By Fr. Liam McClarey SCA

Help us to show our repentance - by a new way of living.
Response: Lord may your kingdom come!

 This Prayer of Intercession is placed in Morning Prayer for the second Friday of Advent. Many in Ireland today seek a new way of living; many worldwide begin each New Year with their Resolutions. The Feast of St Vincent Pallotti on January 22nd presents us with an opportunity to glance at his ‘way of being Church.’

There is a desire for change but the opening prayer of intercession requires two steps. We need to show our repentance before we can enter into this new way of living. I have to acknowledge my failings. As a Pallottine one has to recognise those times when tasks were performed on one’s own rather than in co-operation with others as Pallotti urged and the times when tasks were initiated, performed and completed without any reference to Jesus. How can we take seriously, the Gospel statement ‘I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10) if we ignore the Good Shepherd/ the Apostle of the Eternal Father?(Hebrews 3:1)

Our new way of living according to Pallotti invites us to examine how we are as Church. Am I serious about co-operation; am I serious about collaboration at all levels? Where is the Word of God (made flesh) in my daily life? In examining my spiritual life do I focus solely on MY sinfulness or do I consider what God has done for me; the opportunities that God gives me daily; do I consider God’s mercy (or do I take it for granted?) and am I aware that I can do better to-morrow WITH God’s help? Pallotti wrote, ‘My God I trust in you. I will not be lost in eternity because your mercy is eternal and infinite.’

Founder’s Day in the first month of the year provides us with an opportunity to make our Spiritual Resolutions concrete. Pallotti centres all on Christ but he was keenly aware of the role of Mary His and Our Mother. She pondered in her heart things about her Son that she did not grasp. She sought him with Joseph when he was missing (in the Temple). (Luke 2:41-50)

St Vincent Pallotti calls us to find God in all things and to be aware of our way of living.