Call within a call: Your vocation and a career
Becoming a sister, brother, or priest doesn’t have to mean giving up your professional path. Not only that, a religious vocation can reshape your career in surprising ways.
Prayer and Discernment
8 questions and answers to your prayers
The catechism distills centuries of wisdom about prayer. Find answers to basic prayer questions straight from this foundational guide to the faith.
Ask God a question, you’ll get an answer
One question, “What do you want me to do?”, will lead you in unexpected—and dangerous places. Ask it every day!
Discernment: Three things I pray
Understanding your call begins when you believe you are worthy, you listen to God speak through your life and in your prayer, and you trust enough to surrender.
When the going gets tough
Hot-button issues can raise our blood pressure. Here are some insights on discerning your calling in the midst of controversy.
Listen closely
God rarely makes booming announcements about what you should do with your life. Quite the opposite, it takes a lot of quiet to hear God inside you.
La pregunta más peligrosa
The article you requested does not exist in the current language. It is available in: Español
Four steps to vocation discernment
Follow these four time-honored steps as you discern where God is calling you.
How to prepare for consecrated life
Tips on practices and steps for you to take in preparation for living a vowed life.
A user’s guide on the ways to pray
From formal to informal to spoken to silent, the Catholic faith offers a wealth of prayers and ways to pray.
VOCATION PRAYERS - Prayers for Vocations
Vocations begin with prayer. Please make use of our growing collection of prayers for vocations that have appeared in VISION in print or online.
Holiness is for everybody
If God is content that an individual is trying his or her best (for the moment) to fulfill God’s hopes, that person qualifies as a saint.
Let God’s Word open the door to your heart
Praying with scripture can help you hear the voice of the Spirit stirring inside your heart and inviting you to break open the Bible and come to know God more personally.
What does it mean to say that God is calling me?
Jesuit Ignatian tradition sees God as actively and personally involved in each of our lives. . . . God is engaged in a lifelong dialog with us. Our role in the dialog is to pay attention, listen, and try to respond.
Be a saint in your own way
Everyone is a unique creation of God, and the way to sanctity is to be your unique self.
Art: A way into prayer
Art is a pathway to the divine.
Discernment: A spiritual gift with a surprising goal
Wise and holy choices move us closer to God and help us become our best selves.
FOR BULLETIN EDITORS & DISCERNERS: Reflections on consecrated life
Insightful quotes and reflections on consecrated life for use in parish bulletins or on the parish website for every week of the Year of Consecrated Life and beyond.
How to know where God is leading you
In exploring a call to religious life, certain attitudes are crucial for success: openness, trust, expectation, and inner freedom.
PRAYER CARD: Pope Francis Prayer for Vocations
Please make use of this prayer for vocations by Pope Francis in your homes, classrooms, youth ministry gatherings, and parish liturgies.
Nine ways to open up God's will for you
During my 35 years as a vocation counselor, I've discovered nine steps to help people find what they want--and what God wants for them.
It all begins with a call
From Abraham to Peter, Andrew, James, and John to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and extending to you, scripture reveals that nothing is so life-changing as the call we hear that originates in God.
FOR LITURGISTS & PRAYER MINISTERS | petitionary prayers | song | vocation prayers
Please include a petitionary prayer in honor of the Year of Consecrated Life at every liturgy, and sing our specially commissioned song, Wake the World With Dawning Joy.
La carta del Papa para ti
The article you requested does not exist in the current language. It is available in: Español
Stop worrying about God’s will
A young discerner has advice for his peers on how to stay calm and understand who God is and isn’t.
4 questions to answer God’s call
Throughout the ages, people have struggled to understand God’s call for them. Here are four steps to help you, beginning with increased awareness.
How to nurture inner silence
A Benedictine monk whose abbey hosted members of the public in a British reality television program talks about the place of silence in everyday life.
5 ways to better prayer
Prayer is a grace from God, but there are actions and attitudes that help our prayer life grow stronger and deeper.
12 steps to sisterhood (if you’re thinking too hard!)
If the seriousness of contemplating your future is weighing you down, consider these satirical suggestions.
Desert discernment
A trip to Jordan’s biblical wilderness provides the backdrop for a reflection on how you can find your way by wandering.
What I learned as a novice
I realized that while I was trying to earn drops of acceptance by serving others, in the silence of my heart I found that God was ready to offer me an entire sea of acceptance.
Navigating the right course
The sea, with its changing conditions of turbulence and calm, is a parable of life that can teach us how to steer a path to joy.
Do-it-yourself discernment retreat
Take five minutes out of your busy day for a week to deepen your prayer life and develop greater understanding of vocation.
The paths of prayer
Sister Christa Parra, I.B.V.M. discovered her vocation during prayer. Now prayer keeps her grounded in her life as a sister.
Celibacy quiz: Can you live a celibate life?
Take this quiz to test your ability to live a life of celibacy.
Pray all ways—three ways to begin
Prayer traditions observed in a small “monastery town” can lead to new prayer horizons and practices as well as a newly energized prayer attitude.
Why consider a church vocation in times like these?
In the midst of great difficulties, the church more than ever needs a new generation of priests, sisters, and brothers.
Pray always
We try to crank up the thoughts and feelings we think we should be having when we pray. But prayer is “lifting mind and heart to God,” and that means lifting up, at any given moment, exactly what’s there.
Our service is our prayer
For members of religious communities called to active service in the world, their prayer informs