Vocation Discernment help needed.

  • Thread starter Thread starter bluarrow
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bluarrow

Guest
Hello all,

I came back to the church about 3 years ago when a very rough period began in my life. I truly believe that without God, Jesus, Mary and the Saints I would have not gotten through that rough period (work related).

I have grown spiritually during these years and have had a few road blocks thrown in my pathway to God. However, I have stood the course and he has blessed me with my position back after a long battle that took a toll on me and my family.

During this time I read a lot about the lives of the Saints and one Saint in particular is the one who brought my back to the faith, St. Martin de Porres. I also have thought about growing in my faith and giving back to the Lord who has has giving me so much.

I have thought about becoming a Deacon and know that I do not have the qualifications yet, but approached my Church Father with this thought and he asked me a question that is hard to answer “is this want coming from you or God”?

I have had this thought for awhile and want to know about how other Deacons came to their decision. The Church Father and my wife both are happy with my wanting to become a Deacon, and are supporting me.

I just feel that I am not worth at times, if St. Martin de Porres did not feel worth to be a Dominican Lay person who am I to want to be a Deacon?

Sorry for the long post just wanted to give a good idea of my situation.

Thank you all and God Bless.
 
Im interested in the responses here too. Although Im too young at the moment, this is something that had crossed my mind for a little later in my life.
 
I’m very interested as well. The same thought has crossed my mind for three solid years. Have been discussing this with my spiritual advisor.👍
 
Sunflake9,

I am very new to the proccess what has your spiritual advisor told you to do? As in prayer or reading material. I tried to look online for more info about Deacons, but is a full of all types of things. I wish there was a simple book that covered everything about the vocation.

I am going to meet with the two Deacons in my parish and get the info from the “horses mouth” 🙂
 
A former parish to which I attended made on open invitation for men to consider becoming Deacons, but the requirements were you had to be “retired” so becoming a Deacon would be your new “full time” position, but not equivalent to a full time career financially. And your wife had to be 100% in support.
 
I will start off by saying that I am not a deacon, but I did discern being a priest and went to seminary for two years to explore it further.

I felt a pull towards marriage and towards priesthood, so I asked myself “Why do I want to get married?” and “Why do I want to be a priest?” The reason this was important was that I found, after prayer and introspection, not all of my motives were pure. One of the reasons I wanted to get married was a desire to prove I could ‘get a woman.’ One of the reasons I wanted to be a priest was to show heterodox priests how to ‘do it right.’ In other words, much of the pull I had in each direction came from my own fallen self instead of God. Through prayer, spiritual direction, and learning, I slowly stripped away these impure motives until I was left with a core pull that I knew came from God and happened to be towards marriage.

It may be helpful for you to really pray about (and be honest about) the motives you have concerning being a deacon. If, after prayer, you discern they are pure and righteous, you should go for it. If you discern some of your motives are based more on a desire to be looked up to, thought important and/or holy, etc, try to practice the virtues needed to rid yourself of those motives and see where that leaves you.

Good luck in your discernment, and God bless!

Dennis
 
A few recommendations:

  1. *]Find a Spiritual Director. It can be any one who’s familiar with the practice. A priest, a religious. I’d recommend finding someone who’s a Deacon to be your spiritual director, since they’ll be most familar with the spirituality of a Deacon.
    *]Talk to your Diocese’s Diaconate program. Usually, you can find a link to it on the Diocese’s website. They’re the ones who are most familiar with what a Deacon ought to be, and will help you in discerning.

    If you don’t know anyone in the above fields, talk to your pastor. Most of the time, he’s much better connected with people in these positions than people give him credit for.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top