Prayers
Prayer is an essential part of discernment & increasing vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.
Please keep our seminarians, priests, and religious sisters in your prayers.
Prayer for Vocations
Gracious God, You have called us through Baptism to discipleship, believing in your Son, Jesus Christ, who has sent us to bring the Good News of salvation to the world. We pray to you, asking that you grant us more priests and religious who will help us build up your Church in the Diocese of Belleville and the world. Stir up the grace of a religious vocation in the hearts of many of our youth. Grant to them the willingness and generosity to give of themselves in service to our Lord Jesus and His people. May a new generation of priests, deacons, sisters and brothers be a sign of your presence among us. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord Amen.
Marian Prayer for Vocations
O Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of the Church, to you we commend our young people, in particular those called to follow your Son as brothers, sisters, and priests. You know, O Mary, the struggles, doubts, and obstacles they must face. Assist them to answer Yes to the divine call, as you did at the invitation of the angel. Draw them near to your heart so that they can understand the joy that awaits them when they answer your Son's call to be witnesses of His love in the world. Amen.
Family Prayer for Vocations
Father, increase our family's love for one another. May we honor each other in times of happiness or hardship, bearing with one another in love, just as You love us. In a special way, help us strive for holiness in our current states of life. Should You call some of us to the priesthood or religious life, help us to respond with courage and joy. Together, we make heaven our goal, and pledge, with Your grace, to help each other on life's journey to You. Through the intercession of the Holy Family: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Amen.
Prayer to Know One's Vocation
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 to fulfill my deepest longings. I know that you are in all things, and 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 you, 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 of my strength right to the end. Jesus, I trust in you Amen .
Prayer for Priests
Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people. Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom. Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry. Help them to become instruments of your divine grace.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest Amen.