Letter of the Master of the Order for Vocations

21 October 2024
Prot. N° 66/24/481 Prayers

To Priors Provincials and Vice Provincials,
To All the Brethren,

Dear Brothers,

And how can they hear without someone to preach?  (Romans 10:14) True, every vocation is a mystery. It is God who calls and sends labourers to the harvest. But those whom God calls need to “hear more clearly” God’s call. The prophet Samuel needed the priest Eli to know and understand who was calling him.

One of the important tasks of every friar, not just of the Promoter of Vocations, is to invite and accompany those whom God calls to be Dominicans so that they may know and understand more deeply the “voice” of God. This presupposes, of course, that we ourselves are familiar with that voice, a “familiarity” that is nourished by the Dominican life we live. We invite people to join the friars (in particular) and the Dominican Family (in general) because we want to share with them the joy of preaching the Gospel, we want to share with them the treasure of the Dominican life.

Recent General Chapters have asked that the promotion of new vocations be one of our priorities, and that necessary personal and material resources be allocated for this work. Since the Lord himself tells us “to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38), one of our important duties in promoting vocations is to pray. In fulfilment of ACG Tultenango (2022) 189, fr. Juan Manuel Hernandez Hernandez, Socius for Fraternal Life and Formation, and the Liturgical Commission of the Order have prepared a Prayer for Vocations in the official languages of the Order, which we present to you. We take this opportunity to remind you of the ordination of the General Chapter:

190. [ORDINATION] We ordain that priors shall ensure the daily recitation of a prayer for vocations in common, adopting the prayer commissioned above if one is not already in use.

As we pray together for vocations, let us keep in mind that:

  1. Praying for Dominican vocations entails actively promoting the Dominican charism to young people, encouraging and accompanying those who feel they are called;
  2. Praying for Dominican vocations also means making the Dominican charism visible, so that those who heard  God calling them to the Order may also see it more clearly;
  3. Praying for Dominican vocations should lead us to a greater commitment to the Lord who called us.

In Domino et Dominico,

fr. Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP
Magister Ordinis

Oratio pro vocationibus ad ordinem praedicatorum

Domine Iesu Christe,
qui ad Evangelium praedicandum
sancti Dominici familiam in Ecclesia convocasti,
suppliciter te rogamus,
ut operarios in messem tuam mittere digneris;
fortitudinem, sapientiam gratiamque omnem iis tribue,
ut te mortuum, resurrectum et in gloria venturum
digne coram hominibus confiteantur.

[Mariae sacratissimae,
cuius sub patrocinio Ordo noster permanet,
intercessione concede,
nos propugnatores esse fidei
lumenque dispellens indifferentiam et peccati tenebras.]

Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ,
who gathered the family of Saint Dominic in your Church
to preach the Gospel,
humbly we pray,
graciously send workers into your harvest,
and grant them all courage, wisdom, and grace
worthily to proclaim before all people
your death, resurrection and return in glory.

[May your Order persevere under the patronage
of the most blessed Mary,
and grant through her intercession
that they be true champions of the faith,
a light dispelling the darkness
of indifference and sin.]

Who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.

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