(from the Byzantine Catholic Prayer Service for Vocations…)
(These are chanted and = places to breathe while chanting)
Troparion For Vocations
O Savior, You called the fishermen and they immediately left their nets to follow You. Your voice resounds with authority,* “Make disciples of all nations,* teach them to carry out everything I have commanded.”* Give us today zealous workers for your kingdom to reap the harvest of faith;* for You provide always for your beloved Church.
Theotokion for Vocations
Glory to the Father, + and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.* O holy Virgin, Mother of God,* with confidence you told those at the wedding of Cana, * “Do whatever my Son tells you.”* Ask Him to provide an abundance of vocations for the Church.
Reading of the Holy Scriptures
Sunday: The Call of Abraham Genesis 17:1-8, 15-21
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her; I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in thy sight!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.”
