Prayer for Those Called to Church Ministry

0 God, our Creator and Sustainer, you breathe life into clay and fashion the plants and trees and flowers and all living things with your loving hands.
You are the source of the beauty that surrounds us in earth and sky.
You are the joy in the rising sun. You have called us by name out of nothing and dignified us as your children with the vocation to serve our brothers and sisters generously as we live and work together in our world.

Give us humble and open hearts so that we know our place in the world.
Help us to listen to your voice and watch for your presence in the people we serve, so that we might love you, not just with our words, but with lives of mercy and justice. Give us the courage to do your will, and the strength to respond wholeheartedly no matter what you ask.

Lord of life, we pray especially for those you call to serve the Church as priests, sisters, brothers, deacons and lay ministers. Accept the sacrifice of their lives so freely given; and, in return, bless them and us with your consoling presence, now and forever.
Amen.

Most Rev. C. J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Denver 1998