Discernment For Boys

[Guest phatdaddy]

Prodigalson,

Beautifully spoken. Based on your words, expressing your desires and inclination, I see a priestly vocation in your future. It is natural and normal for you to be drawn towards married life even while discerning your vocation. As you know God will not subvert our nature in calling us into His service. I see a well balnced, mature and spiritually astute religious vocation seeker in what you have wrote. You seem to have what it takes by what I read in your story. Have courage, be bold, set out into the deep and hold on. God bless you in your Journey.

Mr. Ray

[uruviel]

Prodigason,
As said by every one else, this was said beautifully and I was glad to hear encouragement as such. You have a very mature and spiritual look on your situation and the Holy Spirit has given you much grace. Trust in God, prayer (to Jesus and through the intersession of Mary) Adoration, and Hope are 4 main important things in discernment, for me that is. Your examples of these have shown. God Bless you,
~Lori
ps. daaaadddy....... "what you have [i]written[/i] ..." not wrote .... sorry I had to! Love you :

[Guest phatdaddy]

[quote name='uruviel' date='Mar 27 2006, 04:24 PM']Prodigason,
As said by every one else, this was said beautifully and I was glad to hear encouragement as such.  You have a very mature and spiritual look on your situation and the Holy Spirit has given you much grace.  Trust in God, prayer (to Jesus and through the intersession of Mary) Adoration, and Hope are 4 main important things in discernment, for me that is.  Your examples of these have shown.  God Bless you,
~Lori
ps. daaaadddy....... "what you have [i]written[/i] ..." not wrote   .... sorry I had to! Love you :
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Rats....I can't escape it. It just makes me want to Don't you just hate homeschoolers.... ......they just know too much. I like wrote, so I said wrote, and I am goin to say wrote again :

And I luv you............ ................. :bugeyes:

[uruviel]

written is still the correct useage... of.. word.... You can't escape it daddy... jk

Edited March 28, 2006 by uruviel

[heyyoimjohnny]

Holy cowpies, guys! I was talking with the assistant vocations director about some things, and he's like my favorite priest ever (but not my spiritual director), and we were talking and he said something like "if you're called..." and then he broke off and said, "and I really believe you are, I feel that very strongly..." and it jusy holy cowpies, made my day! It just made my heart like explode, that this priest I look up to so much would see that in me!

[Guest phatdaddy]

Heyyoimjohnny,

Wonderful..... : Isn't God good....Now it's up to you. Please, let me again encourage you. Assume God has spoken.....And assume you most likely have a vocation. Now take the first step and respond to His call. Trust that by the time of your ordination there will be no doubt in you or in the Church. I am so excited for you.

Mr. Ray

[uruviel]

heyyoi'mjohnny,
that is soo wonderful, I am so happy for you. Like Mr. Ray said, Assume that God has spoken, and you must take the first step. I will be praying for you, God Bless you,
-Lori

[OLAM Dad]

Did he say holy cowpies???

[WillT]

Hello to all my fellow discern-ers. (I guess that's a word. It is now anyway!) I have been feeling a call to the priesthood for a while now (about two years or so) and have finally talked to my priest about it, and hopefully I will get an appointment with the vocations director of my diocese in the next week or so. I would really appreciate any prayers you could send my way! I am almost certain that I am called to the priesthood and I would like to enter seminary in the fall, but I have some buisness that still needs to be taken care of at my current University first. I would just like to ask for prayers that all of those more human aspects of the journey go smoothly so that I can really focus on my spiritual life and be able to hear God's voice more clearly every day.
Thanks!
-Will

P.S. If anyone would like to hear my vocation story I would be willing to tell it when I have the opportunity to be on PM again.

