'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.

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.

Related devotions

• The Holy Hour
• Eucharistic Adoration
• The Holy Rosary

Related saints

• Saint John Vianney
• Saint Therese of Lisieux