Saint Matthew Parish issued the following announcement on Jan. 24.
What is your family vocation plan? No, there isn’t a typo in the question. Many people spend hours, days, even months dreaming about how they will spend a day off from their regular schedules or a school break to make an extraordinary vacation. Some give the same energy toward dreaming and planning about how they their ordinary family lives will give glory to God.
Making choices about your vocation – responding to the calling or destiny we have from God in this life and hereafter - is as important to maintaining a healthy Christian family as planning for special family time like a vacation. As the 8th World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia highlights, strong bonds within and between families magnifies the Church’s witness to the crucial importance of marriage and the family for the good of all society.
A simple way to “take a family vocation” is to pray together with members of the Communion of Saints. For example:
Mary, Undoer of Knots: Mother of God and Our Mother, pray for us.
St. Joseph: Patron Saint of Husbands, Fathers, and the Working Individual, pray for us.
St. John Bosco: Patron Saint of Youth, pray for us.
St. Anne: Patron Saint of Grandmothers, pray for us.
St. Joachim: Patron Saint of Grandfathers, pray for us.
St. Raphael: Patron Saint of Single People, pray for us.
Become more mindful of taking a family vocation by choosing one theme used at the 8th World Meeting of Families as a focus for your family pray and living every day. You can read about all 10 theme online. Here are 4 possibilities to get you started:
1. Created for Joy
God created us in his image and likeness with a plan for our lives. Amid the many difficulties and uncertainties of life, our mission is to follow Christ, discover his plan for us, and enter into relationships centered on love, service, and worship of him.
✚ How might we follow Christ more intentionally at home, in the workplace, and in our community?
2. The Mission of Love
God seeks to heal a broken universe by calling us to share his eternal love and commitment to his people with the world. One of the ways that God’s love is best reflected is through the sacrament of marriage.
✚ What are some ways that we ensure our marriage is built on a solid foundation of commitment, trust, love, and service?
3. The Meaning of Human Sexuality
Because we are created by God and in his image for a purpose, our sexuality, too, reflects his love. Our bodies, integrated with our spirit, have an innate dignity.
✚ In what ways can we celebrate the dignity of our sexuality as a life-giving gift from God?
4. Two Become One
The sacrament of marriage unites man and woman together as one flesh. Strong marriages are built upon the cardinal and theological virtues, especially those of mercy and chastity.
✚ How do we hold up marriage as an example of God’s love for his people?
Original source can be found here.
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