Discernment

[willguy]

I'm wondering where all the guys went too. C'mon, I know you're out there. I know of at least two seminarians in the phamily whose input in this thread would be amesome.

C'mon guys, the girls made a spin-off, and they're beating us. :D

[BLAZEr]

Not only are the girls beating us . . . they are kicking our asses back to the Manger in Bethlehem. My poor donkey is tired of being whipped like it stole something.

Have you read their posts? My goodness! I yearn to be the type of person who desires the things they talk about. It's true, girls, when they seek holiness, kick our butts by miles.

I just resin the Little Flower who said 'I want everything."

[Seatbelt Blue]

The pursuit of holiness is by definition a long a harried road. Our efforts will find themselves constantly challenged; Sammael never attacks those whom he already has. My friend Katie has been vacillating on whether or not to join the Church; recent events had shaken a previously rock-solid faith to the core. So she goes to mass, but when she comes home, something terrible has happened that would have been substantially eased by her presence. So she hasn't been to mass in a month. Her path to holiness was derailed.

I want to be a saint, but I have my own issues. There are roadblocks on my road to holiness. Despite my _desire_ and _will_ to serve the Lord, I am still subject to basic human _temptation_. As I have recently been pursuing holiness with some gusto, it follows that this pursuit found itself challenged by Sammael, who tempted me toward a sin I have been trying to avoid, a sin thatm regardless of it's actual gravity, fills me with utter shame every time I commit it, and always makes me doubt my own commitment. Like Katie above, I let myself fall into it; temptation is powerful.

The Lord gives us strength to overcome these things, but we have to actually consciously decide to make use of that strength. A frequent prayer I utter is "Lord, take from me my will; I desire to do Your will, and not my own." I understand that my will, my desires, my wants, are sinful or will lead me to sin if pursued, and to that end I want the Lord to break my will into little pieces and replace it with His own.

My principal task these days is to cultivate my love of God, which, in days past, burned so strongly it made me weep to think of it. I remember once, while in prayer, God took it upon Himself to show me a little tiny glimpse of His love, and it overwhelmed me. I can't even begin to describe how it felt. However, since those days, my love for Him has waned, my devotion has waned, and I am struggling to bring it back.

I am in a prolonged dry spell; there come and go little eases from it, but the draught has yet to end. I beg the Lord, not to end it, but to provide me the strength to persevere. I imagine He has already done do.

[Lounge Daddy]

I am considering 3rd Order Franciscans… or the Deaconate .

[willguy]

A frequent prayer I utter is "Lord, take from me my will; I desire to do Your will, and not my own."

I know that prayer well. It has been mine many times. I'll post more on this tomorrow, but my internet cuts at midnight and so I've only got a couple minutes.

BTW, I talked to the girl today. Basically, I was like "Look, I may be misinterpretting things, but you've been acting extremely friendly this year, and I just want to reiterate that there's nothing between us (besides as friends), and I still don't date." (Yeah, I know, I'm a real charmer. Trust me, I can be charming if I want to, but this was something that I just needed to say and get out). She just said "Jeez Dotson, (it's my last name, and a bunch of friends call me that), I know you don't date. I don't know what I've done to make you so paranoid, but I'm sorry." and I was like "Don't be, its my fault." More to come, but basically I got it out and it didn't do massive damage.

Thank you God. Thank you St. Joseph for your prayers.

[willguy]

Seatbelt,

I've been in your position before bro. The times when our prayer life seems empty and dry, and our being feels like it is fighting against God. It is hard. It's a lot of interior anguish, and in my case I felt like there was noone who I could talk to who'd understand. So first off, I want you to know that I'm here for you.

The biggest way I've found to get over the dry spell is to keep praying. Pray when you don't feel like it. Pray when it feels empty. Tell God that you feel empty. Tell Him where you are, where you were, and where you'd like to be.

As for the sin thing, I've been there too. It was, and to a lesser extent still is, my "thorn in my flesh" (to quote Paul). The way God helped me get over it is by showing me that this life, and all of existence, is a war between Him and Satan, and we are soldiers in this war. As soldiers, we don't decide "I'll let the enemy win just this once." We choose a side and fight for it. The same is true with God and sin. Sin is letting the enemy win.

I've got more to say, but I have to go to class....

[willguy]

Okay, this is the third time I've started this post, but I should be able to finish it this time.

It is my guess that the two things you talk about (the sin and the dry spell) might be related. They seem like Satan's attempt to get your mind off of God and the priesthood. Let's face it, since day 1 Satan's been out to destroy the Church. the best way to do it would be to destroy the priesthood, without which there is no Baptism, no Eucharist, no Reconciliation, etc. So, when someone decides that they want to become a priest, the devil probably gets pretty worried. So, he goes to work trying to turn you away.

