How do I know what God wants me to do?

[Schatzl]

I’m 16 and have been thinking about being a priest for about a year now. I don’t know what God wants me to do, though. Does He want me to be an order priest or a diocesan priest? I’ve decided that if God wants me to enter an order, that the Capuchins would be the best fit. I’m stuck though. I still don’t know what God wants from me. I hear His call, but I don’t know how to answer Him. I’ve been talking to the seminarian from my parish, but I still can’t decide on what to do. I have to apply for a college this coming year, but I’m also waiting to see what God wants from me. I’ve been praying more often now, normally about what path to choose, but I still don’t feel like God has answered me. Please help.

 

[Allegra]

God often doesn’t fill in all the details of His plan for us at the very begining. Keep on growing in faith and holiness. You still have high school to finish and years before such decisions will be made. You have no idea how much you will learn about yourself in that time.

 

[R_C]

I’m 16 and have been thinking about being a priest for about a year now. I don’t know what God wants me to do, though. Does He want me to be an order priest or a diocesan priest? I’ve decided that if God wants me to enter an order, that the Capuchins would be the best fit. I’m stuck though. I still don’t know what God wants from me. I hear His call, but I don’t know how to answer Him. I’ve been talking to the seminarian from my parish, but I still can’t decide on what to do. I have to apply for a college this coming year, but I’m also waiting to see what God wants from me. I’ve been praying more often now, normally about what path to choose, but I still don’t feel like God has answered me. Please help.

Well, that’s when discernment begins.

First, spiritual direction with your confessor.

Then, retreats…contacting your diocesan vocations director…contacting the vocations director of the religious order(s) you may be called to…etc.

One thing is for sure: you cannot figure out your primary vocation on your own. You need the Church to be involved. It is not whether we want to be a priest or a religious or a husband…it is whether God is inviting us to be one…and His is a suggestion, an invitation - not a command. So His voice is very low, a gentle whisper…keep praying and enter soon into spiritual direction.