Franciscan Sister Kathleen Murphy shares on Pope Francis’ January prayer intention.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis bids us keep our Blessed Mother before us during this month. His prayer intention for January is “that young people, especially in Latin America, follow the example of Mary and respond to the call of the Lord to communicate the joy of the Gospel to the world.”
This intention does not stop at praying for greater youth devotion to Mary. Our prayer should be interceding for the grace of joyful evangelization among Latino youth. This involves youth having the vision to recognize their own call, their mission in the Church. In Gaudete et Exsultate we read, “A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for ‘this is the will of God, your sanctification.’(1 Thes. 4:3) Each saint is a mission, planned by the Father to reflect and embody, at a specific moment in history, a certain aspect of the Gospel.”
Notice that Pope Francis is referring to each of us living saints when he says we are each a living mission. Who could understand this monumental challenge better than Mary? She perceived the greatest call to mission, the most amazing call to holiness, the most unexpected plan of the Father when she was only a teenager. She truly is the ideal one to inspire today’s youth in growing into their unique mission, their singular call to holiness.
