Mary, Mother of Jesus and of all who share in his priestly mystery, we come to you as children who come to their mother.

We are no longer children, but adults who wholeheartedly desire to be children of God.

Our human condition is weak; that is why we have come to implore your maternal help to overcome our weaknesses.

Pray for us, that we, in turn, may be people of prayer.

We invoke your protection so that we may remain free from all sin.

We invoke Your love so that love may reign, and we may be compassionate and forgiving.

We invoke your blessing that our priests may be like the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Religious vocation is a mystery of love between a God who calls and a human being who responds freely and out of love. Vocation is a mystery of divine choice. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should last (Jn 15:16). Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you (Jer 1:5).

Vocation is a call from God to be bridges between God and men; to speak to God about men and to men about God. It is a call to continue in the world without being of the world, in order to save it. And this divine call demands a response, since many are called, and few are chosen (Mt 20:16). God calls many, but few respond to him and give themselves totally and unconditionally to his service and to the good of their brothers and sisters. We even see how in real life there are many who one day said YES to him and, after a time or a few years, get tired of their consecrated life and give up their mission, returning to the life of the world. Why? It has been said many times that the main cause of religious and priestly defections is the lack of prayer. When prayer, which is loving communication with the Lord, is lacking, it is as if we lack the love for total surrender. We are incapable of moving forward, like a car that runs out of gas and can go no further. Therefore, we must be faithful to daily prayer, that is, to daily love with the Lord. Prayer is the basis and foundation of the spiritual and religious life. Without authentic prayer there can be no deep and total love for God. With a superficial prayer, what can we expect?

Vocation is total surrender, it is an aspiration to holiness, it is a call to be light and love for others. It is a current echo of God's eternal call, for God has chosen us from all eternity to love everyone unconditionally. Vocation is an invitation to follow him exclusively. It is as if Jesus were saying: Do you love me, do you want to love me as the bride and mother of all men?

Vocation is a wonderful predilection, an undeserved privilege, an extraordinary gift for which we can never be sufficiently grateful. It is a gratuitous and personal call from God that also awaits a daily and personal response. This means that we must live our vocation day by day with our renunciations, our obedience, our surrender and our total love. In this way our vocation will mature, and we will become more and more aware of what this predilection of God's call means for us and what our definitive response to his love implies.

Vocation must be lived without half-measures, without ambiguity, but with an undivided heart for God and for others. Love is what gives meaning to the call and to the personal response. Without love, religious life would be like a lamp without oil.

To be spouses of Jesus means to give oneself totally to Him in order to make Him happy at every moment of life and, through Him and with Him, to make those around us happy, embracing the whole universe with our love.

The vocation, in a word, implies a mission of universal service, to be mothers of all men, to be light in the world and to live for others with a constant aspiration to holiness.

P. Ángel Peña, O.A.R. - Vocation. A call to love

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II FOR THE XL WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS

Dear young men, nurture your attraction to those values and radical choices which will transform your lives into service of others, in the footsteps of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Do not let yourselves be seduced by the call of power and personal ambition. The priestly ideal must be constantly purified from these and other dangerous ambiguities.

The call of the Lord Jesus still resounds today: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me” (Jn 12:26). Do not be afraid to accept this call. You will surely encounter difficulties and sacrifices, but you will be happy to serve, you will be witnesses of that joy that the world cannot give. You will be living flames of an infinite and eternal love.  You will know the spiritual riches of the priesthood, divine gift and mystery.