Is this my third sign?

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ghym

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I have been praying about what to do with my life and i asked God to give me three sign to point me in the right direction. Right now i am considering a masters in sustainability, a masters in theology with a focus on apologetics and i have left an other category in case God doesn’t want me to do either of these.

As i said, i asked God to send me three signs and i think He might have, but i would like some more opinions.

The first happened through facebook. I have been debating theology with a close friend of mine for some time and not to long ago i posted a note refuting a note he had written a couple months prior. The night after i posted this note i got a message in my in-box from a girl i hardly ever speak with, I’ve probably only noticed her posts all of twice in the last year and out of the blue she send me this message telling me how amazing my note was and what an incredible gift i have. She even said, “Don’t ever stop doing what you do James.” The fact that she noticed i had written a note is surprising, that she read it is shocking and that she took the time to send such a glowing a message, i think is miraculous.

The second requires a bit of back story. I have been playing around with this idea of a grass roots outreach program to Protestant missionaries. The important part of this is that i was thinking of naming it after either St. Frances Xavier or St Therese of Lisieux. Although i was leaning towards Xavier because it is easier to spell. Here is the miraculous part, the other day i was at a Catholic concert and at the end everyone got a piece of paper with a saint’s name on it along with a prayer. When they came to me i said no thanks but the lady sitting next to me grabbed one for me anyway and not wanting to be rude i took it. The name of the saint was Frances Xavier.

The third even is the most incredible one of all but i don’t know that it really clearly points me towards theology as i don’t think i had anything to do with it. I had an old and dear friend from high school, he got Cs and Ds and already drank and had experience with smoking. He was looked down upon by a some of our fellow students and transferred out after 3 semesters. He seemed to be on a gradual path of self destruction and the couple times i saw him after he left my high-school only seemed to support this assessment. The other day, again out of the blue, he sent me a friend request on facebook. He had really turned his life around. He is he pursuing a college degree and serving in the air-force and the most incredible thing is that about 2 years ago he became Catholic.

So, those are my three miracles. What do you guys think? Do you think one of them shouldn’t count? Are they pointing me towards apologetics?
I would love to hear any thoughts any one has on these. Thank you for anything.
 
His conversion is certainly a miracle. St. Augustine, I think it was, said that the conversion of a soul is a greater miracle than the creation of the universe, because when God created the universe, He created it from nothing. And this nothing from which He created it did not resist Him as we humans do! 🙂

Good luck, and God bless!

So, you’re considering the priesthood, yes? Holy Mother Church needs good priests. Submitting your entire life in service to Jesus and His Mystical Body, the Church, is a wonderful way to prepare for heaven! 🙂
 
They sound like signs to me. The first was recognizing the work you are currently doing in apologetics. The second seemed to be a blessing for the work you plan to do. The third was not a result of your hand, but showed what could result from the work God seems to be calling you to. Also, you don’t know that you had nothing to do with his conversion. He might have remembered your relationship with him and your attitude toward him in contrast with that of others, and that may have interested him in Catholicism.

I say go for theology. And remember, God doesn’t always show us our whole path. Sometimes, it’s only the next step that is revealed to us. If you go down this path and find the doors barred, it doesn’t mean you were wrong to follow it or that you mistook the signs. It simply means that it was the next step God wanted for you, and another step will soon be revealed.
 
Thanks guys.
I know i’m not called to the priesthood, but God needs lay people too. If every good Catholic took vows there would be no more generations of good Catholics.

k8e308, I like your analysis. You make a couple good points for me to consider.
 
ghym said:
The second requires a bit of back story. I have been playing around with this idea of a grass roots outreach program to Protestant missionaries. The important part of this is that i was thinking of naming it after either St. Frances Xavier or St Therese of Lisieux. Although i was leaning towards Xavier because it is easier to spell. Here is the miraculous part, the other day i was at a Catholic concert and at the end everyone got a piece of paper with a saint’s name on it along with a prayer. When they came to me i said no thanks but the lady sitting next to me grabbed one for me anyway and not wanting to be rude i took it. The name of the saint was Frances Xavier.
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I think this story is pretty amazing, and absolutely not a co-incidence.

(Incidentally, it’s spelled Francis…😊)
 
To add to the weirdness, I just found out that my birthday is on the feast day of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

I think God is calling me to the mission field. I’m not sure how he wants me to go about this, but I’m 95% certain that is the direction i’m supposed to go.
 
