unique call.