By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Pope Leo XIV has released his message for the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which falls this year on Apr 26, the fourth Sunday of Easter, also called “Good Shepherd Sunday.”
The Pope called the day “an occasion of grace in which we share some reflections on the interior dimension of vocation, understood as the discovery of God’s free gift that blossoms in the depths of our hearts.” He also called it an opportunity to “explore together the truly beautiful path of life along which the Shepherd guides us.”
His beauty makes us beautiful
Recalling that in the Gospel of John, Jesus describes Himself as the “Good Shepherd,” ready to give His life for His sheep, thus revealing God’s love, Pope Leo emphasized, “He is the Shepherd who draws us to Himself, whose gaze reveals that life is truly beautiful when one follows Him.”
The Pope noted that contemplation and interiority are required to recognize this beauty, observing that only the one who pauses, listens, prays, and welcomes the Shepherd’s gaze can say with confidence, “I trust Him; life with Him can truly be beautiful.”
“What is most extraordinary,” Pope Leo observed, “is that, in becoming His disciple, one truly becomes ‘beautiful’; His beauty transforms us.”
He recalled that St Augustine had this experience of life, faith, and meaning. Acknowledging the sins and errors of his youth, Augustine discovered the beauty of the divine light that guides him in the darkness.
Such a relationship based on prayer and silence, Pope Leo said, when cultivated, opens us to receive and actively respond to the gift of vocation.
An adventure of love and happiness
The Pope said it is never “an imposition or a one-size-fits-all model to which one merely conforms” but “an adventure of love and happiness.”
“Thus, on the basis of caring for the interior life,” he said, “we must urgently recommence our vocational ministry and renew our commitment to evangelization.”
In light of this, the Pope invited everyone, “families, parishes, and religious communities, as well as bishops, priests, deacons, catechists, educators, and all the faithful,” to commit themselves more fully to creating conditions that allow this gift to be embraced, nourished, protected, and accompanied so that it may bear abundant fruit.
“Only when our surroundings are illumined by living faith, sustained by constant prayer and enriched by fraternal accompaniment,” he said, “can God’s call blossom and mature.”
His loving gaze enlightens our hearts
The Lord, Pope Leo said, knows us and enlightens our hearts with His loving gaze. In fact, he highlighted, every vocation begins with the awareness and experience of a God who is love.
“The Lord knows us profoundly, has counted the hairs of our head, and has envisaged for each person a unique path of holiness and service,” the Holy Father said.
Yet this awareness, he underscored, must always be reciprocal, for “we are invited to know God through prayer, listening to the Word, the Sacraments, the life of the Church and works of charity for our brothers and sisters.”
‘Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church’
The Pope called on young people to listen to the voice of the Lord, who invites them “to a full and fruitful life,” calling on them to put their talents to use and to unite their limitations and weaknesses with the glorious Cross of Christ.
For young people to come to know the Lord, he urged them to make time for Eucharistic adoration; to meditate faithfully on the Word of God, so that they may put it into practice each day; and to participate actively and fully in the sacramental and ecclesial life of the Church.
Through the intimacy of friendship with Jesus, the Pope said, they will discover how to give of themselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life.
“Every vocation,” he said, “is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy.”
St Joseph trusted even when all seemed shrouded in uncertainty
Pope Leo noted that to know the Lord means above all learning to entrust oneself to Him and to His providence, and observed that life reveals itself as a continual act of trusting in the Lord and abandoning ourselves to Him, “even when His plans unsettle our own.”
In a special way, he cited St Joseph, who, despite the mysterious and unexpected pregnancy of the Virgin, trusted the divine message revealed in a dream and welcomed Mary and her child with an obedient heart.
“Joseph of Nazareth,” he said, “is an example of complete trust in God’s designs. He trusted even when everything around him seemed shrouded in darkness and uncertainty, when events appeared to diverge from his own plans. He trusted and abandoned himself to God.”
Pope Leo recalled that the Lord does not abandon us in our darkest hours but comes to dispel every shadow with His light.
“Through the light and strength of his Spirit, even amid trials and crises,” Pope Leo said, “we can see our vocation grow and mature, reflecting ever more fully the beauty of the One who has called us—a beauty shaped by fidelity and trust, despite our wounds and failures.”
We are to be with Jesus in every circumstance of life
The Pope said that a vocation is not a fixed point, but a dynamic process of maturation sustained by intimacy with our Lord. We are to be with Jesus, the Pope said, allowing the Holy Spirit to act in our hearts and in the circumstances of life, and reinterpreting everything in light of this gift.
“Like the vine and the branches,” the Pope said, “our whole lives must be rooted in a strong and vital bond with the Lord, so that we may more wholeheartedly respond to his call through our trials and necessary ‘pruning.’”
Nourished by a daily relationship with Him
A vocation, therefore, he explained, is not “an immediate possession—something ‘given’ once and for all,” but rather a path that unfolds much like life itself. “The gift we have received must not only be protected but also nourished by a daily relationship with God in order to grow and bear fruit.”
Thus, the Pope called for everyone to cultivate their personal relationship with God through daily prayer and meditation on the Word.
“Pause, listen, and entrust yourselves,” he said. “In this way, the gift of your vocation will mature, bringing you happiness and yielding abundant fruit for the Church and the world.”
Finally, Pope Leo implored the Virgin Mary, model of the interior acceptance of divine gifts and expert in prayerful listening, to “always accompany you on this journey!” – Vatican News