Update!
For anyone who might be interested.

I have applied to study theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. I guess the ball is in their court now.

I am also getting cracking on Xavier Outreach. We are currently working on getting a website up and looking for people to help us get connected. So if anyone thinks they can help with this please contact me, i need all the help i can get.
I have actually decided to combine two separate programs under the Xavier Outreach umbrella. The first is the one i explained in my initial post. It is a counter-evangelism program, helping Catholics to refute anti-catholic claims and then go a step further and evangelize the people making them.
The other program is a survey site were people can takes surveys to benefit various charities.
Mainly i’m looking for programmers but anyone can be helpful.

Thank you all so much for helping me.
Code: 
In Christ,
  Ghym
 
That’s cool man. I saw this post and figured it was about time I actually post something on the forum. For the last year, I have been contemplating religious life of all sorts…mainly after my priest reminded me he could “spot a vocation from a mile away”. I more or less landed on becoming a Jesuit or Diocesan Priest…I was to the point where I needed to tell my parents but felt like I couldn’t in a mysterious sense (I’m 21 fyi)…As in I desired to, but felt like I would be completely unable to convey the message. When I thought about having the conversation all my words felt like they were being removed from the tip of my tongue, almost as if they were not the correct ones. Needless to say this was frustrating.

When I left to come back to college last weekend my Mom started bringing up the topic of Scott Hahn and M. Div degrees as I told her I desired to study more philosophy and theology. Once I got back to my apartment it all started making sense after I pulled up Scott Hahns website (whose books I am beginning to read through). It seemed like all the signs that I had been seeing and feeling in terms of where I should go next (one more year till graduation) made sense holistically in a way I never could have synthesized on my own. The doors to religious life (Holy Orders) suddenly shut and a new door opened. Teaching (a profession I had been desiring) suddenly took center stage and somehow managed to absorb the many disciplines I had been thinking about i.e. Ignation Spirituality, theology, and comparative religion. It’s been incredibly revealing and joyful experience knowing I’m not only called to a specific vocation (as we all are to some degree or another) but also towards one where I felt “full” if that makes sense. Seeing as to how I’m graduation with a Finance degree and had originally planned on getting a job on Wall Street, makes the process a bit more complex, but once again God reveals things at precisely the right time, never earlier. Ironically enough it gives me the exact amount of time I need to tack on a Religion Minor before entering Graduate School.

For me, I’ve been looking to do an in depth study of the Mormon religion, especially in regards to Original Sin and the Trinity i.e. Thank you St. Augustine! Another idea I feel called to explore is how Ignation Spirituality can be used as an antidote to the New Age movement that will surely (unfortunately) become more popular, especially in our generation. Who says Catholicism isn’t cool? Quite frankly I have no idea where this will take me, but I look forward to going wherever it leads me. Also, I liked your comment on “if every Catholic took vows…”. I was one day meditating on what a Vocation actually was when I took a memory of being with all my close friends, Catholic, and imagined them all as Priests. This meant nothing at the time, I thought it was goofy. Then on the same day where I felt my future “open up” (just a few days ago). I imaged God saying "I’m calling you, yes; To the priesthood, No; To religious vows, No; Does this mean you lack a specific vocation in the Church? absolutely not. I felt very ignorant the next day for assuming that somehow Vocation=Priesthood and what a silly world that would be if everyone could only be 1 of 3 different professions if they were called. If anything, being called leads to more options.

You finally can begin to see your vocation when thinking about it and imagining it creates a: Realistic, but also Joyful experience in the Soul. Realistic because it will involve suffering and work and I can never be ignorant of that, but Joyful because you know that through perusing it you are right where God needs you and also exactly where you want to be…even if you are doubtful sometimes. For me, I felt for the first time in a while a sudden explosion radiating outward from within. Like when you add lighter fluid to a fire and the flames burst brightly. But I think that makes sense because surely a vocation should pull out the best in oneself, or else it probably isn’t the right one.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that there are others out there on similar paths, as reading your posts has made me realized I was not alone in this vocation or on this journey. It’s also reassuring to know that just because it doesn’t come in the form of a Roman collar doesn’t make the vocation any less real or less important. Best of luck in all you do.

Peace!
 
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