Help for my vocation

[soonfathermauro]

I guess I should start at the beginning when I first felt my call I was 5 I accepted it without question but as I got older I started getting distant from my vocation to the point that I ran away from it and for the next 10 years I fell into sin. I did a lot of things Im not proud of and that I will atone for the rest of my life recently in the past three years god has called me back into his love and I have accepted my vocation again and this time for good and now my problem when I went to the diocese of Arlington vocation office to discuss my vocation to the diocese the director didnt tell me much but told me I should check religious orders and get a spiritual director a couple of months later I mentioned about scholarships to collage seminary and the director told me for lack of a better words that he believed that I did not have a vocation and that he would not give me a recommendation to collage seminary I got bummed but I didn’t let that bring me down I started looking into religious orders and now I am going to the divine word collage in Epwoth Iowa now I am thinking that after I finish in SVD collage
if I don’t feel called to the missions I will try again readmission to the diocese any ideas?
peace and blessing
mauro

 

[Tim_Kirchoff]

Did the director tell you why he didn’t think you had a vocation? That might be helpful for you.

 

[Grace283]

Greetings Soonfathermauro!

hmmm… i can try to understand your frustration of sort and will pray for you…

do you have your own Spiritual Director/Father to go to for advice? If I were you I would go there first… if you don’t have one? … i think i would go on a personal pilgrimage to check out some of the orders out there… i have attended a couple of “vocation jamborees” in which groups of different religious got together for an all night prayer and type of introduction to those who thought to have a calling… while one may not be available in your area I would set out to visit all types of places… what do i mean? well, i would check out the diocese and see what that entails… then i would go to monastaries/convents of different orders and see what there charisms are…then i would try to spend at least a couple of days with them to experience life in “their world”… its also a great time to talk about your calling… i know in princeville, iowa there is a convent of the Community of Saint John who are apostolic monks that offer guidance…

did my spiel help a bit?.. gimme an update if you can…

 

[freudmacher]

I have been told by more than one priest (I have mentioned this in previous threads) that I do not want to be a Priest.

Well…just last weekend I was accepted to the Institute of Christ the King. I used to be upset about them telling me this, for a lot of reasons. But now I am glad I waited through those times and kept at it cause now I know I am with an order that I truly feel called to. Yes, I truly believe these priests were wrong. But if I would have not met them, I might have not been able to listen to God well enought and would have been in the wrong Diocese or order.

I would really suggest that you pray. Pray harder than you ever had. You have enough conviction, just by still bringing this up, especially in a vocations thread. So there is surely something there. Don’t just let this go away just because someone thinks they know what God wants for you.

Another suggestion. Find a priest that wants to HELP you. Not one that says you should be a priest, but one that will help you only. You can always find people to agree with you, but it’s harder to find ones that will help. Even if it’s just to pick his brain. This is what I had to do, and it took a while, mainly cause I had to get to know the different priests before I told them about it. But I did find one, and it has truly been a huge blessing. And after working with him, I found two other priests and numerous friends that wanted to do all they can to help.

 

[soonfathermauro]

I have been told by more than one priest (I have mentioned this in previous threads) that I do not want to be a Priest…

my friend you have been truly blessed in your vocation me on the other hand has not been so lucky I guess its due to my past that I need to atone for my sins I am a really good judge of character and I can tell what peoples moods are if they are lying or not so most of the priests I am talking to they believe I am a lost cause there is some priests who believe in me but I see them so little its not much help I swear there is so many times that I want to quit but you know what keeps me going is that the people that tell me that they are supporting me you see the most of the people in my corner supporting me are lay people and I couldn’t live without them but I will keep preserving I hope with the grace of god I will find a priest willing to help me
peace and blessing
Mauro

 

[soonfathermauro]

Did the director tell you why he didn’t think you had a vocation? That might be helpful for you.

no thats what was really hurtful he didn’t tall me a thing another note is that the vocation office for the diocese of Arlington has turned down more then one person and on a interesting note they where all of Hispanic descent or of a another race two people I know to be true one man the vocation director told him straight out that he couldn’t be in the diocese and hes helping him into a religious order another was of Italian descent it took him two years to be accepted into seminary
now you could say a lot of things from that so to answer your question I don’t why but theirs a lot of history there

 

[soonfathermauro]

Greetings Soonfathermauro!

hmmm… i can try to understand your frustration of sort and will pray for you…

do you have your own Spiritual Director/Father to go to for advice? If I were you I would go there first… if you don’t have one? …

I do indeed have a spiritual director and I love him hes great and he gives great advice but we work on my human formation I am trying as hard as I can to get this problem settled before I finish high school and to the religious orders thats what I first started with in exploring my vocation I am actually doing a monastic observance soon and also I am visiting the collage seminary to the divine word which is for the missions but I really feel called to the diocese but you never know what god is calling me too I just want to serve god and his people so maybe its god telling me I’m not called to the diocese.
peace and blessing
mauro

 

