Lord Jesus, who looked upon the rich young man and loved him, and said, "Come, follow me," look now upon me and speak to my heart.
If You are calling me to leave all things for Your sake — to the priesthood or the consecrated life, to poverty, chastity, and obedience for the sake of the Kingdom — give me the grace to hear the call clearly, and the courage not to turn away sorrowful as he did.
Strip from me the fear that says I am not worthy, the love of comfort that clings to lesser things, and the noise of the world that drowns out Your voice. Let me count all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing You.
Send laborers into Your harvest, Lord; and if it please You, let me be one of them. Mary, Queen of the Clergy and of all consecrated souls, and St. Thérèse, co-patroness of the missions, pray for me. Amen.
This prayer is for the soul who hears, however faintly, a call to give itself wholly to God — in the priesthood or in consecrated religious life. Its scriptural heart is one of the most poignant scenes in the Gospels: the rich young man, who kept the commandments and asked what more he lacked. "And Jesus, looking on him, loved him, and said to him: … Come, follow me." But the young man "went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions" (Mark 10:21–22). The prayer begs the opposite grace — not to walk away sorrowful, but to follow.
A religious vocation is lived by the three evangelical counsels — poverty, chastity, and obedience — the very way of life Christ Himself embraced and to which He invited His closest followers. It is not a rejection of the good things of the world so much as a leaving of them behind for a greater good, that the whole heart may be free for God. With St. Paul the discerning soul learns to "count all things… as loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:8).
Our Lord Himself commanded us to pray for such vocations: "The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:37–38). And so the prayer asks not only for one’s own discernment but for laborers everywhere, entrusting the whole matter to Mary, Queen of the Clergy, and to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, co-patroness of the missions and widely invoked for vocations.
Lord Jesus, who looked upon the rich young man and loved him, and said, "Come, follow me," look now upon me and speak to my heart.
If You are calling me to leave all things for Your sake — to the priesthood or the consecrated life, to poverty, chastity, and obedience for the sake of the Kingdom — give me the grace to hear the call clearly, and the courage not to turn away sorrowful as he did.
Strip from me the fear that says I am not worthy, the love of comfort that clings to lesser things, and the noise of the world that drowns out Your voice. Let me count all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing You.
Send laborers into Your harvest, Lord; and if it please You, let me be one of them. Mary, Queen of the Clergy and of all consecrated souls, and St. Thérèse, co-patroness of the missions, pray for me. Amen.
Lord Jesus, who looked upon the rich young man and loved him, and said, "Come, follow me," look now upon me and speak to my heart.
If You are calling me to leave all things for Your sake — to the priesthood or the consecrated life, to poverty, chastity, and obedience for the sake of the Kingdom — give me the grace to hear the call clearly, and the courage not to turn away sorrowful as he did.
Strip from me the fear that says I am not worthy, the love of comfort that clings to lesser things, and the noise of the world that drowns out Your voice. Let me count all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing You.
Send laborers into Your harvest, Lord; and if it please You, let me be one of them. Mary, Queen of the Clergy and of all consecrated souls, and St. Thérèse, co-patroness of the missions, pray for me. Amen.