A Guest In Your Living Room

When God so lovingly created each one of us, He placed in our hearts a very personal and special vocation meant uniquely for us. The Vocations Team wants to awaken an awareness to this calling. One way to do this is with a prayer initiative we call the Traveling Vocations Icon. 

During the prayers of the faithful at daily and weekly Masses we pray together as a collaborative community for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, and sacramental marriage.  

The Christ by the Sea Collaborative Traveling Vocations Icon initiative offers an opportunity for individuals, couples, and families to pray for this intention at home.  

Just as paintings, photos, handcrafts, and artwork displayed around our homes can serve as visual reminders of something beautiful and even take us on a journey down memory lane, or like a book can take the mind to a thoughtful place, an image of a Sacred Icon, which is a crafted piece of Sacred Art, can do the same for us and more.  

An icon prominently displayed in your home and gazed upon throughout the day and evening is a reminder to center your heart and mind on Jesus.  

Pictured here is the “Christ the High Priest” Sacred Icon that has been traveling through the homes of parishioners in our collaborative throughout the past four months. There are prayers that accompany the Sacred Icon specific to all ages to help guide you in private prayer or prayer and conversation as a family unit. The intention is to ask and listen for direction from the Holy Spirit.  

Also pictured here are two host families, the lovely Donovan Family and Susan and Aggie Aguilar. After receiving the Icon with a blessing at a Saturday or Sunday Mass of their choosing they hosted the Icon in their homes for a week.  

“The icon brought a sense of peace and well-being. We felt the presence of love and peace while praying. We spoke to Jesus as a guest in our living room when we came in or walked by. We felt honored to have the icon in our home.” Aggie Aguilar 

As I am writing this blog, I am reminded of a few things that resonate with me from my time gazing upon the Icon.  

First, as a mother of four I pray my sons and daughters stay close to Jesus through the sacraments. For it is with the nourishment of the Eucharist and time in adoration that they will come to know God’s vocation for them. 

And second, I am reminded of Mother Teresa’s call within a call. The Holy Spirit is continually working to lead me on a path to heaven. Within my vocation to marriage, I must stay attuned to the promptings of the Spirit. There are twists and turns and blessings and disappointments of which all are passageways I travel that stretch me and direct me to serve and glorify God here on earth so I can live peacefully with Him in heaven.  

The Vocations Team invites you to join this prayer initiative and be a part of a growing community of domestic churches praying for vocations with the Traveling Vocations Icon. 

A host family record accompanies the Icon. It is inspiring to see the homes the Icon has visited. Here is how to be part of the initiative. 

To request to host the Traveling Vocations Icon email your name, contact information and parish to: [email protected] or call the pastoral office at 781-383-0219, ext. 210. A host coordinator will be in touch. 

To find out more details about the process visit: christbythesea.net and click on the “Vocations” priority. 

Tina DelGuidice 
Vocations Team 
Pastoral Council