________________Be Not Afraid; Come To Me' booklets help people
____________________address vocations one-on-one with Jesus

"We have to listen to the Lord." When it comes to vocation promotion, Father Joe Corel, diocesan vocation director, has to listen to the Lord, as well. Pope John Paul II spoke and wrote repeatedly on the importance of praying, most especially in the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, for vocations.

A few years ago, Fr. Corel listened to a presentation given by Father Michael Butler, who was then the vocation director for the St. Louis archdiocese, on the importance of praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament for vocations. Fr. Butler showed a publication the archdiocese had developed for guided Adoration, so other dioceses could borrow or adapt it for their own needs.

During Fr. Corel's travels within the diocese, many members of parishes where perpetual adoration is available asked why more wasn't being done to promote prayer for vocations in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It was as if the Lord was saying it was time to start praying this way.

Fr. Corel invited Jeanne Schnurr, Denise Barnes, Sister Mary Ruth Wand SSND, Kathleen Lavery and Deacon Fred Schmitz to put together a prayer book for school-age children and adults to use while praying for vocations during Adoration.

After about a year-and-a-half of starts and stops, Be Not Afraid; Come to Me has made it to almost every parish in the diocese. More than 1,000 chapel copies and 175 teacher manuals were printed and distributed. The teacher manual explains how to hold a holy hour even if there is no priest or deacon available and the Holy Eucharist is in the tabernacle. The teacher is also taught that a holy hour does not require a full 60 minutes.

There are several lesson plans for the teacher to explain what a holy hour is and how to best prepare to make a holy hour. Finally, within the chapel book, there are 17 call stories. The teacher manual gives a prayerful meditation for each of the call stories to be prayed after the same story has been read. Along with the call stories, the chapel book includes lives of the saints, a litany of the saints including all the parishes in the diocese, reflections on each mystery of the Rosary, and 31 vocation devotional prayers. The books have been available for use for about four months.

Monsignor Marion Makarewicz, pastor of the Vienna, Brinktown, Argyle and Koeltztown parishes, said the people of Vienna like the books so much they are all out of them and have to get new ones with stickers that say, "Please leave this in church." Msgr. Makarewicz also uses the books every first Friday in Argyle to begin the all-day Adoration for vocations.

Hopefully, by the end of next school year each student in PSR programs and Catholic schools will have been exposed to the books, and their families will have been made aware of them through different activities sponsored by their Home and School Association and other parish events. Begging the Harvest Master to send more laborers into His vineyard has to be top priority in creating a vocation-friendly culture.