Missed vocation....

[CoolandCatholic]

Hello,
Here is my story—I’d love some prayers and advice, but no judgement, please.
I was seriously contemplating becoming a religious sister about 2 years ago. There was a specific religious community I was discerning with. I met with/communicated with the vocation director, visited the community, and did some “soul searching”. Most of this was done while I was studying abroad. Once I came back home, I visited with a religious community that taught me in gradeschool. The community members asked many questions that I couldn’t answer, and as my summer plans were underway, I felt that I needed to move on with my original college plan. I also wasn’t sure if I was called to the particular community with which I discerned.
However, the vocation still came and went. I was very attracted to Third Order Fransiscans (one was Fransiscans of the Martyr St. George, and the other Fransiscans, Penance of the Sorrowful Mother). I really thought God was calling me to be some type of TOR Fransiscan. But, I let life get in the way. I followed “the plan” like everyone wanted me to, while still feeling that desire for religious life Now, it is just a little dream in the back of my mind.
Currently, I’m in grad school and working. I feel lost. I feel like I don’t belong in grad school, but I need to stay the course for at least the summer. I also have roommates to attend to, and the process to drop out of school would require a lot of pushing through red tape. It is a complicated process, and I’m scared that if I leave, I’ll never come back. Or, if I leave and do come back, it will be difficult. But hey, that’s life, right?
Anyway, I just feel like I’m floating at times. I don’t know what I want, or what I should do with my life, but at the same time, the dream of religious life is in the back of my mind. Maybe I’m romanticizing, or being fickle. Right now, I’m focusing on getting through the summer, and perhaps this year I can allow myself to think of religious life again.

 

[DCNBILL]

Do you have a spiritual director? If not I would recommend that you find one, either a priest or a religious who you trust.

Remember that discernment in these matters is done by both the individual and the Church (Rel. community).

God bless, will pray for your discernment in my prayers today.

 

[AKDee]

Well I’m a new Catholic and am still learning but couldn’t you become a Sister in the future, if you still felt called? So it may be a delayed vocation, rather than a missed vocation? Perhaps God has a reason for you to delay.

I will pray for you for discernment of God’s will for your life.

 

[MaryT777]

Well I’m a new Catholic and am still learning but couldn’t you become a Sister in the future, if you still felt called? So it may be a delayed vocation, rather than a missed vocation? Perhaps God has a reason for you to delay.

I will pray for you for discernment of God’s will for your life.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing.

Praying as well for your discernment.

Mary.

 

[jaimeleglise]

I would finish graduate school and keep praying to know God’s will. Ask the Blessed Mother to help you. It might be God’s will that you become a religious in the future.
After graduation you can visit different orders. You will know God’s will when you feel a
great deal of peace about a place or decision.

 

[Isca]

You are presumably still a young woman. Nothing has been missed, you just haven’t completed your discernment yet! It would be very prudent to finish grad school, as others have suggested.

In the meantime, talk to those who can guide you, as DCNBILL suggested. It must be almost impossible to work through the whole process without a wise and sympathetic counsellor to help you.

I wish you all the very best with whatever you decide to do with your life. I’m sure that God will make things clearer to you as time goes by.

 

[Lamentation]

Hello,
Here is my story—I’d love some prayers and advice, but no judgement, please.
I was seriously contemplating becoming a religious sister about 2 years ago. There was a specific religious community I was discerning with. I met with/communicated with the vocation director, visited the community, and did some “soul searching”. Most of this was done while I was studying abroad. Once I came back home, I visited with a religious community that taught me in gradeschool. The community members asked many questions that I couldn’t answer, and as my summer plans were underway, I felt that I needed to move on with my original college plan. I also wasn’t sure if I was called to the particular community with which I discerned.
However, the vocation still came and went. I was very attracted to Third Order Fransiscans (one was Fransiscans of the Martyr St. George, and the other Fransiscans, Penance of the Sorrowful Mother). I really thought God was calling me to be some type of TOR Fransiscan. But, I let life get in the way. I followed “the plan” like everyone wanted me to, while still feeling that desire for religious life Now, it is just a little dream in the back of my mind.
Currently, I’m in grad school and working. I feel lost. I feel like I don’t belong in grad school, but I need to stay the course for at least the summer. I also have roommates to attend to, and the process to drop out of school would require a lot of pushing through red tape. It is a complicated process, and I’m scared that if I leave, I’ll never come back. Or, if I leave and do come back, it will be difficult. But hey, that’s life, right?
Anyway, I just feel like I’m floating at times. I don’t know what I want, or what I should do with my life, but at the same time, the dream of religious life is in the back of my mind. Maybe I’m romanticizing, or being fickle. Right now, I’m focusing on getting through the summer, and perhaps this year I can allow myself to think of religious life again.

I know the feeling firsthand; but yes, you have to finish grad school.