'Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest' (Matthew 9:38) is the one command of Jesus about vocations, and the Church has taken it literally ever since. Saint John Paul II wrote in Pastores Dabo Vobis that the Church 'should daily take up Jesus' persuasive and demanding invitation' to pray to the Lord of the harvest, and that in praying for vocations she acknowledges that they are a gift of God and not a product of recruitment. Saint Paul VI instituted the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in 1964, and the bishops of the United States keep a National Vocation Awareness Week each November. Praying for vocations is something a child, a family, a sick person or a whole parish can do, and it is the part of vocations work that everyone is asked to share.

What you need

• A short prayer for vocations you can say daily — the Prayer for Vocations, or an Our Father and a Hail Mary for the intention
• The names of your parish priests, deacons and seminarians, and of any religious from your parish
• An hour, monthly or weekly, before the Blessed Sacrament if you are able
• The dates of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations (the Fourth Sunday of Easter) and of your diocese's ordinations

When to pray it

Daily; especially on Thursdays, the day of the Last Supper and the institution of the priesthood, and on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday.

Steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Understand why the Church asks us to pray

   A vocation is a call from God, received in freedom; the Church cannot manufacture one, but she can ask for it, and Jesus told her to. Pastores Dabo Vobis says that the Church must never cease to pray to the Lord of the harvest, that the whole community shares the responsibility for vocations, and — quoting the Second Vatican Council — that the family is 'as it were, a first seminary'. Praying for vocations is also an act of love for the people who will one day need a priest at their bedside, a religious in their school, a deacon at their graveside.

2. 2

   Step 2: Pray for vocations daily

   Choose a fixed moment — morning prayer, the family Rosary, grace after the evening meal — and pray a short prayer for vocations▾ every day: the Prayer for Vocations▾, or an Our Father▾ and a Hail Mary▾ for the intention 'that the Lord of the harvest may send labourers into his harvest, and give those he calls the grace to answer'. Add a petition for the perseverance and holiness of the priests and religious you know. It takes a minute and is the whole foundation.

3. 3

   Step 3: Make a holy hour for vocations

   Spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament, weekly or monthly, for vocations; many parishes hold a monthly holy hour for this intention, often on a Thursday, and it is one of the best-attested vocation practices in the Church. Open with the O Salutaris Hostia▾, read the call of the apostles or John 10, pray a Rosary for vocations naming an intention for each decade — priests, deacons, religious sisters, religious brothers, missionaries — and close with the Tantum Ergo▾ and the Divine Praises▾ if Benediction is given.

4. 4

   Step 4: Pray for a named priest

   Adopt a priest, a deacon or a seminarian by name — your pastor, the newly ordained, one who is struggling — and pray for him every day, offering a Mass, a Rosary, a sacrifice, for a year or for life. Some parishes organise this so that every priest of the diocese has people praying for him each day; ask your pastor whether yours does, and start it if not. Tell the priest, simply, that you are praying for him.

5. 5

   Step 5: Keep the World Day of Prayer for Vocations

   On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, the whole Church prays for vocations; the Pope writes a message for the day each year, which is worth reading as a family. Take part in the parish's prayer, and mark National Vocation Awareness Week in November and the day of your diocese's ordinations, usually in late spring or summer, by praying for those to be ordained and by attending if you can.

6. 6

   Step 6: Encourage the young

   Speak of priests and religious with respect at home; invite them to your table; let children serve at the altar, visit a monastery, and meet sisters and seminarians. When you see in a young person the signs of a vocation — prayer, generosity, a love of the Church — say so, once, without pressure, and keep praying. Parents who tell their children they would be glad of a vocation in the family are answering, in their own home, the prayer they make for the harvest.

Tips

• Pray for the vocations already given — the priests and religious you know — as much as for new ones; perseverance is also a grace.
• Children who hear their family pray for vocations learn that a vocation is something to hope for, not fear.
• Add the intention to the Prayers of the Faithful at Mass and to the family Rosary; the Church has always prayed for vocations in company.
• Say a word of encouragement to a young person in whom you see the signs; many priests trace their vocation to one such remark.