God calls all of us to a particular vocation in life, whether we realize it or not. As he said to the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
This plan is not always easy to discern and takes years of walking closely with the Lord. Unfortunately many of us are not listening to God and try to carve out our own plan, which doesn’t always work out in the end.
Whatever the case may be, we need God’s help, and it is important to pray regularly to God that he may lead more men and women to embrace their vocation. This is something he explicitly commanded his disciples to do.
Jesus said to his disciples, “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). It’s an important command that still applies to us today. If we want more priests, religious, deacons, consecrated single persons, or faithful marriages, we need to ask God to lead more people to embrace their call.
In particular, let us pray for strong and quality vocations, realizing we don’t simply need more priests and nuns, but holy men and women who respond generously to God’s call.
Heavenly Father,You knit each of us in our mother’s wombcreating us for a specific role in the building up of Your Kingdom.Grant us the grace to discover the pathYou have laid out for us,the path where we will use the gifts You have given usfor Your greater glory.Stir within our hearts a desire to follow Your willand to respond with generosity and courage,recognizing that You know us better than we know ourselves.May the young people of our communityopen their hearts to Your willand may they find in our families and parishesa place where they can be supported and encouragedno matter what vocation they pursue.Send forth Your spirit to inspire our youthto strive for holiness in their vocation,establishing an intimate friendship with Youso that they can become holy husbands and wives,holy mothers and fathers,holy priests and brothers,holy sisters and nuns,holy deacons and consecrated virgins,holy chaste single men and women.Above all things, we recognize that we need more saints than everwho will become beacons of light in a culture of darkness.We offer up our prayer to You, Merciful Father,through the intercession of Mary our Mother,in the Holy Spirit,through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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And today we celebrate...