How to Discern a Vocation – Part II

[To read Part I of this article, Click Here]

There are a few things recommended to those who desire to be more certain regarding the possibility of a vocation. Indeed these practices are recommended for everyone, since we all are called by God in baptism to holiness of life, and because these practices are nothing more than fidelity to our baptismal promises. At the present you may practice one or more of these, or even none of these. Are you required to practice them all? Is that necessary to know for certain your vocation?

The answer is simple enough. These practices are like flames of a fire. The more flames, the more heat, the more heat, the greater the likely hood of a wet log burning. Now the soul who is beginning to walk to the Lord, indeed even many of us who have begun long ago, is likened to a wet log. It must draw close to God or God to it to be dried from sin, enlightened by faith, kindled by charity for God and neighbor.

Therefore the more that one does to draw closer to God, the clearer will be one's knowledge of one's vocation, whatever it may be, and wherever it may lead.

Here are some recommended things you can do:

1.       Consecrate yourself to the Blessed Virgin Mary and ask Her for all the graces and lights you need to please Her Son best of all.

2.       Resolve to spend some time each day in prayer. The more definite the time and place the better.

3.       Receive the sacrament of penance frequently and worthily.

4.       If you are not conscious of having committed a mortal sin which you have not confessed, then receive the Eucharist and with devout attention and participation at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Keep free from all sin, especially mortal sin, and strive to receive worthily often.

5.       Pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary each day; and strive to acquire the habit of saying Her Rosary each day.

6.       Pray often to one's guardian angel and to one's patron saints for the light of guidance and the grace of help.

7.       Avoid everything that might destroy one's love of God and Heaven, especially, impure pictures, films and immodest clothing or friends. (This practice is of course not optional, but obligatory, for "He who lives by the sword is doomed to die by the sword.")

8.       Read the lives and/or writings of canonized saints. Especially those who were outstanding priests, religious and founders of religious orders.

9.       Study the Catechism.

10.   Take up some work of charity for your neighbor, in so far as your present duties allow.

11.   Frequently ask God for the grace to know and love Him more and more.

12.   If there is a priest who in his actions is faithful to the Pope and a man of prayer ask for his advice and counsel. If you think you need advice concerning a vocation to religious life choose a priest who does not in any way despise the religious vocation.

13.   Be faithful to your present duties in life, even making sacrifices to fulfill them without negligence.

The Reward for those who follow Him

Finally we have the assurance of Christ that all who follow Him in a vocation will be greatly rewarded in this life and the life to come:

Supplement: Advice on Fulfilling a Vocation

Finding a Diocese

If you have discerned that God is calling you to the diocesan priesthood, then here is some simple advice that you can follow to help you fulfill His will for you.

First of all, do not pursue the vocation of a diocesan priest if you have sometime thought your vocation is to the religious life, and are choosing a vocation to diocesan priesthood as an escape from a vocation to religious life. This kind of behavior displeases the Lord very much, and He is not one to be mocked. Rest assured that He will block your way and have His way in the end, or that you will perish in your folly.

Second, strive to find some truly holy and learned diocesan priests to be your mentors and advisers. Discern who to entrust your soul to by examining their deeds more than their words. Don't hesitate to make sacrifices in traveling to find, even in remote places, such men, for they are worth their weight in gold. And having found them, do not let human respect or friendship lead you to accept anything they might advise that would be against the teaching of the Church or the way of holiness.

Third, don't play the cafeteria game: that is, do not decide on a diocese simply because you can get more out of it for yourself, especially if this "more" regards material things. Consider rather a diocese where there is greater possibility of pleasing God and serving the needy. Mission dioceses are often places were God can more easily found.

Fourth, don't accept compromises. Often many men go the way of perdition by agreeing to immoral arrangements in regard to their priestly formation, thinking once they become a priest it won't matter how they became one. There is little that could be more stupid than such thinking. God sees all, and the man who ascends the Altar unworthily is the most cursed man on the face of the earth.

Fifth, do not neglect prayer and study—in that order. Do not be swayed by what men say but bend your mind and heart to what the Church and the Saints, Doctors, and Fathers teach and did. Pay as much regard to a teaching as the authority of the one who taught it, and you will never go wrong.

Sixth, be holy for the Lord your God is holy. Make your first work, each day and week, be the keeping of your good resolutions and the examination and formation of your conscience. Never call evil good, nor good evil. Never call what is better, worse, or what is worse better. For such is the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Seventh, never be afraid, when you have sufficient reason, to disclose to those superiors who are able and willing to do something about it, the names of those persons in the Church who need help or who are destroying Her from within.

Finding a Religious Institute

Finding a religious institute is an essential part of a religious vocation; though, alas, it is not at all easy in the contemporary situation. But there are several points of advice that will smooth your journey, if only you remember them:

First, discern your vocation. Half the work in finding a religious institute is knowing to which one the Lord is calling you. He will not fail to make this clear, but to discern this rightly you must consider the totality of all the holy desires the Lord has sown in your soul, not just one of them. It is disastrous to choose one community over another simply because you would prefer this or that particular characteristic most of all. What matters is not what you want, but what God wants for you. Therefore put His will first and make the decision that will please Him. This is the most fundamental rule. If you break it, your life may be pleasant, humanly speaking in this world, but very unpleasant, spiritually speaking, in the life to come.

Second, to be a religious is to promise God, under the penalty of eternal damnation, to spend one's life seeking to grow in virtue. If you do not have this intention, do not be a religious, for it would be a quick road to damnation. If you have this intention, you need to pray and study a great deal the teachings and lives of the saints, on how to be holy. This will be the greatest help in deciding which community the Lord wants for you.

Third, never consider any community which is in any way not Catholic in its way of life. Examine their doctrine and discipline, what they do and what they don't do and what they permit members to do and not to do. What periodicals and books do they read, what places do they visit, what clothes do they wear. The key questions to look for are how do they live their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Be frank in your questions when you visit, if necessary. No worthy community will tolerate in the least such things as theological dissent, sodomy, impurity, individual monthly stipends, or freedom to do your own thing, etc.. If such criteria, as these, limit the number of places to choose from, all the better, since God only has one place in mind for you anyhow.

Fourth, do not give up. Even if you make the wrong decision, there is always time to change your heart and decide aright. Many times a community seems one way to us in our youth and another once we live there. If there are truly sound reasons, do not hesitate to leave. Do not join in the revelry of the wicked, simply because you have so little faith in the Providence God will show you if you seek Him in purity of heart and life. Sometimes too, after some years we realize that God was calling us to a holier life, and that there is a real possibility to live it now. Make this known to a good holy priest and seek the permission to follow this vocation-within-a-vocation. It is never too late to follow the Lord with a renewed spirit.

Fifth, never set a limit. If you only knew the things that make the Lord very, very angry, you would realize that one of they is those individuals who say "If I find such and such in such and such a period of time then I will say yes to the Lord, otherwise, I will go my merry way." These individuals go from folly to perdition faster than lightning. And they deserve such, for they have spurned the Love and powerful Providence of God, who alone is worthy of love and who knows best the times and seasons to serve Him.

Sixth, do not join or remain in a community if they do not observe their rule or norms, or if they are not willing to expel dissenters or those who flagrantly transgress their vows. But resolving to remain a religious and be a better one, keep the rule or norms and look for the possibility of transferring to a better community. To do otherwise is to put your soul in grave danger; to join such a community is, according to St. Alphonsus, a mortal sin.