I've been through, and still do sometimes, struggling with God. The best advice I have is to pray. Ask God to beat you, to make you weak, to not let you win. Tell Him what you want. Just pour your heart and soul out before Him. Ask Him to conquer your sinful temptations, to overcome your rebelious nature. When I was fighting with God, wanting to do my will and not His but knowing in my heart that His was infinitly better, I just sat down and wrote my prayer to Him. Part of it reads "Holy Spirit, don't let me turn my back. Don't give me the strength to fight. Take my strength; give me weakness. May that be the greatest gift that You give me."

St. Michael is a great intercessor for help in battling temptation, Satan, and your own desires. He did battle for God before and beat Satan's army, and he can battle for you too.

[Lounge Daddy]

Ok, this is a bump...

anybody out there considered a third order... or being a deacon?

[phatcatholic]

i think the original question was, "how did you know that you were called to the religious life?" can someone answer that? i'm really interested, and i think willguy is too.

thanks,

phatcatholic

[Lounge Daddy]

i think the original question was, "how did you know that you were called to the religious life?" can someone answer that? i'm really interested, and i think willguy is too.

thanks,

phatcatholic

You know, I asked a Priest this same question and he was not able to give me a straight answer. He told me that this is something that is not rushed... discernment takes prayer and time.

How do you know you are really in love?

[willguy]

Hey guys,

can I bum some prayers off ya'll? I'm probably gonna have my behavioral assessment and psychological exam to enter the seminary during December. I'm gonna be home from school, which means I may not be posting much. So I'm gonna ask for your prayers now. I'll try and get the dates up, but if you could please pray for me. I don't know why I'm nervous about these, cause there's nothing wrong with me (well, I'm crazy, but so are most seminarians that I know, so I'm not worried about that being a problem :D ).

[VeraMaria]

Hey guys,

can I bum some prayers off ya'll?  I'm probably gonna have my behavioral assessment and psychological exam to enter the seminary during December.  I'm gonna be home from school, which means I may not be posting much.  So I'm gonna ask for your prayers now.  I'll try and get the dates up, but if you could please pray for me.  I don't know why I'm nervous about these, cause there's nothing wrong with me (well, I'm crazy, but so are most seminarians that I know, so I'm not worried about that being a problem :D ).

i will be praying for you!! :D

*Vera ducks ansd runs out of this "guys only" thread*

[VeraMaria]

Not only are the girls beating us . . . they are kicking our asses back to the Manger in Bethlehem.  My poor donkey is tired of being whipped like it stole something.

Have you read their posts?  My goodness!  I yearn to be the type of person who desires the things they talk about.  It's true, girls, when they seek holiness, kick our butts by miles.

I just resin the Little Flower who said 'I want everything."

girls are cool.

it's a fact.

watch out....it's the holy girls!! :D

[Theologian in Training]

Hey guys,

can I bum some prayers off ya'll?  I'm probably gonna have my behavioral assessment and psychological exam to enter the seminary during December.  I'm gonna be home from school, which means I may not be posting much.  So I'm gonna ask for your prayers now.  I'll try and get the dates up, but if you could please pray for me.  I don't know why I'm nervous about these, cause there's nothing wrong with me (well, I'm crazy, but so are most seminarians that I know, so I'm not worried about that being a problem :D ).

God help you, Mary keep you. Those things are absolutely brutal. They probe into every aspect of your life, especially with regards to sexuality. Those questions would make the strongest man blush.

The actual test with the therapist is not as bad. Sometimes it is fun being timed on how fast you could put blocks together...feel like your in elementary school. I don't recall being able to get them all done within a sufficient time but apparently it doesn't mean I am dumb

As to other aspects of the test, you have the neat little pictures from which you make a story, you get questions about your social, spiritual, sexual, and familial experiences.

From what I remember, it wasn't exactly enjoyable sitting with a therapist for 3 hrs.

I will definitely keep you in my prayers.

God Bless

[Theologian in Training]

How do you know you are really in love?

And that is the fundamental question. Whether your called or not is one thing, whether you answer, is quite another.

Mary said yes, she could have said no. We too are given the choice between saying yes or saying no.

If you say yes, make it count, don't go through the motions, otherwise discern more.

When you are in love, you don't immediately say, I am in love. You have formed a relationship, you have spent time with that person, they may have seen you through the good and the bad, it is when both stay that there is something more there than mere friendship.

When you are in love, it happens, you realize it, and you spontaneously shout it out to the world, you admit it, you make it known.

The same is true with discernment. You shouldn't wake up one day and say I am going to be a priest, rather, you should wake up and day and know that the feeling that wouldn't go away is telling you you are to be a priest.

God calls, sometimes we don't listen, sometimes we don't even respond.

God yells, we still don't listen, we still don't respond.

God whispers from being so hoarse, we can't even hear Him anymore.

He waits.

And waits.

And waits.

Then we realize that its not there anymore, the nagging, the driving force, it went quiet.

We understand.

We then listen.

We know.

God speaks.

We hear Him.

We say yes.

It doesn't happen in a vacuum, He is always there, it is when we actually take time to listen that we know He is calling.

Do you hear Him?

God Bless