Prayer of Catholic youth in vocational discernment — with St John Bosco

Youth is the time when the great vocations of Christian life are decided: Christian marriage, consecrated life, ministerial priesthood, or lay celibacy in the world. The Gospel tells us of the encounter of the rich young man with Jesus (Mt 19:16-22): that young man wanted to know «what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?» Jesus answered him first with the commandments, and then with the radical invitation of discipleship: «If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me». The young man of the Gospel did not respond to the call and went away sad. The Church proposes to us, on the contrary, two great models of youth who said yes: Samuel, still a child in the Temple, who heard the voice of the Lord and answered: «Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth» (1 Sam 3:9); and St John Bosco (1815-1888, canonised by Pius XI on 1.04.1934 — Easter Sunday), the saint of the young par excellence, who at the age of nine had the prophetic dream in which the Lady clothed with light said to him: «Not with blows, but with gentleness and with charity shalt thou conquer these thy friends. Set thyself immediately to speak to them of the horror of sin and the preciousness of virtue» (cf. Memorie Biografiche I, 124, Salesian source in full DP). John Bosco was father, master, confessor and friend of thousands of young people in Turin, founding the Salesians of Don Bosco (Society of St Francis de Sales, approved by Pius IX in 1869). This prayer is for the young man or young woman to pray when the time of vocational decision approaches — end of school, entry into university, first serious work, beginning of a courtship, or simply when the heart begins to feel the restlessness of the call of God.

(The young person prays, before the Crucifix or the Blessed Sacrament, after some time of silence:)

Lord my God, you know me better than I myself know me. You know what is happening within this young heart of mine — my hopes, my fears, my dreams, my doubts, the passions that stir me, the restlessness that does not leave me still.

I know that you have for me a plan of good — a vocation, a path of my own, a unique form in which you wish that I should love and serve you in this life and enjoy you for eternity. I do not yet know what it is. But you know, and you wish to reveal it to me.

For this I pray to you with the words of the boy Samuel: «Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth» (1 Sam 3:9). And not as the rich young man of the Gospel, who went away sad when you called him; but, if you call me, help me to have the courage to say yes to you, even though it cost me to leave all.

Show me, O Lord, what my vocation is:

• If you wish to call me to Christian Matrimony — prepare me now in purity and maturity; bring to my meeting the right person according to your Heart; give me the grace to live chastely the time of courtship and engagement; to constitute a holy family, open to life, faithful unto death;
• If you wish to call me to Consecrated Life — male or female, active or contemplative, in a convent, in a monastery, in a congregation, in an institute — give me the grace to recognise your call, not to flee from it out of fear nor out of love for this life; give me the courage of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, who at 15 entered the Carmel;
• If you wish to call me to the Ministerial Priesthood — make me feel the ardour of your Cross, give me the grace to seek out a spiritual director, to approach the seminary, not to recoil from the demand of priestly celibacy nor from the mockery of the world;
• If you wish to call me to Lay apostolic celibacy in the world — in some profession, some mission, some ecclesial movement, some charitable or cultural work — open me to the generosity of this gift, even less understood by today’s world.

In whatever path you call me, I already from now respond: here am I, Lord; send me (Is 6:8).

St John Bosco, father and master of Catholic youth, you who knew the soul of the young in all its restlessness, and who sustained thousands of young people on the path of holiness — sustain me also in the discernment of my vocation. You who used to say: «It is enough that you be young, that I may love you much» — love me now, and bring my prayer to the Heart of Jesus. Amen.

«Da mihi animas, cetera tolle» — Give me souls, take away all the rest (Gen 14:21, according to the interpretation St John Bosco made it the motto of his whole life).