The harvest is plentiful
Jesus said it truly: there is much work to be done and few hands willing to do it.
Souls—that is the harvest— await pastors who will accompany them, heal them, and lead them to God.
But if priests are lacking, there are lacking those who bring the Gospel, who celebrate the sacraments, who announce the forgiveness and mercy of Christ.
It is not only a numerical shortage: it is an urgency of the heart of the Church.
There is hunger for God, thirst for meaning, a need for pastors.
And Christ himself has told us how to respond: by asking.
A call to pray
Jesus did not say “organize more” or “seek better methods.” He said:
“Pray to the Lord of the harvest.”
The priestly vocation does not arise from a strategy, but from prayer.
God continues to call, but he waits for his people to intercede.
When the Church prays, the Holy Spirit acts; when a family prays, a heart can hear the call.
Therefore, each Christian has a real responsibility:
to ask the Lord of the harvest to send holy, generous, joyful laborers.
Pray with perseverance
It is not enough to ask once. Jesus spoke of praying without losing heart.
Priestly vocations are born in a Church that prays with insistence and trust.
Pray every day, pray as a family, pray the Rosary asking for priests and for those who could become priests.
Each Hail Mary is a seed.
And how many priests, when telling their story, confess it:
“My grandmother prayed the Rosary for vocations.”
“A group in my parish asked each week for new priests.”
“Someone, in silence, was praying for me.”
Nothing is lost. Each prayer moves the heart of God.
The generosity of interceding
Asking for vocations is an act of faith, but also of generosity.
It means recognizing that the Church does not belong to us: it belongs to Christ.
And he wants his harvest to have laborers, his people to have pastors.
Dedicating time, prayer, sacrifice, even offering a Rosary or a Communion for vocations, is part of our mission as laypeople, families, and communities.
There is no prayer more fruitful than the one that asks for those who one day will bring the grace of God to so many souls.
A Church that prays together
Vocation is born in a community that prays, that walks together, that lives the synodality of knowing itself responsible for all.
It is not enough to hope that “others” will pray.
Each one counts. Each one can be an instrument so that a young person may hear the voice of Christ who calls:
“Come, follow me.”
Ask with faith
The harvest is plentiful. Souls are waiting.
And the Lord has given us the way: to ask, to trust, to persevere.
Ask the Lord of the harvest every day.
Do it with faith, with constancy, with love for the Church.
Because God listens. And when the Church prays, He answers.