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A few weeks back, in our Feb. 6 issue to be exact, the story on Catholic New York’s front page told of an inspired new project that asked homebound, sick and frail elderly Catholics to join a “spiritual army” that prays for increased vocations to the priesthood.
If you pray, “God will answer,” said a 91-year-old nursing home resident in Manhattan who was one of the first to enlist in the effort, signing on even before the official Feb. 11 startup on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Now that Lent is under way, we think it’s time to reissue that invitation to any of our homebound, elderly or ill readers who may have missed the story the first time around.
Everybody has a role to play in the Church; everybody is part of the Church’s prayers. No matter if you cannot leave your home without help, or cannot leave it at all. No matter if you reside in a nursing home or are hospitalized, if you’re suffering an injury or illness. No matter how advanced your age.
Your prayers are valuable, and the Church needs them now more than ever—for more vocations, and for the new priests themselves. And no one has to leave their home, or even their room, to join.
“I can’t think of anyone better to offer up those prayers on a daily basis…Everyone in the priesthood needs those prayers,” said Father Enrique Salvo, who is shepherding the program as director of the archdiocesan Office of Vocations.
He said the practice of asking for the prayers of the sick and the elderly can be traced to an ancient tradition of the Church. Their redemptive suffering, he said, places them in union with Christ on the cross and makes them powerful intercessors.
The initiative, sponsored by the Vocations Office, is called the Vocation Prayer Apostolate.
Parish pastors, parochial vicars and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist who visit the elderly at home or in care facilities are the first point of contact for the program. Those who “spiritually enroll in their heart” will be given a booklet, in English or Spanish, to guide them through specific prayers for the cause.
But the prayers don’t have to be followed by rote. Any prayer, like an “Our Father” or a “Hail Mary,” if it’s offered for vocations, will have a powerful effect—in more ways than one.
Certainly, adding the prayers of the homebound and bedridden to those offered by their fellow Catholics elsewhere keeps them linked in a concrete way to the Church family and their fellow Catholics.
It brings the homebound closer to Christ, as they link the sufferings they may have to his sufferings, and it adds to the spiritual support that new and prospective priests need as they begin or discern their vocations.
We ask all of our readers who would like more information on this project, or who would like to participate, to contact their pastors, or to ask a family member or caregiver to make the call for them.
The Church needs everyone’s help and everyone’s prayers.
