Signs of A Religious Vocation

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

Signs of a Religious Vocation

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm.

2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God.

3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements.

4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love Jesus Christ.

5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation.

6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation.

7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward.

8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.

9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners.

10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not havce a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state

[karin]

my priest quoted one of the sanits to me ( i dont know which one sorry) that said: One of the signs of a vocation is an unexplainable joy.
of course that is not required but it is a sign.

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

[quote name='karin' date='Feb 1 2005, 01:44 PM'] my priest quoted one of the sanits to me ( i dont know which one sorry) that said: One of the signs of a vocation is an unexplainable joy.
of course that is not required but it is a sign. [/quote]
Yep! That is a GREAT sign of a vocation...

[jgirl]

I'm personally a big fan of number 10 because that was the story of my life throughout college.

[karin]

yeah all those have happened at one point or another.

[ForHimAlone]

:wub:

[FutureSoror]

Reading the down the list, most all of the things make sense with me in one way or another, as I thought, but wow. That #10 describes it almost perfectly; you could almost say that's the story of my life.

[Maddalena]

I hate #10. I want a family.

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

I have never experienced number 10... I have been open to God's will for a long time and I have embraced this calling! Hmmmm... :thinking:

[Chorusgirl]

Hey! I found these signs of a vocation to be very helpful to me personally... I have read them many times before in my past and feel as though I can relate to all of them...

1) I do feel as though God is calling me... And when I am calm and in silence I am in peace and joy! I want so badly to do Gods will.
2) I am really attracted to holy things and being at church!! I want to be up at church as often as possible and I want to always grow so much closer to God!! My attention is always grabbed when I see a priest, seminarian or sister!! I get super excited and must talk with them, and then I find myself more at peace. I have a lot of seminarian friends and my family insists I have crushes on them, but really, It's Gods love that radiates out of them that attracts me. It's how beautiful their souls are.

Ahaha... Saturday I was at the mall with friends and thought I saw a nun going up the escalater and ran over to see... But then I realized that it was a girl with really long dark hair that looked like a veil from far away.. ahaha!!! I was laughing and so embarrased!
3) I feel like the ways of the world, all of the materialisitic things are not satisfying at all!! It doesn't matter where I am, what I am doing or so on... Like so many times I would be in the movies theaters, amusement parks and so on and I could not get into it... I would have my vocation on my mind instead...
4) I long deeply to sacrifice my life for God, to reach out to all souls, to draw only closer and closer to God always. I don't want to live for myself, but live for God always and serve others and God.
5) I want so badly to help reach out to all souls... To save souls through God, that God may work through me as an instrument, to bring peace. Life is short and prayer is so powerful for God is the almighty!!
6) I don't mind conditions and so on of any religous life... Really, I just want to do Gods will. May Gods will be done always!!
7) Happiness, peace, joy!! That is all I am lately!! I am SO happy and filled with an inner peace and joy!! I just feel so sure about what God is calling me to, the Dominican Nuns of the Heart of Jesus.
8) & 9) I want so badly to spend my life in prayer, to atone for sin!!
10) When I first felt called it was after I surrendered to God... I asked God what His will of me. It took me a while though to actually surrender in prayer, to tell God I was ready to surrender to His will alone! At first it was hard, but now thats all I want, I have only grown in joy and the desire to be a Bride of Christ. Thats all I want, nothing else, to be a nun!

Anyway... Sorry, that was sort of long... But I wanted to briefly share my thoughts on the signs, my reflections.

I hope all are doing well!!

~Marjorie

[jgirl]

[quote name='FutureNunJMJ' date='Feb 6 2005, 03:59 AM'] I have never experienced number 10... I have been open to God's will for a long time and I have embraced this calling! Hmmmm... :thinking: [/quote]
You are lucky! I kind of wanted to enter right after high school, but I think at that point, I still saw it kind of like, "I have to do this because I am called to it." It didn't bring me joy (probably because it wasn't the community I am supposed to enter). In college, I ran so far away from the idea. When I was trying to decide between getting a job to pay off loans to pursue a vocation and grad school, I stopped going to adoration because I knew that the best way He speaks to my heart is through the Eucharist--at Mass or in adoration. I realized pretty quickly that I made the wrong choice, and I went back to adoration, and I truly opened my heart. God hasn't disappointed either because my heart is bursting with joy now at the idea of serving Him and loving Him with my entire heart. I can't wait until I can enter!

[Totus Tuus]

[quote name='FutureNunJMJ' date='Feb 1 2005, 01:39 PM'] Signs of a Religious Vocation

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm.

2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God.

3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements.

4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love Jesus Christ.

5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation.

6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation.

7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward.

8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.

9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners.

10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not havce a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state [/quote]
On #3, I often am the opposite in feeling it in the midst of the world; sometimes I do, but generally it's after I've gone to a social event or something, and then reflect on it.

I have experienced #10 to a certain degree. I like how they say that God's will will eventually draw attraction

I just read "The Privilege of Being a Woman" by Alice von Hildebrand (I highly recommend it!). In the book, she talks about both marriage and consecrated life. Speaking of the latter, she said that the maternal role cannot be escaped by any woman. There is maternity knit into the heart of a woman and she cannot banish it even if she wanted to. The maternity of a religious woman is exhibited in cooporating with God to birth millions of souls into Eternity. How beautiful! And Jesus wasn't kidding when He said that when we give up everything to follow Him, we are repayed hundredfold... for religious women, that repayment is in part with hundreds of spiritual children.

[avemarisstella]

I thought I'd never experienced number 10 until this last year. In March I met a postulant to the Community of the Beatitudes, a really beautiful soul, and she was expressing fear and doubt about her upcoming temporary commitment to the community. I couldn't imagine doubting. Just a week later it all crumbled and I started to really doubt my vocation and really want a family. I couldn't remember whether or not I had any good reasons to think about religious life at first and tried to convince God that I was called to marriage.

Anyway, I feared leaving my home town and visiting Sydney, because I didn't want to see that there was more to life than what I was doing. Anyway, I arrived in Sydney a few weeks ago, went to Solemn Choral Mass at the Cathedral and had no desire other than to lie prostrate before the altar and live there for the rest of my life. On the way out I said to Dad, "I want to live [i]here[/i]!" He said, "What, in Sydney?" and I replied, "No, in the Cathedral!" Anyway, a week later and a seminarian I had barely met for ten minutes asked if I was thinking of religious life and from that moment on and for the last month I've been filled with a certainty that I don't think could completely go away.

I say this, because I've learnt that the best thing to do in times of doubt is to tell Jesus about it. Very simple, but it never occured to me for a long time. Isn't it amazing how the biggest barriers can be overcome by something so simple as a gaze at Our Lord? Isn't is amazing how silly we (I) can be when we (I) forget it?!

By the way, number 3 is a big one for me. I keep on realising how true St Augustine was when he said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

Since I returned from Australia I've had two ladies and a sister ask me, quite out of the blue, if I was going to be a nun. It's getting funny!

[melporcristo]

#3 is one I know has been a problem lately. Since I've been living in Seattle, I feel left out of the loop in "fashion" trends. Why do shoes have to be so cute?
But I know when God tells me to give up the shoes, pairs of earrings, etc. I will totally do it for Him even if I have to walk around barefoot!

[Totus Tuus]

That's funny, because the silliest minute detail that I'm dreading about entering anywhere, as I'm not really looking into any discalced orders, is that I will have to wear shoes all the time. I hate shoes with a passion.