Prayer for Openness to God’s Call

Lord Jesus, once You called the first disciples in order to make them fishers of men. Continue to let resound today Your sweet invitation: “Come and Follow Me.” Grant to young men and women the grace of responding promptly to Your voice.

Sustain our bishops, priests, and consecrated souls in their apostolic work. Give perseverance to our seminarians and to all those who are fulfilling the ideal of a life of total consecration to Your service.

Enkindle in our communities a missionary zeal. Send, Lord, workers into Your fields and do not let mankind be lost because of a lack of pastors, missionaries, and people dedicated to the cause of the Gospel.

Mary, Mother of the Church, Model of Vocations, help us say “Yes” to the Lord Who calls us to collaborate in the divine design of salvation.

Amen.

Heading 1

Prayer to Know One’s Vocation

We pray for all of those who might not know their vocation in life. Through prayer and with God’s help, may they come to know His will for their lives.

Lord, my God and my loving Father, You have made me to know You, to love You, to serve You, and thereby to find and fulfill myself.

I know that every path can lead me to You, but of them all, there is one especially by which You want me to come to You.
Since I will do what You want of me, I pray, send Your Holy Spirit to me: into my mind, to show me what You want of me; into my heart, to give me the determination to do it, and to do it with all my love, with all my mind, and with all my strength, right to the end.

Amen.

Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church

We pray that we might grow in our love and devotion to Mary.

We turn to you, Mary, Mother of the Church. Through your “yes,” you have opened the door that makes Christ present in the world, in history, and in individual lives.  In humble silence and in total availability, you welcomed the call of the Most High.

May there be many men and women in our day who respond to your Son’s invitation: “Follow me!” Grant them courage to follow Christ along the road that He walked.

Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us and for an increase of priestly and religious vocations.

Amen.

Prayer for the Children of our Parish

We pray that, if it be God’s will, there might be vocations to the priesthood and religious life from our parish and that they be supported through our encouragement.

Lord Jesus Christ, we bring to You in prayer the young people of our parish. Give them hearts open to hear Your voice. Help them to be generous in responding to Your call. Give them the grace to persevere in overcoming all the pressures in our world that keep them from embracing and truly living their vocation.

Graciously grant to parents a living faith and an ardent love, which will inspire them to encourage their children to live holy lives. May parents genuinely encourage and foster the God-given vocation of their children and help them to respond generously. Let them rejoice when a child of theirs is called to be a priest or religious.

May the example of Your life and that of Joseph and Mary encourage parents and children to form holy families and let Your grace sustain them.

Amen.

Prayer for all priests and religious that have served our parish

We pray for our Parish, that it may grow in holiness and that from among its members there may be priests and religious to serve the Church.

Heavenly Father, bless Your Church with an abundance of holy and zealous priests, deacons, brothers, and sisters.  To those you have called to the married state and those you have chosen to live as single persons in the world, grant the special graces that their lives require.

Form us all in the likeness of your Son so that in Him, with Him, and through Him we may love you more deeply and serve you more faithfully, always and everywhere.

With Mary, we ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Please pray a Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be in thanksgiving for all the priests and religious that have served our parish.

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.

Heading 1