As promoters of vocations, we’ve personally experienced the importance of prayer for understanding God’s will. Perhaps we remember some key point in life where we turned more regularly to prayer and saw the fruit in our relationship with God. For many of us, that point coincided with having more time and access to a quiet space. Having time and space is critical for discernment. So we should ask whether the young people we know have the time and space to pray? If not, what can we do to help?

Discernment thrives in periods of free unstructured time and quiet places without distraction. Here a person can follow Christ’s words to “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6).

In our families and homes, is there a place a young person could pray in quiet? Perhaps a specific place could be reserved, or if not, an occasional time of quiet makes it possible to pray in a common area. Is there a place nearby, such as church or a place of Eucharistic Adoration? Can we help young people access these occasionally?

In a school or religious education setting, do we have a place where students can pray? Could we make it possible for students to access a chapel or quiet place?

When coordinating schedules, do we help young people to have some free unstructured time during the week where they could pursue prayer? Could we help with time management or even shift some time away from family obligations or extra-curriculars? Could we devote part of a Religious Education class to prayer itself? In a Catholic school, could we discuss making lunch period a little longer or slightly lengthening passing time to classes? Might there be a creative way to make room for something so important as the habit of prayer?

Long before smartphones and tablets, John Paul II used to take young people into nature for a break from the noise, for a chance to pray. Could we provide or support a similar opportunity?

We should encourage young people to discern and pray for their discernment. And we should often revisit practical ways to help young people find the time and space to pray. The more opportunity there is for discernment, the more fruit we will see in vocations.