Paul VI: The Saint Who Started the World Day of Prayer for Vocations

In 1963, Paul VI made the 4th Sunday of Easter as the Day of Prayer for Vocations. He had 7 reasons for implementing it. He is the saint who initiated this collective sacred duty in the Church and in the liturgy.

1. It is the duty of every believer. Paul VI reminded the Church that to pray for vocations does not belong only to the duty of priests and religious but it is the duty of all believers in Christ. He said: “And for this World Day of Prayers for Priestly and Religious Vocations to have the resonance it deserves, we wanted to address our words of encouragement to all our beloved children, so that no one neglects such a serious and responsible duty.”

2. People wait for the priestly hands. The spiritual needs of the Church are what the world thirsts for. People await the sacraments and the grace that flows from the priest’s hands. Paul VI vividly said: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers" to his Church (cf. Mt 9:38). Contemplating with an anxious gaze the endless expanse of the green spiritual fields, which all over the world await the priestly hands, an anguished invocation to the Lord springs from the heart, according to the invitation of Christ.”

3. Laborers are Few. It was Jesus who said: “Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Mt 9:38) The disciples of the Lord received this command that turned into a duty of the Church. Thus, this collective act flows from Christ and his disciples which is a need that has to be addressed by every follower of Christ. Paul VI instilled to us that the “workers” in the vineyard are few. “Yes, today as then “the harvest is great, but the workers are few" (ib.9, 37), few in relation to the growing needs of pastoral care; few in relation to the demands of the modern world, to its disturbing moans, in relation to its needs for clarity and light, which require understanding, open and current teachers and parents; few also in relation to those who are distant, indifferent or hostile, but who want in the priest an irreprehensible living model of the doctrine that he professes.”

4. Insufficient Number of Priests. The decline of the number of priests and religious as well as the vast spiritual needs of the people are amounting. However, the decline of the number of those who respond to the call to the priestly and religious life is a sign of weakening of faith and moral decline in the family. The Pope said: “The problem of the sufficient number of priests closely affects all the faithful, not only because the religious future of Christian society depends on it, but also because this problem is the precise and inexorable indicator of the vitality of faith and love of each parish and diocesan community, and testimony of the moral health of Christian families.  Where vocations to the ecclesiastical and religious state are numerous, people live generously in accordance with the Gospel, it is proof that parents are good and fervent, that they are not only fearless. but they are filled with joy and pride in giving their children to the Church; there will be faithful and zealous priests, whose most important program in pastoral care will be the continuity of his priesthood.”

5. Support for Vocations. The World Day Prayer for Vocations will be a great encouragement for those who responded generously to the call of the Lord to work in the “vineyard.” Those who have responded to the call to the priesthood and religious life need the prayers of the Church in their perseverance and the capacity to live holy lives. The Church needs holy and dedicated priests and religious men and women. Paul VI did not forget that the Good Shepherd Sunday would be a day of prayer for those who are in formation. He said: “Above all, there will be adolescents, generous and bizarre, pure and brave, who, nourished by the Eucharistic life and sensitive to the voice of Christ, know how to nurture in their young hearts the desire to one day serve the Church, and give themselves to souls for all life, to reproduce in his person the traits of the Good Shepherd and faithfully follow in his footsteps.”

6. Scarcity of missionaries. Paul VI mentioned about the scarcity of priests sent to the missions. Part of praying for vocations and religious men and women to respond to God’s call is to pray also for “laborers” in the mission fields. He said that the desire to send priests to the mission fields is an important aspect of Church’s life. We may pray for more priests at home but “above all, these priestly hands are scarce in the mission fields wherever there are brothers and men to catechize, help and console.”

7. Unity in prayer. One of the most important aspects of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is the nature of being “church.” To be united in praying for vocations is not just a sacred duty of every believer of Christ and a member of the Church, but the grace of communion that we celebrate and we possess has to be expressed in a collective way of praying. Prayer for vocations is one of the venues where we can be united in prayer. As Pope Paul VI declares the 4th Sunday as World Day of Prayer for Vocations, he hopes that the Church be one in thinking about priestly and religious vocations. “May this Sunday, called by the Good Shepherd in the liturgy for his Gospel, see united in a single heartbeat of prayers the generous squads of Catholics throughout the world to ask the Lord for the workers his harvest needs… Let our prayer rise to heaven, then, from families, from parishes, from religious communities, from hospital wards, from the lips of innocent children, that vocations to the priesthood may increase and that they may be according to the longings of the Heart of Christ.”