[cappie]

[quote name='WillT' date='Apr 1 2006, 04:14 PM']Hello to all my fellow discern-ers. (I guess that's a word. It is now anyway!) I have been feeling a call to the priesthood for a while now (about two years or so) and have finally talked to my priest about it, and hopefully I will get an appointment with the vocations director of my diocese in the next week or so. I would really appreciate any prayers you could send my way! I am almost certain that I am called to the priesthood and I would like to enter seminary in the fall, but I have some buisness that still needs to be taken care of at my current University first. I would just like to ask for prayers that all of those more human aspects of the journey go smoothly so that I can really focus on my spiritual life and be able to hear God's voice more clearly every day. 
Thanks!
-Will

P.S. If anyone would like to hear my vocation story I would be willing to tell it when I have the opportunity to be on PM again.
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Maybe this might help, it comes from an adaptation of St Ignatius who says that God does make His will known either by certain lights and attractions of ordinary actual grace, or through the inspiration of His holy angels whose primary mission is to lead and guide us to our eternal destiny.

1. "I must first of all," continues St. Ignatius, "place before my eyes the end for which I have been created, which is to praise God our Lord and to save my soul. I must, moreover, be in a state of perfect indifference, and be without any unreasonable desires, so that I am neither inclined toward, nor desirous of choosing one state of life more than another, keeping a perfect balance and ever ready to choose that state which will seem most proper to procure the glory of God and the salvation of my soul."

2. Then, St. Ignatius suggests: "I shall ask of God our Lord to deign to move my will, and to Himself suggest to my soul whatever I should do in regard to the choice which I am engaged in making, for His greater praise and glory."

3. Next, ask with all sincerity to know what state of life you should embrace, with the view of more surely attaining the end for which you have been created-the glory of God and the salvation of your soul.

4. To do this in a really practical manner, take a sheet of paper and write the heading, "Life in the World." Then divide the page in two columns and write down on one side the advantages to be gained by living in this state; on the other, all the disadvantages, which may come to mind.

Do the same in regards to the priesthood and/or consecrated life. Jot down all your reasons-spiritual and temporal-and anything else there may be worth noting, always keeping the same end in view-your eternal salvation and the glory that you must procure for the Divine Master.

5. When this is done, draw the conclusion. Weigh each side with its reasons very attentively, considering and comparing each vocation accordingly. Once you have done this, you will be able to see just which one is best for you.

P.S I would like to hear your story next time your on

[WillT]

Thanks Fr. I think that will really help.

As for the story, it's a little long, but here goes. I first started to feel strongly attracted to the priesthood about two years ago, mainly because I had never even given it a second thought before that. I had just started to really learn about my faith and actually put that knowledge to work by practicing my faith fully, something I had not done before. At that point I really didn't have a deep understanding of the priesthood, so most of my attraction was based on unrealistic ideas. I just thought about the "cool" things a priest does like being able to bless things, etc. Well, when the "coolest" thing you think a priest does is bless things the attraction lasts for about as long as it takes for a beautiful girl to cross your path and that's exactly what happened to me.

I started dating a girl who was not Catholic or even Christian and somewhat conformed my lifestyle to hers instead of the other way around. That relationship did not last long, Thanks be to God, but I did enter into a another relationship shortly after. This time, however, the girl was an orthodox Catholic. She helped me to grow quite a bit spiritually and I will always be greatful to her for that. I began to go back to the Sacrements at that time, especially Confession and the Eucharist. I also started going to Adoration almost every day. That was when the calling I had felt before came back, only this time much stronger. I had heard of St. Therese and her promise to give roses to those who asked for her intercession and in the case of vocational discernment specifically white roses as a sign for the priesthood and red roses as a sign for the married life. I decided to pray the novena and see what happened. The ninth day happened to be a Sunday and when I went to Mass, every flower bed surrounding my parish church was filled with white roses. I thought maybe God was trying to tell me something. That was just before my fall semester started at the university I go to now. I decided to go "one more semester" just to be sure I hadn't mistaken mere coincidences for what I thought were signs. As school started, I let all of those things that go along with trying to get an education choke out my spiritual life again. I stopped going to Confession when I needed it, never made time for adoration anymore, and just all together let myself lose touch with God. Of course in a situation like that, the call to the priesthood was drowned out. I feel like it had scared me enough that I just ran from it. I din't want to take the first step and explore it in depth.

