Introducing the Traveling Vocations Chalice Program

We as a parish are being invited to become a part of a new program being initiated in many parishes throughout the country. It is called the Traveling Vocations Chalice Program.
 
Provides an excellent opportunity for families to pray for Vocations at home and teaches your children to appreciate the value of Priesthood and Consecrated Life.
 
The Vocation Chalice can be picked up at the church during any weekend Mass and returned the following weekend. During that week the host family will be asked to make a special effort to pray together with emphasis on an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, as well as a clear understanding as to the vocation Christ is calling each family member. 
 
Sign up here:
 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080A4AA4AB2CA6FE3-vocation

It is our hope that this experience will encourage each of us to take seriously our vocation as a member of the Body of Christ and encourage ALL of us to pray for the gift of vocations to priesthood & religious life.
 
We believe the Spirit is calling forth men and women from our faith community to these roles of service. May our prayer help inspire young women and men to be attentive to the movement of the Spirit within them and to step forward in faith and with generous hearts to wherever the Spirit leads them.

-What is a vocation?

A vocation is God actively inviting - or calling - us to “share in his own blessed life.” In other words, God is calling us to a relationship with Him, and holiness means choosing to live and grow in that relationship. In the universal sense then, our vocation is holiness.

Having created us, God knows exactly how our particular gifts and passions can draw us and others closer to Him, and so our particular vocation will look a bit different from those around us. It’s in our particular vocation that we can find out how God is inviting us into a state of life where we can generously encounter the needs of others. A young woman who is gifted with compassion for the sick might be called to the consecrated life within a community of religious sisters who minister in a hospital. A young man who is gifted with leadership might be called to be the leader in a parish as a priest. A young woman or man who is gifted in teaching could be called to the married life to teach their children about the faith.

Just so we’re clear, we’re not talking about your occupation here. We’re talking about the state of life in which God can use you to bring others to heaven along with yourself.

Remember, since we are called to be in relationship with God and those around us, every vocation is about serving others. A great question to start the pursuit of your vocation is “What is the most generous thing I can do with my life?”

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you… plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
-Jer. 29:11
 

WHAT IS DISCERNMENT?

THE TWO HALVES OF DISCERNMENT

The term “discernment” comes from the word meaning “to sift.”  It involves sifting through the different voices that call to us, in order to listen to God’s voice.  It also means sifting through our own thoughts, feelings, desires, and motivations to discover where God is leading us.  Discernment isn’t simply a thought exercise, though!  It is first and foremost about seeking not an answer, but a Person, the One who is the Answer.  Discernment requires a relationship with God that is watered constantly through prayer.  That prayer then leads us to take steps to respond to what the Lord is inviting us to.  Prayer naturally leads to action, then--and that action leads back to prayer.  A good discernment will always have both of these elements.-

• Prayer
• Action

Information from: Diocese of Austin
Austin Vocations