Fourth Sunday of Easter Sunday, April 25, 2021

Fourth Sunday of Easter Sunday, April 25, 2021

As sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd, we join our prayers with people throughout the world asking for vocations to Holy Orders and religious life and for all our needs.  

1. That Pope Francis may follow the example of Christ of total devotion to his sheep and inspire all shepherds in the Church to dedicate their lives to those they have been called to serve.  We pray to the Lord.
2. That political leaders will recognize their positions as vocations that enable them to selflessly care for their people, and may they see Jesus as the model of willingness to lay down one’s life in service to humanity.  We pray to the Lord.
3. That vocations to the religious life may be pursued following St. Joseph’s example of dreaming to find fulfillment, living entirely in service for others rather than for oneself, and faithfully persevering in quietly serving God and his plans.^[1]  We pray to the Lord. 
4. That clergy may avoid being hirelings who are “eager for earthly advantages, rejoice in the honor of preferment, feed on temporal gain, enjoy the deference offered them by other people” and, when the wolf appears, remain silent.^[2]  We pray to the Lord.
5. That parents who struggle in raising their children to be faithful sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd may hear his voice in their own lives and trust that he is leading others in ways they may not understand.  We pray to the Lord.
6. That children making their First Holy Communion in these weeks will hear and trust the voice of the Good Shepherd who is present to them in the sacrament and who calls them throughout their lives as he feeds them, knows them, and forms them.  We pray to the Lord.
7. That Catholic communities suffering persecution may hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, trust that he sees the wolves who try to catch and scatter them, and be uplifted knowing that he lays down his life for his sheep. We pray to the Lord.
8. That those building their lives who have rejected Jesus or do not know him will come to recognize him as the cornerstone who offers mercy and salvation.  We pray to the Lord.
9. That we may respond to our vocation as faithful people of one flock able to see Christ among the poor, the refugees, and the sick and acting to relieve suffering, loneliness, and fear.  We pray to the Lord.
10. That on this 46th anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate, Fr. Christopher may celebrate with joy his years shepherding people for the Lord buoyed by the grace of Holy Orders.  We pray to the Lord.
11. That those who are ill may take refuge in the Lord and seek his comfort and healing for their infirmities.  We pray to the Lord.
12. That those who we mourn may find salvation through Jesus, the name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.  We pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we join in prayer thankful that you sent your Son to live among us, to teach us how to live, to lay down his life for our sins, and to be raised from the dead. We offer these prayers through Jesus Christ Our Lord, the Good Shepherd who leads us

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^[1] Based on the Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 2021 World Day of Vocations, 25 April 2021. Saint Joseph: The Dream of Vocation.

^[2] Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels 15, in Forty Gospel Homilies, translated by Dom David Hurst, Cistercian Publications, 107 (1990). [cited in, The Gospel of John by F. Martin and W. M. Wright IV]