Catholic Teens - January 10, 2005

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:35:34 -0600, pwxsevere wrote
> Hey There!
>
> Hope things are going well as your 1st Semester and winds down!
>
> This week is actually a focus on Vocations. Now a vocation is what
> God calls you to do with your life. For some it is a priest or
> sister. For others it is marriage. And for still others it is the
> single life. And God has a vocation for each and every one of us!
> We spend much of our young life asking God what vocation we're
> supposed to be in. I'm 28 and I just found my vocation (getting
> married on May 28th :-) ). Yet, a few years ago, while I was
> asking God what I was supposed to do, I ended up going to Rome with
> a bunch of other young men from around the country for a week. We
> went there to see if God was calling us to be priests. And it was a
> beautiful trip! But that wasn't where God wanted me. Finding your
> vocation is a journey, but a wonderful one!
>
> Pope John Paul II recently made some comments directly to people
> your age.....
>
> "Dear young men and women! Trust Christ; listen attentively to his
> teachings, fix your eyes on his face, persevere in listening to his
> Word. Allow Him to focus your search and your aspirations, all your
> ideals and the desires of your heart," the Pope writes.
>
> The full article is below.
>
> God bless you!
> Phil Lawson
>
> Papal Advice to Young People: Be Not Afraid to
> Follow Christ
> In Message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations
>
> VATICAN CITY, JAN. 9, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In his message for the next
> World Day of Prayer for Vocations, John Paul II encourages young
> people to respond to Christ's call to follow him without hesitation.
>
> The Pope in his message reminds youth that the world today needs
> "holy priests" and "persons wholly consecrated to the service of
> God."
>
> "Dear adolescents and young people, it is to you in a particular way
> that I renew the invitation of Christ to 'put out into the deep,'"
> the Holy Father says in the message, published Saturday by the
> Vatican press office. The Day of Prayer takes places April 17.
>
> "You find yourselves having to make important decisions for your
> future," he writes. "I still hold in my heart the memory of the many
> opportunities I have had over the years to meet with young people,
> who have now become adults, some of them your own parents, perhaps,
> or priests or religious, your teachers in the faith."
>
> "I saw them, happy as young people should be, but also thoughtful,
> because they were conscious of a desire to give full 'meaning' to
> their lives," the Pope states in the message entitled "Called to Put
> Out into the Deep."
>
> "I came to recognize more and more how strong is the attraction in
> young people to the values of the spirit, and how sincere in their
> desire for holiness. Young people need Christ, but they also know
> that Christ chose to be in need of them," John Paul II continues.
>
> "Dear young men and women! Trust Christ; listen attentively to his
> teachings, fix your eyes on his face, persevere in listening to his
> Word. Allow Him to focus your search and your aspirations, all your
> ideals and the desires of your heart," the Pope writes.
>
> The papal message then addresses parents and Christian educators,
> priests, consecrated persons and catechists to remind them of their
> "peculiar task of guiding young people on the path to holiness."
>
> "Be an example to them of generous fidelity to Christ. Encourage
> them to 'put out into the deep' without hesitation, responding
> eagerly to the invitation of the Lord. Some he calls to family life,
> others to consecrated life or to the ministerial priesthood," the
> Holy Father states.
>
> "When adult Christians show themselves capable of revealing the face
> of Christ through their own words and example, young people are more
> ready to welcome His demanding message, stamped as it is with the
> mystery of the Cross," he adds.
>
> "Do not forget that today too there us need of holy priests, of
> persons wholly consecrated to the service of God!" he says.
>
> He concludes the message with a prayer, asking Jesus to waken in the
> "hearts of young people the desire to be witnesses in the world of
> today to the power of your love."
>
> Pope Paul VI instituted the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in
> 1964. ZE05010907
>
> email this article

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you
wish." --Mother Teresa