[freudmacher]

my friend you have been truly blessed in your vocation me on the other hand has not been so lucky I guess its due to my past that I need to atone for my sins I am a really good judge of character and I can tell what peoples moods are if they are lying or not so most of the priests I am talking to they believe I am a lost cause there is some priests who believe in me but I see them so little its not much help I swear there is so many times that I want to quit but you know what keeps me going is that the people that tell me that they are supporting me you see the most of the people in my corner supporting me are lay people and I couldn’t live without them but I will keep preserving I hope with the grace of god I will find a priest willing to help me
peace and blessing
Mauro

I will be praying for you…Seth

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I do indeed have a spiritual director and I love him hes great and he gives great advice but we work on my human formation I am trying as hard as I can to get this problem settled before I finish high school and to the religious orders thats what I first started with in exploring my vocation I am actually doing a monastic observance soon and also I am visiting the collage seminary to the divine word which is for the missions but I really feel called to the diocese but you never know what god is calling me too I just want to serve god and his people so maybe its god telling me I’m not called to the diocese.
peace and blessing
mauro

Getting a spiritual director should be the first thing and it is the most important thing in vocational discernment.

Before going any further you should spend all your energy at getting one.

This forum is in no way a substitute for one.

 

[soonfathermauro]

Getting a spiritual director should be the first thing and it is the most important thing in vocational discernment.

Before going any further you should spend all your energy at getting one.

This forum is in no way a substitute for one.

Im sorry if I was vague I said I did have one
“I do indeed have a spiritual director and I love him hes great and he gives great advice” I dicuss my problems with him and he gives me advice I focus on this problems on my own because he told me too. He believes in my ability to work this out on my own he told me about another man he directs spiritually and he said he meets with him every two weeks because he needs it… badly I meet with him every month I asked this website to talk with my brothers and sisters in Christ so I thank you for your advice
peace and blessing
mauro

 

[the_phoenix]

Dear mauro,

I was acquainted with two missionary priests growing up … I would get to see them on special occasions every few years when they were allowed home on vacation in the summer. One was an SVD priest who was sure of his calling, was sent to Ghana, Africa, and absolutely loved it.

The other was named Father David who if I remember right was a Dominican. Now Father David, as my father tells the story, was ordained in the Buffalo, NY area and would have been very happy to stay all his life in the diocese where all his family and friends were. The Dominicans, however, ordered Father David to go to Easter Island way out in the middle of the ocean to be a missionary there! Out of obedience, Father David went. The results were just awesome … it seemed like God’s Will … from the little bit I could observe as a child growing up, Father David was peaceful and content and had generously accepted everyone on the island as part of his new home, right down to the stray cats that would wander by. He shared the warmth and friendliness of his personality by performing simple sleight of hand “magic” for people such as card tricks, and performed a valuable service as a ham radio operator and thus helping to open up Easter Island to communication with the outside world in case of emergency, or just to exchange friendly greetings.

Father David was for years the only Catholic priest on the island … Years ago before he died, he was featured on a television documentary about the island. He had become a part of it, it had become a part of him. And Father David was a good solid priest, you could tell from the way he prayed and the stories about his interactions with the islanders, learning Spanish and their island dialect so that he could minister the sacraments to them.

This is not meant to steer you into missionary work if your true calling is diocesan … Only to let you know that the direction your vocation takes just may surprise you.

The advice you’ve already received, to pray intensely … is excellent.

And I’ll pray for you too.

God bless you,

~~ the phoenix

 

[soonfathermauro]

Dear mauro,

I was acquainted with two missionary priests growing up … I would get to see them on special occasions every few years when they were allowed home on vacation in the summer. One was an SVD priest who was sure of his calling, was sent to Ghana, Africa, and absolutely loved it.

The other was named Father David who if I remember right was a Dominican. Now Father David, as my father tells the story, was ordained in the Buffalo, NY area and would have been very happy to stay all his life in the diocese where all his family and friends were. The Dominicans, however, ordered Father David to go to Easter Island way out in the middle of the ocean to be a missionary there! Out of obedience, Father David went. The results were just awesome … it seemed like God’s Will … from the little bit I could observe as a child growing up, Father David was peaceful and content and had generously accepted everyone on the island as part of his new home, right down to the stray cats that would wander by. He shared the warmth and friendliness of his personality by performing simple sleight of hand “magic” for people such as card tricks, and performed a valuable service as a ham radio operator and thus helping to open up Easter Island to communication with the outside world in case of emergency, or just to exchange friendly greetings.

Father David was for years the only Catholic priest on the island … Years ago before he died, he was featured on a television documentary about the island. He had become a part of it, it had become a part of him. And Father David was a good solid priest, you could tell from the way he prayed and the stories about his interactions with the islanders, learning Spanish and their island dialect so that he could minister the sacraments to them.

This is not meant to steer you into missionary work if your true calling is diocesan … Only to let you know that the direction your vocation takes just may surprise you.

The advice you’ve already received, to pray intensely … is excellent.

And I’ll pray for you too.

God bless you,

~~ the phoenix

you know That very story was what got me interested into missionary life as I mentioned before I want nothing more to serve god and his people and if he is truly calling me to the missions I will go without question my prefence would be to stay at home but the lord has his plan for me and I will not ever deny it
peace and blessing
mauro