Florida Catholic | Stirring Up Vocations

PRAY FOR VOCATIONS: DATES, TIMES AND LOCATIONS

Stirring up vocations

A monstrance blessed by Pope John Paul II will make a pilgrimage through the archdiocese
April 6-20.

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 03.28.08

Providence has also smiled on us because while the papal monstrance is here in Miami, Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the United States.”
– Father Manny Alvarez

MIAMI | Father Manny Alvarez hopes it will be a gift that keeps on giving — in the form of priests to celebrate Mass and hear confessions, and religious men and women to do the work of the Lord in south Florida.

A monstrance blessed by Pope John Paul II will make its way through the archdiocese April 6-20 as part of the 50th anniversary celebration. It will give Catholics in south Florida the opportunity to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

“Those particular two weeks were chosen because World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which is celebrated worldwide, happens to be on April 13,” said Father Alvarez, archdiocesan director of vocations. “Providence has also smiled on us because while the papal monstrance is here in Miami, Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the United States. So the signs are already visible that this will be a special event for the archdiocese.”

The monstrance is one of six blessed by the late pope — now known as the Servant of God, the first step in the canonization process — as part of the worldwide celebration of the Year of the Eucharist, October 2004 to October 2005.

Each monstrance represents one of the world’s continents and was meant to be used to promote adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and prayers for vocations.

The journey of the North American monstrance is being coordinated by Serra USA, an organization dedicated to promoting vocations in the Catholic Church. Father Alvarez said he heard about “the success of the monstrance’s pilgrimage” during a vocations directors’ convention in 2006.

“I thought it would be a great idea to have the monstrance do a pilgrimage through the archdiocese, particularly during the jubilee year,” he said.

Archbishop John C. Favalora formally requested it and set aside April 6-20 for the monstrance’s pilgrimage in south Florida.

Father Alvarez said, “The first thing that I hope to come out of these days of prayer is for good, healthy, holy young men to start beating my door down to get into the seminary.”

But aside from that, “I pray this pilgrimage will be a chance for the people to be renewed in their faith. I hope that through their prayers they may realize the beauty of the Eucharist and, of course, of the priesthood, without which we would not have the Eucharist. The people of God really do love their priests, and I pray that these jubilee days will heighten their awareness that we need to pray every day for our priests and for more vocations.”

Father Alvarez said 40 seminarians are studying for the archdiocese: 17 at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami; 20 are continuing at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach; two are discerning outside the seminary and one is in the process of learning during a “language year” in a parish.

Six men will be ordained to the priesthood May 10. Seven are applying to enter the seminary next year and 10 more men in high school and college are contemplating whether to apply.

“As you can see, the Lord is already stirring the hearts of our young people,” Father Alvarez said, although he admitted that numbers don’t mean everything.

“Obviously, we need more priests, but we should not sacrifice quality for quantity,” he said. “Our prayer should simply be to implore the Lord to send us good and holy priests. The Lord is calling. What we need to pray for is that our young people recognize the shepherd’s voice and respond to it.”

Father Alvarez added that he is confident that people’s prayers April 6-20 will have tangible results.

“I have always told the parishioners of whatever parish I served in that the reason I was there was that, without knowing me, they had been praying for me since before I entered seminary,” he said. “So people may kneel before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament during these two weeks and unknowingly be praying for a young man who one day will hear their confession, nourish them at the table of the Lord or anoint them as they prepare to meet the Lord. Prayer is extremely powerful and the Lord is listening.”

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