This special day, also liturgically known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”, invites the Church to publicly pray for and promote vocations in all its forms.
Many parishes and religious institutes commemorate this day with prayer for vocations and vocation promotion events. Considering that 73 percent of women and men professing final vows participated in one or more parish activities and 88 percent served in one or more parish ministries before entering religious life, our presence and participation in activities that mark this special day is essential.
[Religious congregations] should consider asking local parishes for opportunities to speak, pray, and meet the parishioners before and after Masses. ~ NRVC website
It the joy of simplicity, the joy experienced daily by those who care for what truly matters: faithful closeness to God and to our neighbor. How good it would be if the same atmosphere, simple and radiant, sober and hopeful, were to pervade our seminaries, religious houses and presbyteries! I pray that you will experience this same joy, dear brothers and sisters who have generously made God the dream of your lives, serving him in your brothers and sisters through a fidelity that is a powerful testimony in an age of ephemeral choices and emotions that bring no lasting joy.
May Saint Joseph, protector of vocations, accompany you with his fatherly heart!
–Pope Francis, World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 2021