Our Parish Traveling Chalice Program to Pray for Vocations begins Saturday, November 27th at the Vigil Mass of the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new Liturgical Year. Monsignor Michael Tugwell donated this chalice which, like all those used at Mass, is consecrated (reserved for sacred use) to hold the Precious Blood of Jesus. A craftsman commissioned by Tom and Jane Witzman took 2 1/ 2 years to construct an exquisite case of wood and glass and a carrying case. We suggest that you place it in some highly visible place in the home, for example, in the center of your dining room table. The ministry volunteers keep the chalice in their home for a week and pray daily for vocations. A suggested program of prayer is included below for your use. If you are interested in hosting the chalice for a week, please complete the Sign Up form or contact the parish office at 682-4622 or https://olvnow.com/contact-us.
Traveling Chalice ministers will be scheduled through the form below. The ministers will receive an email reminder for the week the volunteer will be receiving the Traveling Chalice at Mass. We will rotate the presentation to a different Mass each weekend as we go through the year. The order of the weekly presentations will follow the Mass times as listed in the bulletin (for example: week 1 - Saturday 4:00 PM Mass, week 2 - Sunday 9:00 AM Mass, week 3 - Sunday 11:00 AM Mass, etc.)
With the Holy Father, we pray for an increase in priestly and religious vocations throughout the universal Church. O Father, raise up among Christians numerous and holy vocations to the priesthood, to keep the faith alive and guard the gracious memory of your Son Jesus through the preaching of his word and the administration of the Sacraments, with which you continually renew your faithful. Give us holy ministers of your altar, who are careful and fervent guardians of the Eucharist, the sacrament of the supreme gift of Christ for the redemption of the world. Call ministers of your mercy, who, through the sacrament of Reconciliation, spread the joy of your forgiveness. Grant, O Father, that the Church may welcome with joy numerous inspirations of the Spirit of your Son and, docile to His teachings, may she care for vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life. Sustain the Bishops, priests and deacons, consecrated men and women, and all the baptized in Christ, so that they may faithfully fulfill their mission at the service of the Gospel. This we pray You through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Our Father
We pray for all of those who might not know their vocation in life. Through prayer and with God’s help, may they come to know His will for their lives. Lord, my God and my loving Father, You have made me to know You, to love You, to serve You, and thereby to find and fulfill myself. I know that every path can lead me to You, but of them all, there is one especially by which You want me to come to You. Since I will do what You want of me, I pray, send Your Holy Spirit to me: into my mind, to show me what You want of me; into my heart, to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love, with all my mind, and with all my strength right to the end. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Hail Mary
We pray that we might grow in our love and devotion to Mary. We turn to you, Mary, Mother of the Church. Through your "yes," you have opened the door that makes Christ present in the world, in history, and in individual lives. In humble silence and in total availability, you welcomed the call of the Most High. May there be many men and women in our day who respond to your Son's invitation: "Follow me!" Grant them courage to leave family, work, and earthly desires to follow Christ along the road that He walked. Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us and for an increase of priestly and religious vocations. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Hail Mary
We pray for an increase in vocations within the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee [Prayer Leader] Lord, have mercy. [Response] Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God the Father of heaven, Have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us. Holy Mary, Pray for us. St. Joseph, protector of the Holy Church, Pray for us. St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, Pray for us. St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests, Pray for us. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Pray for us. St. Charles Borromeo, patron of seminarians, Pray for us. St. Katherine Drexel, Pray for us. St. Stephen, patron of deacons, Pray for us. St. John Berchmans, patron of altar servers, Pray for us. St. Junipero Serra, Pray for us. All you holy men and women. Pray for us. Through your mercy, send workers into Your harvest, Lord. Through our prayers and sacrifices, send workers into Your harvest, Lord. Through the power of the Mass, send workers into Your harvest, Lord. Through the holiness of families, send workers into Your harvest, Lord. [Prayer Leader] Let us pray: O God, who chose the Apostles to make disciples of all nations, we earnestly implore You to choose among us many priests and religious who will love You with their whole heart and will gladly spend their entire lives making You known and loved. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Glory Be
We pray that if it be God’s will there might be vocations to the priesthood and religious life from our own family and that they will be supported through our encouragement. Lord Jesus Christ, we bring to You in prayer the young people of our Church. Give them hearts open to hear Your voice. Help them to be generous in responding to Your call. Give them the grace to persevere in overcoming all the pressures in our world that keep them from embracing and truly living their vocation. Graciously grant to parents a living faith and an ardent love, which will inspire them to encourage their children to live holy lives. May parents genuinely encourage and foster the God-given vocation of their children and help them to respond generously. Let them rejoice when a child of theirs is called to be a priest or religious. May the example of Your life and that of Joseph and Mary encourage parents and children to form holy families and let Your grace sustain them. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Our Father
We pray for our parish of Our Lady of Victory that it may grow in holiness and that from among its members there may be priests and religious to serve the Church. Heavenly Father, bless Your Church with an abundance of holy and zealous priests, deacons, brothers and sisters. To those you have called to the married state and those you have chosen to live as single persons in the world, give the special graces that their lives require. Form us all in the likeness of your Son so that in Him, with Him and through Him we may love you more deeply and serve you more faithfully, always and everywhere. With Mary we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Hail Mary
We pray for all of the bishops, priests, deacons and religious that they may have the strength to remain faithful to their vocations. We pray in particular for all those in religious vocations who have served us. O God, you have constituted your only-begotten Son supreme and eternal Priest for the glory of your majesty and the salvation of mankind. Grant that those whom he has chosen as ministers and dispensers of his mysteries may be found faithful in fulfilling the ministry they have received. Amen.
Optional Prayer for Children: Glory Be