Parish Vocations Prayer
Tool #13
Prayer
These prayers are typically brief, and can easily be included in one’s list of prayers before or during, say, Sunday Mass, weekday Mass, or at other times.
Serra Participation
- Selecting, printing, and distributing prayers
- Leading groups in prayer for vocations / liaising with parish officials regarding time for groups to meet for vocations prayer at church
Summary
Dioceses throughout the United States have created their own prayers for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. These prayers are used in parishes throughout dioceses. (One can often find a given diocese’s vocations prayer on placards affixed to the covers of missals in the pews of a church within the diocese.)
These prayers are typically brief, and can easily be included in one’s list of prayers before or during, say, Sunday Mass, weekday Mass, or at other times.
On its website, the USCCB has listed a number of such prayers—in both Spanish and English—that were submitted from dioceses around America. These are available for use in any parish.
Program Outline
- Parish vocations prayers have developed by dioceses throughout the U.S.
- Prayers are typically brief
- Can be said before Mass or at other times
- USCCB has prayers from dioceses around the U.S. on its website
- These are available for use in any parish
All year
Less Than One Month
Low Effort
Low Cost
Program History and Development
“We must pray every day for our young people to find and live their vocations. Prayer is the key to assisting our youth to hear the ‘whisper’ of God’s call and to have the courage to respond to God’s call in gratitude.”
-from the Catholic Diocese of Wichita (KS)
We’ve all been to parishes where we open the missalette and find a copy of a special vocations prayer inside. This effort on the part of the parish might seem small, but it can be very powerful in the results it produces.
Catholics worldwide have long been encouraged to pray for vocations. One of the easiest ways to do that is to make praying for vocations a regular part of one’s Sunday Mass experience—for example, including a vocations prayer as part of one’s before-Mass list of prayers to be prayed… or praying a vocations prayer while kneeling after receiving communion.
A variety of vocations prayers have been written over the years. One of the best resources (see below for a link) is the USCCB website; numerous vocations prayers are available there which can be used in any parish. What’s more, there also exist prayers for vocations that are to be utilized specifically during the Prayers of the Faithful within the Mass; a substantial collection of these prayers has been assembled by the Archdiocese of Boston (MA).
Resources
Reference Materials:
From Vianney Vocations:
Intercession for Vocations Holy Hour
Serra The Harvest is Abundant Prayer Booklet
Prayer Cards
The following is a sample prayer for vocations from the USCCB list of prayers for vocations as presented on the USCCB website:
O God, Father of all Mercies,
Provider of a bountiful Harvest, send Your Graces upon those
You have called to gather the fruits of Your labor;
preserve and strengthen them in their lifelong service of you.
Open the hearts of Your children
that they may discern Your Holy Will;
inspire in them a love and desire to surrender themselves
to serving others in the name of Your son, Jesus Christ.
Teach all Your faithful to follow their respective paths in life
guided by Your Divine Word and Truth.
Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,
all the Angels, and Saints, humbly hear our prayers
and grant Your Church’s needs, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
USCCB Sample Prayers for Vocations [pdf]
Page from the USCCB website which lists different prayers for vocations sent to the USCCB from dioceses around America:
USCCB Prayers for Vocations [English]
USCCB Prayers for Vocations [Spanish]
Serra SPARK Helpers©
These helpers provide additional prayers and graphics that may be customized for use locally.
Materials for the 2026-27 Liturgical Year:
““Let us face the vocations challenge with that equanimity and realism which take into account the
effectiveness of prayer,
and which are never devoid of supernatural hope.”