Talk to your priest, see if you can get a spiritual director to help you with your discernment.Having been seriously thinking of the priesthood for the last couple of years, I can now finally put my finger on why I believe God really is calling me. I can dream about the whole family thing, having kids, having a certain career, but priesthood always lingers right there in the picture. I can see the reason, but I’m not sure. Have I been afraid? I think about a picture of the priesthood, I don’t feel urges to do anything else.
You said something that stands out in similarity to what our pastor told me about his calling to the priesthood (now ordained 25+ years). He entered the priesthood very young, right out of high school. He looked at many different orders in trying to determine how he would serve the Lord (he also considered marriage), and the one thing that struck him was the Lord continually being there to ask, “Do you want to be a priest?” It did not matter whether he was a diocesan, a missionary, etc, but the call was constant and consistent - “Do you want to be a priest?” Perhaps this lingering thought that you mention is that gentle calling from our Lord…Having been seriously thinking of the priesthood for the last couple of years, I can now finally put my finger on why I believe God really is calling me. I can dream about the whole family thing, having kids, having a certain career, but priesthood always lingers right there in the picture. I can see the reason, but I’m not sure. Have I been afraid? I think about a picture of the priesthood, I don’t feel urges to do anything else.