Saints as vocational guides/signs

[AmericanFighter]

Hey guys

I have been discerning to be a priest or deacon for quite some time now (right now I am pretty sure it will be the sisterhood). In my life saint Patrick and saint Francis seem to keep popping up in pivotal moments in my discernment (with out me looking for them) and I am starting to wonder are they signs that God wants me in the Priesthood? Examples of when saint Patrick came into my life:

2nd grade We watched a little cartoon on saint Patrick. Inspired by the story that night I said I think I want to be a priest (didnt think much of it as I was so young and the vocation faded away).

3rd grade My trials and tribulations begin as I was diagnosed with terminal Cancer (around donly a 10% chance of survival) God stayed an important part of my life no matter how grim the situation was. I made a full recovery. Saint Patrick wasn’t much of a factor here but this comes in to play later

at the age of 23 I had as stroke which was an after effect of the cancer treatments. I had a rosary but as it was very important to me I wanted to get a less expensive one to us on a more regular bases. Green is my favorite color so I got a green one. It was a saint Patrick themed one. While praying with this rosary My vocation to the priesthood came back.

3 years later on saint Patrick’s day at an event I bought a book on saint Patrick. reading this I felt inspired and a little bit of a connection but did no know why.

I then bought the confessions of saint Patrick and his quote “Before I was humiliated I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and he who is mighty came and in his compassion raised me up and exalted me very high and placed me on the top of the wall.”
really stuck with me as I realized my trials and tribulations were the things that brought me closer to God and made me the man I am today and maybe God was shaping me to be a priest. This also fits right in with some of the bible quotes that helped me through my stroke and cancer like for instance Sirach 2:5.

I returned to the place where felt I was healed by God so many years ago at a healing mass and siting in the exact seat where I was that day was a bowl of holy water and the garments of a priest in that funeral.

I later remembered that there was absolutely no reason why I had cancer and still today it puzzles doctors why I contracted it. They also said the reason it was so devastating is because it had been growing so large in my head for about a year but since I had no physical symptoms we had no X-rays taken and no one knew it was there. Saint Patrick popped in my mind for no apparent reason then I remembered his quote about his being humiliated made him what he was as a saint. Then I remembered about a year before we found my cancer was when I had my first vocation to the priesthood after watching the cartoon on saint Patrick so I thought did God give me cancer to form me and make me in the man i am today?

I thought about what happened when the church where I was healed was that God going “ok the trials and tribulations are over now you need to become a priest!”

It seems like saint Patrick was always there at the pivotal moments in my discernment. Did those of you who are or had a vocation to the priesthood or religious like have a similar experience and have a saint guide you? Do you think Saint patrick was guiding me?

 

[MiserableSinner]

That is a lot of signs. I would say at the least, God wants you thinking about it. It might not be the vocation He wants you in, but I think it probably is. You are a perfect fit. You have carried a heavy cross at a young age. You understand suffering.

Priests have the hardest job on the planet. They are constantly being tempted and attacked by Satan. A good priest has to love the Cross.

My Grandpa (who God confirmed is in Heaven now at a Mass on All Saints Day) had cancer with a very low chance of survival too, but he was old. He lived but his odds were so low that the doctors called him a medical miracle. He suffered for another decade, but even after the miracle of his living through the surgery, they only gave him 6 months MAX. He died about 10 years later. I think God might have wanted me to share that with you for some reason.

If you will be a good priest, you will have to deny yourself every day and take up your cross. You will be crucified every day, especially with how bad things have gotten lately. A good priest in this day and age will be very close to God in Heaven, with great glory.

Pray for me too please. I was not even thinking about a vocation as a priest AT ALL, because of circumstances in my life. However, after about a dozen of us prayed the Rosary in Church for vocations, later that day I kept getting completely random inspirations to become a priest. I was NOT thinking about it at all. I just want to be sure it is God who is giving these inspirations and not the enemy. I am prone to error and I have been tricked before. I just want to be sure, but I do actually THINK it was from God or His angel.

I will make you a deal. Offer your Communion tomorrow for me to discern my vocation, and I will try to remember to offer mine for you (with God’s help, I will).

God please help. I love you and I trust you. Mother please help. St Alphonsus please help us. In Jesus Name I pray.

I salute you. I love you.
I salute your Guardian Angel (I love you Guardian Angel).

 

[MaryHelp777]

Download from Amazon.com the ebook “To Save a thousand Souls”
It is the best book on vocation discernment to priesthood, in the whole world.
You can free download the kindle app then download this.

Next,.send emails to different vocation directors of your diocese (you will find them online), ask them could they meet up with you as you are discerning priesthood,

They will have a big talk with you one to one to see if God is calling you.

Find out from them are they any discernment groups for those discerning priesthood (prayer groups for young men thinking of priesthood).

Each year your nearest seminary have an open day for vocation discernment, email them and ask them what day. Then visit on that day and receive a guided tour by the seminaries and hear talks from the priests there about how they discerned priesthood.

Also: pray about it, but say to God “If you want to to be a priest so be it, if you want me to marry so be it, if you want me to be single so be it”, each is a special mission from you!
Be joyful about whatever God decides,

Keep looking into priesthood, only stop if God tells you 100% that it’s not for you, otherwise keep looking into priesthood,

Ask your local priest could you talk to him some day that you are interested in discerning priesthood.

Also: do not tell your family and friends.
I know of a guy who did and they all did a lot to prevent him from discerning priesthood,
I think it would only cloud your discernment, one person who continually discourages you and tells you all the difficulties of religious life, if one person does that, it can make it soooo difficult to discern God’s Will because their.voice will be trying to sway you a certain direction,

But:
I read, it is only ever certain that God wants you to discern priesthood and look into it. You do not know if He only wants you to talk to priests, go to seminary for a while, or actually become a priest. You can keep moving forward until God let’s you know to stop and turn around, or keep going.
Many are called to be priests, and many are called to discern or go to seminary but be lay people.

 

[MaryHelp777]

Signs can never be believed without a spiritual director (a priest you run everything by). Because some signs can be just coincidence or from the bad spirit, or imagination.

But, when you are discerning priesthood vocation directors will ask you:

Have you thought of it much all your life?

Have people told you you would make a good priesthood?

What things in your life and parts of your own desires make you believe you could be called at the moment to discern priesthood?

Are they are any coincidences in your life that point toward priesthood?

You can definitely decide God wants you to actively look into priesthood.

You don’t need to have experienced any mystical experience to be called to be a priest,
The desire to be a priest, is the main thing, if that’s there, that may possibly mean that as you discern you will learn it is the path for you