In vocation message, Pope emphasizes prayer as basis of Christian missionary spirit
November 30, 2016
The Holy See Press Office has released the papal message for the 54th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will be commemorated on the Fourth Sunday of Easter (May 7) in 2017.
In “Led by the Spirit for Mission,” dated November 27 and released November 30, Pope Francis emphasized that “commitment to mission is not something added on to the Christian life as a kind of decoration, but is instead an essential element of faith itself.”
Reflecting on three themes—“Jesus is anointed by the Spirit and sent,” “Jesus is at our side every step of the way,” and “Jesus makes the seed grow”—the Pope said that “there can be no promotion of vocations or Christian mission apart from constant contemplative prayer.”
He added:
The Christian life needs to be nourished by attentive listening to God’s word and, above all, by the cultivation of a personal relationship with the Lord in Eucharistic adoration, the privileged “place” for our encounter with God. I wish heartily to encourage this kind of profound friendship with the Lord, above all for the sake of imploring from on high new vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
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