World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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World Day of Prayer for Vocations

May 11, 2025

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About World Day of Prayer of Vocations

On this 62nd anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, also liturgically known as Good Shepherd Sunday, we are invited to pray for and promote all vocations. Initiated by Saint Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council in 1964, the purpose of this day is to help all of us respond to God's call and to support in prayer all those who are discerning how to best respond to the needs of today in the vocation God calls them to be.

Participating in parish life is a way individuals can discern their vocation and receive prayerful support from parishioners. Matter of fact, people in parishes are more likely to encourage someone to discern their vocation than their own family members! Consider connecting with parishes and asking for opportunities to share information and resources about religious vocations. Examples include:

Speaking before, during, or after liturgical celebrations.
Presenting in youth and young adult religious education classes.
Sharing NRVC resources as bulletin inserts. See a list of NRVC resources below.
Facilitating communal prayer services on college campuses and spaces where young adults gather.
Sharing your favorite vocation discernment prayers or songs.
Taking photos of people specifically praying for vocations to post on social media.
Showcasing your Chapel and sacred spaces available for others to join you in praying for vocations.

Many parishes and religious institutes commemorate this day by praying for vocations and supporting vocation promotion events. Considering that 73 percent of women and men professing final vows participated in one or more parish activities and 88 percent served in one or more parish ministries before entering religious life, our presence and participation in activities that mark this special day are essential.

Of particular note, respondents to the 2020 NRVC/CARA Study of Recent Vocations to Religious Life reported that the day-to-day rhythm of communal prayer is paramount in community life. Below are the types of prayer preferred by newer entrants:

Prayer is essential in all of our lives, join a global effort in praying for vocations on May 11, 2025!

Quotes from the NRVC Focus groups of newer entrants
who entered religious life from 2003-2018

"I think it was the 80-year-old Brothers, the wisdom figures of the community that were always the first in the Chapel and the last at the dining room table. I would always try to get there before them and never could. They were always there and you could count on them."

"I've noticed in the last ten years that young people seem to have a deeper interest in spirituality and what is their purpose in life. I don't know what brings that change about, I don't know whether it is the Holy Spirit at work, which I'm assuming that it would be, but there does seem to be a different attitude."

"I find most rewarding is our truly deep desire to seek God together and what God is calling us to in this time and place. I also deeply appreciate our prayer that sustains us."

"The most rewarding aspect of religious life is our community living. In community, we pray, live, recreate, and minister together. Our cohesiveness and sense of identity as religious serving others as ministers of the Gospel is wonderful!"

Cultivate within our hearts, minds, and spirits--our very selves--the disposition to fully live out our vocations, which have been planted in our hearts through our baptism,

And grant us the grace to say yes to our call daily, irrespective of how we may feel from moment to moment.

Let us know that we can come to You as we are, wherever we are, and as we accompany those discerning Your call. Help us to hear and

Listen to Your voice amid the various voices vying for our attention so that we may take the right actions that lead to abundant life.

Ignite in us a hope-filled passion for service, using our gifts to bring your Reign to fruition today and always.

Never let us forget that all we have are indeed gifts from You and that we are called to

Give all we are and have in love and service to You in our sisters and brothers. Amen.

Additional Resources

Please note: NRVC members can download these resources in the Member Toolbox as a benefit or purchase them through these links.

Litany for Vocations Handout

Black Religious Prayer Card

Busy Persons Retreat booklet

I hope You Find prayer card

I Hope You Find prayer card in Spanish

Hearing God's Call: Thirty days of vocation discernment booklet

Listening to the Call prayer cards

Responsibilities of Members for Vocation Ministry Handout

VISION Vocation Network articles on prayer

Resources offered by the USCCB

Resources offered by Serra International

Rosary for Vocations with the Luminous Mysteries

Papal Messages for World Day of Prayer for Vocations

In this sense, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations has a synodal character: amid the variety of our charisms, we are called to listen to one another and to journey together in order to acknowledge them and to discern where the Spirit is leading us for the benefit of all.

At this point in time, then, our common journey is bringing us to the Jubilee Year of 2025. Let us travel as pilgrims of hope towards the Holy Year, for by discovering our own vocation and its place amid the different gifts bestowed by the Spirit, we can become for our world messengers and witnesses of Jesus’ dream of a single human family, united in God’s love and in the bond of charity, cooperation and fraternity.

This is, in the end, the goal of every vocation: to become men and women of hope. As individuals and as communities, amid the variety of charisms and ministries, all of us are called to embody and communicate the Gospel message of hope in a world marked by epochal challenges.

-Pope Francis, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 2024

2024 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2023 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2022 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2021 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2020 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2019 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2018 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message

2017 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message.

2016 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message.

2015 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message.

2014 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message.

2013 World Day of Prayer for Vocations Papal message.