Vocations Posters - Relax!

[NewsTheMan]

I see a lot of people posting here and making threads that are filled with anxiety and worry. I myself was that very person a few months ago. Sometimes people are worried, upset or confused. While these are normal emotions - they are also emotions that are unnecessary and cloud ones judgement.

Remember that the Lord will never call you to anything that will make you unhappy or empty. He will never call you to something that leaves you distraught or anxious. While it may be true that accepting a vocation (religious, priesthood, marriage, single) takes courage and there might be some fear that needs overcoming, generally this is all part of the process.

While I have no experience I suppose either way in making a decision, I believe that one needs to sincerely humble oneself and let go - and let the Lord in. This is probably what causes the most anxiety on these boards. Most threads just say in a round about way “I am afraid to say “yes” to the Lord” and people mistake that for a vocation.

Remember that before you take the big step, you must take the small one. However, paradoxically, the bigger step I believe is this “Yes”. It is the complete submission to God’s will that takes a lot of courage. But I think you’ll find, and people have found, that this step, once taken, leads to complete tranquillity and being in a sense at peace with ones current situation. Why? Well, because He will never lead you the wrong way. If each day you live with a “Yes” how can you go wrong? What is there to worry about? If you are able to trust Him for a second, a minute, an hour, a day then you can learn to trust Him for a lifetime.

So my message to all of you considering posting is relax. When you think about posting - take a deep look inside and ask yourself a few questions. Sometimes we are afraid of the leap that exists miles away without concentrating on the one that is right in front of us.

Always remember the words of Padre Pio - pray, hope and don’t worry.

 

[notredame_999]

Respectfully, I don’t agree with that. The fact is to ask a man to give up a family to come home to isn’t necessarily a happy thing.

I think a lot of men feel calls and even obligations to the priesthood, but celibacy seems like a prerequisite for ordination and a way of carrying their cross.

And then you have the fact that there is a significant percentage of priests who are gay. This is well documented. Some say its as high as 40%, although I think its 10-20%. A lot of straight men like myself don’t particuarly care for hanging out with gay priests for the rest of our lives.

I cannot believe the replies to the young woman who was concerned about her bf becoming a priest. One poster basically said “get over it, you didn’t listen in catechism class.” Thats not charitable at all.

 

[joandarc2008]

I see a lot of people posting here and making threads that are filled with anxiety and worry. I myself was that very person a few months ago. Sometimes people are worried, upset or confused. While these are normal emotions - they are also emotions that are unnecessary and cloud ones judgement.

Remember that the Lord will never call you to anything that will make you unhappy or empty. He will never call you to something that leaves you distraught or anxious. While it may be true that accepting a vocation (religious, priesthood, marriage, single) takes courage and there might be some fear that needs overcoming, generally this is all part of the process.

While I have no experience I suppose either way in making a decision, I believe that one needs to sincerely humble oneself and let go - and let the Lord in. This is probably what causes the most anxiety on these boards. Most threads just say in a round about way “I am afraid to say “yes” to the Lord” and people mistake that for a vocation.

Remember that before you take the big step, you must take the small one. However, paradoxically, the bigger step I believe is this “Yes”. It is the complete submission to God’s will that takes a lot of courage. But I think you’ll find, and people have found, that this step, once taken, leads to complete tranquillity and being in a sense at peace with ones current situation. Why? Well, because He will never lead you the wrong way. If each day you live with a “Yes” how can you go wrong? What is there to worry about? If you are able to trust Him for a second, a minute, an hour, a day then you can learn to trust Him for a lifetime.

So my message to all of you considering posting is relax. When you think about posting - take a deep look inside and ask yourself a few questions. Sometimes we are afraid of the leap that exists miles away without concentrating on the one that is right in front of us.

Always remember the words of Padre Pio - pray, hope and don’t worry.

No offense - but if you don’t know what it is like to discern - and you have never had these feelings then why would you post such a thing. It seems more to me like throwing the first stone - or being the the pharisee that says I fast twice a week, do not committ adultery, etc. This is a safe place for people to come and talk about their feelings and questions with the Religious, the Diocesan Priests, those in Lay Orders, and those going through those formations without judgement.

