Vocation Discernment-Desires and Thinking

[19wsharp]

I am in college and working on discerning my vocation. I think I am called to marriage, and I have met a great girl who I could see myself marrying. I desire marriage and to have a family. However, I am worried that God is calling me to the priesthood. I keep having recurring thoughts about priesthood and I keep wondering if that is what God wants for me. In the past, I thought I have heard that I should be a priest, but I am not sure. I am struggling with trying to know what God wants because my desires are sometimes different than my thoughts and prayer. I think that God is calling me to marriage and has placed the desire on my heart and that I am just worrying about choosing the wrong vocation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Kei]

Speak with a spiritual director or a vocations director and get personal guidance. There may be retreats so you can see if the life of a priest is what God wants for you.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If you feel the call to be married, it is no less than if being called to the priesthood.

St Theresa of Lisieux’s father felt called to the priesthood instead of marriage. Because he had a hard time with Latin, he left the seminary and eventually met his wife Louise, who also left the convent to become a nun. They got married and ended up raising one of the most well known Saints in the Church.

So as a priest told me when I applied to the diaconate, “God’s call is an invitation, not an order.”

Prayer is necessary of course and talking with a vocation director in your dioceses. A strong desire to marry may be where God wants you.

Either way, until you settle the question, you’ll always have doubt about the decision you made.