C
C_Bautista
Guest
Let me start by saying I haven’t allowed enough time or dedication to this area of my spiritual life (vocational discernment) yet by any measure, but it’s something I’ve been trying to get a hold on for a while now.
I’m currently a music and premedicine double major at a state school; it’s a nearly absurd combination with an almost equally absurd amount of school-related work and time-commitment, but I love both sides of this fence and enjoy the work involved in both sides too. These things, even in themselves, seem to have put a certain limit on how much time I can give to prayer and spiritual growth daily, seeing as I came from a very orthodox Jesuit high school where I had the opportunity for morning mass before EVERY school day. Not that I made it to mass 7 times a week, but the opportunity was there and I did go as much as possible.
Anyway, at this point, I’m in a situation where I’m trying to live spiritually within an extremely secular and often nearly pagan surrounding culture. I’ve been told by priests and older Catholics that this is a common period in the spiritual journey in which I’m being called to grow more personally in faith even when I’m not in a spiritually-saturated environment.
Moving on, I’m always trying to stay open to a priestly vocation, and I’ve recently felt very called in this direction, but also often called to fatherhood. A Jesuit priest has told me that a priest should have all the qualities of a good father, and so it is often someone difficult, at first, to discern the distinction in these two vocations.
And finally to the point of the post: if I stay in school and [somehow] complete undergrad work in 4 years, go on to medical school, finish my residency and internship, and finally become a working doctor of medicine, will I have blocked out God’s potential call to the priesthood? I mean, by that point i will be in my mid-30’s without much college-level theology courses under my belt. Additionally, right now, I am on a very full (somewhat “more than” full) scholarship at my University, so I would find it something of a waste to give up my undergrad scholarship and hop into a seminary before I finish undergrad work.
And if I were, in theory, to pursue a religious order of the priesthood instead of the secular [diocesan] priesthood, such as the Jesuits, I would have to consider around 10 more years of formation and study.
What I’m trying to determine is essentially this: if I continue on my current path of schooling, will I effectively push God’s vocation for me out of the realm of practicality or possibility?
Is the formation for religious orders or diocesan priests usually shorter with some previous schooling? As far as I know, the Jesuits, for example, do not have any fees associated with their seminarians’ training, but what about other orders or normal priests?
I guess the root problem trying to bring myself to lay down my future secular and nonsecular potential opportunities before God’s will, rather than try to control everything. I’m not even completely sure I’ve legitimately asked a good question here, but oh well.
I’m currently a music and premedicine double major at a state school; it’s a nearly absurd combination with an almost equally absurd amount of school-related work and time-commitment, but I love both sides of this fence and enjoy the work involved in both sides too. These things, even in themselves, seem to have put a certain limit on how much time I can give to prayer and spiritual growth daily, seeing as I came from a very orthodox Jesuit high school where I had the opportunity for morning mass before EVERY school day. Not that I made it to mass 7 times a week, but the opportunity was there and I did go as much as possible.
Anyway, at this point, I’m in a situation where I’m trying to live spiritually within an extremely secular and often nearly pagan surrounding culture. I’ve been told by priests and older Catholics that this is a common period in the spiritual journey in which I’m being called to grow more personally in faith even when I’m not in a spiritually-saturated environment.
Moving on, I’m always trying to stay open to a priestly vocation, and I’ve recently felt very called in this direction, but also often called to fatherhood. A Jesuit priest has told me that a priest should have all the qualities of a good father, and so it is often someone difficult, at first, to discern the distinction in these two vocations.
And finally to the point of the post: if I stay in school and [somehow] complete undergrad work in 4 years, go on to medical school, finish my residency and internship, and finally become a working doctor of medicine, will I have blocked out God’s potential call to the priesthood? I mean, by that point i will be in my mid-30’s without much college-level theology courses under my belt. Additionally, right now, I am on a very full (somewhat “more than” full) scholarship at my University, so I would find it something of a waste to give up my undergrad scholarship and hop into a seminary before I finish undergrad work.
And if I were, in theory, to pursue a religious order of the priesthood instead of the secular [diocesan] priesthood, such as the Jesuits, I would have to consider around 10 more years of formation and study.
What I’m trying to determine is essentially this: if I continue on my current path of schooling, will I effectively push God’s vocation for me out of the realm of practicality or possibility?
Is the formation for religious orders or diocesan priests usually shorter with some previous schooling? As far as I know, the Jesuits, for example, do not have any fees associated with their seminarians’ training, but what about other orders or normal priests?
I guess the root problem trying to bring myself to lay down my future secular and nonsecular potential opportunities before God’s will, rather than try to control everything. I’m not even completely sure I’ve legitimately asked a good question here, but oh well.
) And I’m in the honors program, so as far as I can tell, I’m the only Christian, let alone Catholic, in my three honors program classes (all of whom say they’re athiests, humanists, or agnostics). The strange thing is that this “pagan” athmosphere is helping (rather than hurting) me more along a path of discernment.
I don’t want this absence of guys (plus the fact that I’ve never dated before) be the only reason why I’m considering becoming a nun. How can I make sure that my discernment is for purely holy reasons?