Are you drawn to the brotherhood (such as a friar order?) or the priesthood? Does your calling stem from a desire to be in a religious order, or do you think you should pursue the diocesan priesthood? What spirituality are you interested in? I ask you these questions because everyone who is discerning needs to have a general idea of what their interests are. It makes it much easier to distinguish feelings from the actual calling.
I’m leaning towards the Franciscan Order, possibly Diocesan. More interested in becoming a priest than a brother. I’m also considering a possible vocation as a consecrated lay person. No debt, good health…turning 40 this fall. I do have a great spiritual director (my parish priest) Great guy!Hi, Joe! Welcome to the forum! I want to begin by congratulating you on your possible vocation.
Do you have a spiritual director? I would definitely recommend that you seek one out if you don’t currently have one. They are invaluable and can help you determine which path is best for you. It’s very difficult to do this alone at times, so it helps to have someone who is well versed in spiritual matters. My spiritual director is a priest who doubles as my regular confessor. That is VERY helpful as well. But yours doesn’t have to be a priest. It could be a brother, deacon, sister or lay person that you feel comfortable with.
Right now, I encourage you to consider your options. Yours is a late vocation, but there are orders that will still accept those who are belated. And if you are free of debt, that’s even better.
I would be happy to assist you in your search for a community. If you need some addresses to start writing orders, let me know! I know of a wonderful search engine for vocations. Here are some websites for your perusal.
vocation-network.org/
religiouslife.com/
vocation.com/
newadvent.org/cathen/05024a.htm
arkansas-catholic.org/article.php?id=1628
sdiworld.org/home.html
God bless!
I actually have The Liturgy of The Hours…both the “Shorter Christian Prayer” and the full version. I am doing all of the readings everyday. I happened to be at a parish function not long ago, had my prayer-book with me (because I didn’t want to miss one of the daily readings) and our parochial vicar asked me (seeing me reading) if I was interested in religious life! Just another sign…at least I saw it that way. There have been so many of those from different people at my parish. I am really leaning towards becoming a priest…maybe a Franciscan Order priest or Diocesan. I’m also looking into becoming a consecrated layman, and I did look into Opus Dei (becoming a numerary) I look forward to my future “spiritual” marriage one day…It’s all so beautiful. Earthly marriage is something I’ve chosen to renounce. The Church needs good men to be her priests, and I want to give all that I am to our Lord.It’s good that you are praying daily. Priests and consecrated people pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily, so I would start by buying a copy of the one-volume Christian Prayer and praying Morning and Evening Prayer every day from it. It’s kind of hard to get used to at first (lots of flipping pages around), but there are guides to it. Also, try to attend Mass on weekdays. I don’t attend every day, but I usually attend Mass three weekdays a week as well as Sunday. Read the Scripture readings for each day’s Mass on your own, preferably the night before. Ask your pastor to recommend a good spiritual director for you, since discerners need fairly regular spiritual direction (once a month is recommended).
Are you more interested in the diocesan priesthood or consecrated life? Which particular spiritualities (e.g., Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite, Ignatian, Vincentian etc.) appeal to you the most? Have you thought of being a consecrated layman, as a numerary of Opus Dei, a consecrated hermit or a member of a secular institute?
What kind of work experience do you have? What do you like to do? If you joined a religious community, what would be the apostolate (type of work) that the community does?
Also, how are your financial status and your health? If you have loans (even student loans), religious communities will not accept you until the loan is completely paid off. Also, with the high cost of health insurance in the U.S., most religious communities and dioceses want to be sure that postulants or seminarians are in good physical and psychological health.
Hope that this advice helps you!
Although the Franciscan family does have a lot of priests, including many priests who work in parishes, the decision to undergo priestly formation is made by the order, not by the individual friar. (This is also true of some other orders and congregations).
I did some research, and found these orders:
Praying for your discernment!