Then, a few months ago I was asked to help with a confirmation group at my parish. I was one of three leaders of a small group of six 15 year old kids and one of ten or so leaders of the overall group of thirty or so 15 year olds in the parish who were preparing for confirmation. Through that experience, I started to regain my spiritual life. I went back once again to the Sacraments. As soon as I started to connect with God again, the calling came back. It has been steadily growing for the past several months and I fianlly decided to commit myself to exploring it fully so I hope to enter the seminary and as my priest said today "just go for it." I am tired of running. I don't honestly think I can take another step. I simply can't deny my feeling of being called anymore and I don't want to any longer. I am still open to the posssibility that God has other plans for me, but I feel like I will never know any of His plans if I do not fully explore this posssibility. I try my best to be completely open to the Holy Spirit and where He wants to lead me and I feel that seminary is where He wants me right now.

[heyyoimjohnny]

May I affirm you in your openness, sah. And it's good to hear that you're back to the Church! It sounds like every time you come back, He starts tugging again. Keep an open heart, and Christ'll fill you to the brim.

[zealousrap]

[quote name='Aloysius' date='Feb 14 2004, 12:13 PM']i always kind of wanted to be a priest, because being a priest is cool.  but the more i prayed the more i realized that feeling of wanting to be a priest wasn't necessarily a call from God so much as it was a call from me.  it was my desire, not God's call. 
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In a way that reminds me of how it played out for me as a senior in high school. I was discerning both youth ministry and the religious life. After a trip to Borromeo Seminary (discerning the Capuchins) in Cleveland, OH, I had an epiphany of sorts. There was nothing at all that I disliked about the seminary and religious life...it was appealing to me in all ways...I would have been completely content with a quiet life of prayer and service- yet I knew that I was called to youth ministry, and to marraige. This was a burning desire that was placed on my heart that I could not ignore. It is important to note that I felt called to marraige, since I could have easily joined the Salesians, who I am still in contact with, and spent my life doing youth ministry since that is their primary focus (with a devotion to Saint John Bosco). I am still open to the call at any time, if for one second I feel as if God wants me to serve him in that way, I will do everything in my power to follow his will, but to this day I still have that fire burning recklessly in my heart for the youth and for marraige. For quite some time I have felt the call to marraige but didn't really recognize it as that. I remember days when the Holy Spirit was speaking to me through me (that happens a lot) and I would tell people that I felt like I was supposed to be an example of a true husband and father, amidst a country where that is near nonexistent. I know my music is supposed to play a part in whatever I end up doing also. In a strange way I find myself looking at Righteous B and the path he is on. He was a youth minister who also had gone to Franciscan University and he also has had rap in the mix. I find myself curious, wondering whether I will be doing both, one or the other, or perhaps neither and something else altogether. At this point I feel as if the Holy Spirit is very far from done with me in regards to music haha so I'll just hold my breath and hang on for the ride.

[TheOliverOrder88]

I got an application to Kenrick Seminary. Acouple of things the vocation director said to me caught me off guard. He said he noticed that I had "priestly heart"...that he wouldn't give an application to just anyone, he has to be sure that this person could handle life at the seminary.

It caught me off guard because I don't talk to this priest too often about vocations (he's a military chaplain, he's gone some of the time). Whenever he's there, I'm not. It made me think either he's bluffing it (I don't think its a full-bluff)...or something sticks out on me. I am not too sure.

He also said once I got the application, NOW the spiritual warfare will start. The devil will try to trick me and make me think I am some kind of idiot for asking/receiving an application.

Over the weekend I definitly felt at ease, a home away from home. Many of the seminarians know me there and we had some fun time. I also had one of the most moving Eucharistic Adoration Holy Hours I ever had. I don't know why, I can't necessarily pin point it but I feel at home there.

I am still somewhat confused, not all the frayed ends are taken care of. But if anything Kenrick Seminary is #1 for the moment. We'll see how long this lasts.

[Guest phatdaddy]

TheOliverOrder88,

Good for you. Go for it. God will speak to you in ways you don't expect. This priest didn't really know you did he. All the more reason to accept the consolation by thanking our dear Lord for His gift. Prayers for you
Mr. Ray

PS. Thank you for sharing