Marriage or the priesthood?

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) -- Pope Leo XIV has shared his advice for how to discern one's vocation, starting with the importance of creating space for interior silence to "hear what the Lord desires for our happiness."

In Pope Leo's first message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, published by the Vatican March 25, the pope wrote that "a vocation entails an intimate dialogue with the One who calls and invites us to respond, despite the deafening noise of the world, with true joy and generosity."

"Dear young people, listen to this voice!" he said. "Listen to the voice of the Lord who invites you to a full and fruitful life, calling you to put your talents to use and to unite your limitations and weaknesses with the glorious cross of Christ."

Ways to create space to listen to the Lord's voice, he said, include making time for Eucharistic adoration, spending time each day meditating on the Bible, doing works of charity, and participating fully in the sacramental and ecclesial life of the Church.

"In this way, you will come to know the Lord. Through the intimacy of his friendship, you will discover how to give of yourselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life," he said.

Pointing to the example of St. Augustine, Pope Leo said it is essential "to learn to pause and to create space for interior silence, so that we may hear the voice of Jesus Christ."

"'Noli foras ire, in te ipsum redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas' -- 'Do not go outside yourself. Return within yourself. Truth dwells in the inner person,'" he said, quoting St. Augustine's fourth-century treatise "On True Religion."

In discerning one's vocation, it is essential to cultivate trust in the Lord, Pope Leo said. "Indeed, life reveals itself as a continual act of trusting in the Lord and abandoning ourselves to him, even when his plans unsettle our own," he said.

"A vocation is not a fixed point," he added, "but a dynamic process of maturation sustained by intimacy with our Lord. To grow in one's vocation means being with Jesus, allowing the Holy Spirit to act in our hearts and in the circumstances of life, and reinterpreting everything in light of this gift."

The Catholic Church celebrates the World Day of Prayer for Vocations each year on the fourth Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocations Sunday. This year it falls on April 26.

"Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy. To know the Lord means above all learning to entrust oneself to him and to his providence, which is abundant in every vocation," Pope Leo said.

Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.