Vocation of Love (Pray-Cana Post)

We should pray for married couples to live out their vocation of faithful, fruitful, and lasting love, suggest the bishops in their newly recommended prayers for the faithful.   All of us should take this vocation to heart, seeking to live it in our own lives, to encourage it in the lives of those close to us, and to pray for it in the lives of all. 

The bishops' recommended prayers come as part of the USCCB Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage & Religious Liberty, which begins on December 30.  The bishops encourage that at Sunday and daily Masses the prayers of the faithful include specific intentions for the strengthening of marriage and family life. 

Their suggested prayers for marriage are:

"For all married couples, that they continue to live their vocation of love as an example to their families and to the world of God's faithful, fruitful, and lasting love.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those suffering from troubled or broken marriages, especially children, that they will be assured of God the Father's unfailing care for them.  Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those discerning a vocation to the priesthood, consecrated life, or marriage, that the Lord guide their hearts and make His will clear for their lives.  Let us pray to the Lord." 

These prayers provide powerful, public support that is badly needed.  When I asked a colleague for his opinion on why so many marriages, even Catholic marriages, were failing, he said, "In our parishes, we pray for vocations to the priesthood and vocations to religious life, but when do we pray for vocations to marriage?"  Here's our chance.

Please ask your pastor to include these prayers at some point in the coming year, perhaps on the upcoming Feast of the Holy Family or on the last Sunday of each month, when the bishops have requested Eucharistic adoration for these intentions.   The full text of the prayers are available at the following link: USCCB-Prayers-of-the-Faithful.pdf.