Below is Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which this year will be celebrated on 11 May, Sunday.
On this 62nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I would like to extend to you a joyful and encouraging invitation to be pilgrims of hope, giving your lives with generosity.
A vocation is a precious gift that God plants in the heart, a call to go beyond ourselves to embark on a path of love and service. And every vocation in the Church—whether to the lay person, to the ordained ministry, or to consecrated life—is a sign of the hope that God places in the world and in each of his children.
In our time, many young people feel lost before the future. They often experience uncertainty about their future employment prospects and, more profoundly, a crisis of identity, which is also a crisis of meaning and values, and which the confusion of the digital world makes even more difficult to overcome. Injustices against the weakest and the poor, the indifference of selfish well-being, and the violence of war threaten the dreams of a good life that young people nurture in their hearts. However, the Lord, who knows the human heart, does not leave us in uncertainty; on the contrary, He desires to awaken in each of us the conviction of being loved, called, and sent as a pilgrim of hope.
Therefore, we, the adult members of the Church
—especially pastors—are called to welcome, discern, and accompany the vocational journey of the new generations. And you, young people, are called to be the protagonists of your vocation, or better yet, co-protagonists with the Holy Spirit, who inspires in you the desire to make your life a gift of love.
Dear young people, “your life is not a ‘meanwhile.’ You are God’s now” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit , 178). We need to be aware that the gift of life demands a generous and faithful response. Look at the young saints and blesseds who joyfully responded to the Lord’s call: Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Dominic Savio, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus, Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Saint Charles Acutis, the blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati—soon to be declared a saint—and so many others. Each of them lived their vocation as a path to complete happiness in a relationship with the living Jesus. When we listen to his word, our hearts burn within us (cf. Lk 24:32) and we feel the desire to consecrate our lives to God; then the desire is born to discover how and in what way of life we can respond to the love He first gives us.
Every vocation, when deeply perceived in the heart, evokes a response as an interior impulse toward love and service; as a source of hope and charity, and not as a search for self-affirmation. Vocation and hope, therefore, are intertwined in the divine plan for the joy of every man and woman, because we are all called to offer our lives for others (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium , 268). Many young people seek to know the path God invites them to follow: some discover—often with astonishment—the vocation to the priesthood or to the consecrated life; others perceive the beauty of the vocation to marriage and family life, as well as the call to commitment to the common good and to bear witness to the faith among their peers and friends.
Every vocation is animated by hope, which translates as trust in Providence. Indeed, for Christians, hope is much more than mere human optimism: it is above all a certainty based on faith in God, who acts in the life of each person. Thus, a vocation matures in daily fidelity to the Gospel, in prayer, discernment, and service.
Dear young people, hope in God never disappoints, because He guides every step of those who entrust themselves to Him. The world needs young people who are pilgrims of hope, courageous in dedicating their lives to Christ and filled with joy in the very fact of being His disciples-missionaries.
Discerning one’s vocational path
The discovery of one’s vocation occurs along a path of discernment. This process is never solitary, but develops within and alongside the Christian community.
Dear young people, the world pushes you to make hasty decisions, to fill your days with noise, preventing you from experiencing a silence open to God, who speaks to the heart. Have the courage to pause, to listen within yourselves, and to ask God what He dreams for you. Silence in prayer is essential to “read” God’s call in your own story and to respond freely and consciously.
Recollection allows us to understand that we can all be pilgrims of hope if we make our lives a gift, especially in service to those who live on the world’s material and existential peripheries. Those who listen to God cannot ignore the cry of so many brothers and sisters who feel excluded, hurt, or abandoned. Every vocation opens us to the mission of being Christ’s presence where light and comfort are most needed. The lay faithful, in particular, are called to be “salt, light, and leaven” of the Kingdom of God through social and professional commitment.
Accompanying the vocational path
From this perspective, vocational pastoral workers
—especially spiritual leaders—must not be afraid to accompany young people with the hopeful and patient trust of divine pedagogy. It is about being people of respectful listening and acceptance whom they can trust, wise guides ready to help them and recognize the signs of God along their journey.
Therefore, I urge that care for the Christian vocation be promoted in the various spheres of life and human activity, fostering each person’s spiritual openness to the voice of God. To this end, it is important that educational and pastoral programs include appropriate spaces for the accompaniment of vocations.
The Church needs pastors, religious, missionaries, and couples who know how to say “yes” to the Lord with confidence and hope. A vocation is never a treasure locked away in the heart, but grows and is strengthened in the community that believes, loves, and hopes. And since no one can respond to God’s call alone, we all need the prayer and support of our brothers and sisters.
Dear friends, the Church is alive and fruitful when she generates new vocations. And the world, often unknowingly, seeks witnesses of hope, who proclaim with their lives that following Christ is a source of joy. Therefore, let us not tire of asking the Lord for new laborers for his harvest, with the certainty that he continues to call us with love. Dear young people, I entrust your journey of following the Lord to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church and of vocations. Always walk as pilgrims of hope along the path of the Gospel! I accompany you with my blessing, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.