At this month’s Parish Council meeting, the question of what we can do to promote vocations came up for discussion. Many ideas were exchanged, some of them quite good. A practical consideration that arose is something that we can do rather easily. Already at our daily Masses’ conclusion, we pray a prayer for vocations that is in the back of the blue hymnals. It was suggested, and I approve the idea, that for Lent—only for the Sundays of Lent—we pray that prayer at the end of Mass before the final hymn. So we’ll begin that on Ash Wednesday, and continue through the season of Lent, Sundays and all, to pray for vocations to the priesthood to come from our parish and archdiocese, as well as throughout the Church.
We are in the process now of renewing our parish web site. There is a group of parishioners who have begun working on gathering new photographs of staff, organization heads, and sites within the St. Luke campus, that will be used for a renewed website. Not only will this be a new website, though, it will be a media ministry, a group of people, whom Deacon Paul will direct at first, who will use the electronic media (facebook, twitter, the internet and so forth) to get the message out to the world of what is going on for the sake of the Gospel here in our parish! I think you will be pleased with the work this group is doing.
Since Lent is upon us, I encourage you all to plan what you will give up for the next 40 days. And I encourage you to think what extra you will do as a sacrifice to unite your spirit with that of Christ during the holy season of penance that is Lent. I know it would be a sacrifice for some of you to give of your time to pass a vacuum in church on Monday mornings with the Altar Society members, but it could be an excellent sacrifice to embrace, if you are having a hard time thinking of something to do extra for this season!