Pray for Vocations

What is the Mother Theresa Vocation Society?

The Mother Teresa Vocation Society (MTVS) is a prayer apostolate that asks for your commitment to pray daily for vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.

The MTVS was founded in 2004 through the Office of Priest Vocations of the Archdiocese of Washington following the beatification of Mother Teresa in 2003. The society is a prayer apostolate that promises a daily commitment to prayer for an increase in the response to God’s call and for the perseverance of priests, deacons and those in consecrated life.

It requires a daily commitment to prayer. There are no dues or meetings. The society connects with members via an email newsletter and it offers Days of Reflections, Holy Hours for Vocations, and Holy Hours in anticipation of the ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood.

Why is it named after Mother Teresa of Calcutta?

Saint Teresa was devoted to priests and to the priesthood, and loved to pray for them. A few examples of her statements on the priesthood are as follows:

• “See the greatness of the priestly vocation. How pure the hearts of the priests must be to be able to say “This is my Body”. How pure their hands must be to grant absolution any time.”
• “Without priests we have no Jesus. Without priests we have no absolution. Without priests we cannot receive Holy Communion.”
• “The heart of Jesus is in the priest. In choosing a man to be a priest, Jesus has given himself totally to that man. It is only the priest who can give the real living Jesus to us in the Blessed Sacrament.”
• “When we go to confession, we go as sinners full of sin and when we come back from confession we come back as sinners without sin. How great for priests to have been chosen by Christ.”
• “I am very grateful to priests because they have done much for our congregation by helping our sisters live true religious lives. We specially prepare the Thursday evenings before every first Friday and we specially pray for priests.”
• “It is very important that priests help the people to come close to Jesus. They need to help the people to have clean hearts because a clean heart is able to see Christ.”
• “The Precious Blood is in the hands of the priest, the Living Bread he can break and give to all who are hungry for God.”

Why is prayer important for the work of vocations?

Prayer is the support that brings to fruition the seed of the vocation within the men and women who offer their lives to serve Our Lord. It is through the power of prayer that those seeking the priesthood and the consecrated life are sustained and nurtured. It is through the grace of daily prayer that you will partake in the work of building the culture of vocations. You will be a prayerful participant in the priest’s ordination.

Your ‘little prayers’ offered each day will make a great difference. In Mother Teresa’s words, “like Jesus we belong to the world living not for ourselves but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength.”

Interested in joining?

For more information about joining MTVS, please contact Marysanta Bigony. Learn more about priest vocations in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington at dcpriest.org.