Prayers for Vocations
ST. JUNIPERO SERRA PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our faithful Franciscan missionary Saint Junípero Serra, who founded the first nine missions in California and brought about the conversion of thousands. Deepen our commitment to Father Serra’s ministry to encourage and affirm vocations to priesthood and vowed religious life. We ask the Holy Spirit to bless us and give us the fire of Saint Junípero Serra to respond ardently to your call and be faithful witnesses of your Son. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Loving and Generous God,
it is You who call us by name
and ask us to follow You.
Help us to grow in the Love
and Service of our Church
as we experience it today.
Give us the energy and courage
of Your Spirit
to shape its future.
Grant us faith-filled leaders
who will embrace Christ’s Mission
of love and justice.
Bless the Church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia
by raising up dedicated and generous leaders
from our families and friends
who will serve Your people as Sisters,
Priests, Brothers, Deacons, and Lay Ministers.
Inspire us to know You better
and open our hearts
to hear Your call.
We ask this through our Lord.
Amen.
PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
O loving and gracious God, Father of all, you
bless your people in every time and season and
provide for their needs through your providential
care. Your Church is continually in need of priests,
sisters, and brothers to offer themselves in the service
of the gospel by lives of dedicated love. Open the
hearts of your sons and daughters to listen to your
call in their lives. Give them the gift of understanding
to discern your invitation to serve you and your
Church. Give them the gift of courage to follow your
call. May they have the spirit of young Samuel who
found fulfillment in his life when he said to you,
‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’ We ask
this through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
Amen.
PARENTS PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Gracious and loving God,
you have blessed us with the privilege of becoming Parents.
We ask that you provide us with all that we need
in accepting this awesome responsibility.
We pray that we will be open to your spirit
who is our source of strength
as we witness to our children
your love for each of them and your desire for them
to be happy and to live a full life.
We ask your help
so we may guide and encourage our children
to believe that they each have a special calling
and to use their gifts and talents for others.
We pray, Heavenly Father,
that our children will discover
and respond enthusiastically to your desire for them whether it be to the vocation of single, married,
ordained, or consecrated life.
We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus
through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Prayers for Priests / Seminarians
ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX’S PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
O Jesus, eternal Priest, keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart, where none may touch them. Keep unstained their anointed hands, which daily touch Your Sacred Body. Keep unsullied their lips, daily purpled with your Precious Blood. Keep pure and unearthly their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood. Let Your holy love surround them and shield them from the world’s contagion. Bless their labors with abundant fruit and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation here and in heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown.
Amen.
PRAYER FOR SEMINARIANS
O Jesus, Eternal High Priest, I offer You through Your Immaculate Mother Mary, Your Own Percious Blood, in all the Masses throughout the world, as petition for graces for all seminarians, Your future priests. Give them humility, meekness, prudence, and a burning zeal for souls. Fill their hearts with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to know and love the Church, that they may always and everywhere speak, act, and think with her, the glorious spouse of Christ. Teach them generosity and detachment from worldly goods; but above all, teach them to know You and to love the One and Only Eternal Priest.
Good Shepherd of Souls, hear this my prayer for saintly priests. Amen.
PRAYER FOR PRIESTS BY ST. JOHN VIANNEY
God please give your Church today many more priests after your own heart. May they be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd. May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; Being examples of humility and poverty;
Shining models of holiness; Tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; Zealous dispensers of your grace in the sacraments. May their loving devotion to your Son Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary his Mother Be the twin fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry.
Amen.
ST. FAUSTINA’S PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
Heavenly Father, grant that our priests be strengthened and healed by the power of the Eucharist they celebrate.
May the Word they proclaim give them courage and wisdom. We pray that all those whom they seek to serve
May see in them the love and care of Jesus, Our Eternal High Priest, who is Lord for ever and ever. Amen.
Mary, Mother of the Church, look tenderly upon your sons, our priests.
St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us all.
ST. TERESA OF CALCUTTA PRAYER FOR PRIESTS
Mary, Mother of Jesus, throw your mantle of purity over our priests. Protect them, guide them, and keep them in your heart. Be a Mother to them, especially in times of discouragement and loneliness. Love them and keep them belonging completely to Jesus. Like Jesus, they, too, are your sons, so keep their hearts pure and virginal. Keep their minds filled with Jesus, and put Jesus always on their lips, so that he is the one they offer to sinner and to all they meet. Mary, Mother of Jesus, be their Mother, loving them and bringing them joy. Take special care of sick and dying priests, and the ones most tempted. Remember how they spent their youth and old age, their entire lives serving and giving all to Jesus. Mary, bless them and keep a special place for them in your heart. Give them a piece of your heart, so beautiful and pure and immaculate, so full of love and humility, so that they, too, can grow in the likeness of Christ. Dear Mary, make them humble like you, and holy like Jesus.
Amen.
ST. FAUSTINA’S PRAYER FOR THE HOLY CHURCH AND PRIESTS
O my Jesus, I beg Thee on behalf of the whole Church: Grant [her] love and the light of Thy Spirit, and give power to the words of priests so that hardened hearts might be brought to repentance and return to You, O Lord. Lord, give us holy priests; Thou Thyself maintain them in holiness. O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Thy mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil’s traps and snares which are continually being set for the souls of priests. May the power of Thy mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring to naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priests, for Thou canst do all things.
Jesus, my most beloved, I beg Thee for the triumph of the Church, for blessings on the Holy Father, and on all the clergy; for the grace of conversion for impenitent sinners. And I ask Thee for a special blessing and for light, O Jesus, for the priests before whom I will make my confessions throughout my lifetime.