It is tough at times to be going through life on lifes terms and showing joy while trying to explain that sometimes joy and happiness are not always exactly equivalent - knowing that your actions are judged. Sometimes when you get to that point where you need to blow off steam the safest to do that is somewhere such as this.

God bless…

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

Respectfully, I don’t agree with that. The fact is to ask a man to give up a family to come home to isn’t necessarily a happy thing.

And this is a big red flag that must be discussed in discernment with a spiritual director (get one yet?) that may be a sign you are not called to religious life/the priesthood.

I think a lot of men feel calls and even obligations to the priesthood, but celibacy seems like a prerequisite for ordination and a way of carrying their cross.

God calls no one where they can not go. This seems to be something you either chose to ignore (though myself and Br Jay keep saying it) or you disagree and either think God is cruel or that the Church does not speak for God, both of which are also red flags for your discernment and discussion with a spiritual director.

And then you have the fact that there is a significant percentage of priests who are gay. This is well documented. Some say its as high as 40%, although I think its 10-20%. A lot of straight men like myself don’t particuarly care for hanging out with gay priests for the rest of our lives.

This has nothing to do with this post and is another bad sign for a vocation.

I believe such studies, of which I have never seen one, are suspect to begin with and only based on anecdotal evidence, like the book Good Bye Good Men you stated before where one of the cases I know is false from knowing a priest who was attending one of the handful (if it was even that many) seminaries covered in the book who said what was claimed to have happened did not happen.

I cannot believe the replies to the young woman who was concerned about her bf becoming a priest. One poster basically said “get over it, you didn’t listen in catechism class.” Thats not charitable at all.

Again, nothing to do with this post.

 

[NewsTheMan]

Respectfully, I don’t agree with that. The fact is to ask a man to give up a family to come home to isn’t necessarily a happy thing.

I think a lot of men feel calls and even obligations to the priesthood, but celibacy seems like a prerequisite for ordination and a way of carrying their cross.

And then you have the fact that there is a significant percentage of priests who are gay. This is well documented. Some say its as high as 40%, although I think its 10-20%. A lot of straight men like myself don’t particuarly care for hanging out with gay priests for the rest of our lives.

I cannot believe the replies to the young woman who was concerned about her bf becoming a priest. One poster basically said “get over it, you didn’t listen in catechism class.” Thats not charitable at all.

You don’t agree with what? Your post was pretty much irrelevant to what I was saying. I don’t know what you are trying to say here. Relax and trust God

 

[NewsTheMan]

No offense - but if you don’t know what it is like to discern - and you have never had these feelings then why would you post such a thing. It seems more to me like throwing the first stone - or being the the pharisee that says I fast twice a week, do not committ adultery, etc. This is a safe place for people to come and talk about their feelings and questions with the Religious, the Diocesan Priests, those in Lay Orders, and those going through those formations without judgement.

It is tough at times to be going through life on lifes terms and showing joy while trying to explain that sometimes joy and happiness are not always exactly equivalent - knowing that your actions are judged. Sometimes when you get to that point where you need to blow off steam the safest to do that is somewhere such as this.

God bless…

Um. As I said - I’ve been there. What stones am I throwing? Who did I judge?

I think you have misread my post in order to attack it.

 

[nohamaria]

Hi To All,
I completely agree with the poster of this thread
who invite us to relax and think deeply from inside to
discern our true vocation. This reminds me about
a personnel experience when I was on my thirties
and decided hastily to enter a covenant and become
a nun. The moment I stepped inside and at my
first meeting with the responsible nun, I felt like tons
of burdens sqweezing my heart and truly unhappy and
uncomfortable.
I am know a single person who is living her faith with true
committment but as lay living in the word as an OFS and
I truly feel myself in Peace and responding to God’s will
very properly and faithfully.
Discerning our vocation in life should be a silent deep listening
by perpetual prayers and commitment to God. we shall
face many failures to understand it, but , at the end will find
it and reach an inner peace while living according to our true
vocation.
Peace and Good.
Nohamaria

 

[sskelly]

NewstheMan, thanks for the good advice and reminder that he won’t call us to what makes us unhappy.