Vocations & You -Why or Why Not

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I’m on the vocation committee at my church and it would help our work it we had some idea of how people today feel about the vowed religious life. Would you/have you considered it? Why/why not? Any comments appreciated. Thanks and God Bless.
 
I have thought quite a bit and quite often about a religious vocation. A lot of it really appeals to me; I would be attracted to a life similar to that of St. Francis of Assisi.

However, I still have a difficulty letting go COMPLETELY, as I am in love with a wonderful Catholic girl (and I would like to marry)…I see how it would be most meritorious for me if I were to give that life up for Christ, for He promises us that whatever we give up for His sake, He will give us 100 fold in heaven. Also St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 7 that it is best to remain in the state that you are called - well I am single - and that it is better to be single for the kingdom so we can serve with an undivided heart.

So what am I going to do? Well, God willing, I will marry this girl. We have talked about this a bit, and we want to help each other be saints (together of course) - am I walking away from a calling? I sure hope not. This thought nags at me almost constantly…

I do realize that marriage is a vocation as well, but since I have these thoughts is it bad if I realize that it would be best to lead a chaste life in a religious vocation, but still choose the married vocation?

(PS~ Sorry for hijacking this thread.)
 
Well, I sincerely mean no offense, I am just being honest…

I don’t know the set-up of the so-called vocations committee…I just have other parishes I have experienced to judge by…so sorry if this is all a wrong interpretation…priests and religious might be very much involved…I don’t know, you’d have to tell me more…

But that being said, I would say that going to a parish that had a “vocations committee”, especially if made up of lay people would NOT encourage my vocation.

I feel called to be a priest, but because of the traditional glory of the Catholic Church.

Although I accept the new way things have gone, they do irk me a little.

A vocations comittee is bound to keep a lot of people “discerning” endlessly until they just become married people or deacons perhaps.

Mainly I’m guessing you might recruit a lot of lay people to be “volunteers” and catechists and stuff, but get no clergy or religious out of it…simply because of the idea that if one can participate in the Church through lay commitees, there is no reason to become a priest or religious.

What the Church needs to increase vocations is to bolster CLERICALISM. No one is going to become religious or clergy if the Church is in the middle of a movement towards “lay empowerment”.

The laity don’t need to be empowered, they are lay by default and need no incentive to remain as such. There will always be enough laity. The Church would still exist without the laity, at least until the clergy died off…but if there were no more priests in the world, there would be effectively no Church, even if the laity survived.

If the institute wants to perpetuate itsef, it is not the laity who need to be appeased and courted. EXCEPT, they now have the money, because we really heavily on donations now instead of the great investments and landholdings of the past…and so we do in fact go begging to the laity. And in turn, it’s because the traditional reverence and respect for the clergy has gone away that donation has slowed.

If you really want to increase vocations to religious life and the priesthood, forcefully remind people of the OBJECTIVE SUPERIORITY of their state of life comared to lay people and married deacons. Remind them that the priest is ontologically different than the laity, gets powers that no one else has, and is truly the higher calling.

Enough of this “what you do is best for you”, gentle, no-pressure, take-a-long-time-to-decide-and-leave-your-options-open nonsense. What people need for a vocation is decisiveness and commitment. A vocation is not a “feeling” that people need to “test” and “consider” and angst over for a long time. It is a CHOICE in response to God’s grace giving you a major option of life state. He may give you more than one option at certain times. Don’t feel torn. He is saying that you would be good at both, so CHOOSE one. Be firmly decisive and never turn back.

Remind everyone that the priesthood and religious life are intrinsically BETTER than lay life, not just “better for some people” or “right for those who are called” but objectively better compared to every other state of life.

But probably not worth it anyway, as its going to sound odd coming from people who themselves chose the lay path, and not that many people in the parish probably have a vocation anyway to warrant a whole comittee.
 
There are three vocations: to religious life, including priesthood, sisterhood, and brotherhood; married life, and single life. A job is a career, not a vocation. We are all called to a vocation, and we need to spend time discerning it. But within those three vocations is the possibility of many careers.

Peace,
Linda

PS I hope this makes sense! :o
 
I believed I had a vocation as a young girl - I was discouraged from even thinking of a religious life, and that was the end of that. I was so easily swayed, I now cannot believe it was a true vocation.

I am married with four children, and still am constantly called to Him. I sometimes have wondered how my life would have been different had I stood up for myself and chosen the religious life. Silly mental wanderings - I want only to do the will of God!

And so I live my vocation - to be His forever, true to His will - I serve Him in my service to others. I love Him in loving my family.

I pray for religious vocations - and offer my own children to Him, if it is His will.
 
I considered the priesthood on and off for most of college, but I’ve discovered I have the call to marriage (once the right girl arrives). In the process I met much criticism from my parents, siblings, friends, etc. just for even giving it a thought. That’s the biggest problem I think a vocations committee would need to tackle: openness not of those discerning but of the rest of the faithful.

I hear each week at our parishes during the prayers of the faithful the intention for an increase in vocations. My parents themselves even complain about the lack of priests. Yet, when somebody (i.e. me) came by thinking about it, I met with opposition. How can we increase vocations if those we love most aren’t open to it?

I know some are open to their children entering the religious life, but in general I’ve found the opposite to be true. Perhaps your committee may want to look into fostering familial support for those in the discernment process.
 
I’m still discerning. I feel like I’ve been running from something my whole life. Whether it’s a religious vocation or not, only time (and prayer) will tell. It could just be immaturity or wanting to hide from the world. In other words, I could be misinterpreting. :nope: I’ve got a good spiritual director though, so I’m working through it.

“Thou hast made us for Thee, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”–St. Augustine
 
I’m still discerning too, although I firmly believe that God is calling me from the depths of His heart to mine to be a “fisher of men.” I’ve been quite open with my discernment with many people; my family members (the majority of them, i think) seem to support me in my discernment process. Whatever the reaction I get from people, I don’t seem to be bothered. I can get a sense of peace from the Holy Spirit, assuring me that I must be open to God’s will and let Him lead me.

Personally, I feel that I oftentimes get so anxious and excited about the possibilities of me becoming a priest that I need to tell myself to slow down and take things one step at a time. I’m going into my final year of undergrad, and I truely want to be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Yet, I can’t help but think that God has put something inside of me, something special that makes me desire a life totally consecrated to Him. When I think of a vocation, I don’t get a sense of any fear, just courage, excitement, and love for Jesus and Mary.

Mary, in my belief, has been an awesome intercessor for me, and has helped in bringing me closer to God. Devotion to Mary is definitely allowing me to encounter Jesus’ love in a new way.

Where ever God gently invites me, that is where I would like to go. I honestly want to do God’s will in my life, but I must say like Mary “Fiat.” Let it be done unto me according to thy word. Because, I know that when I do the will of God, it is then that I will find abounding grace and peace.

Godbless,
Fred
 
After almost 29 years of marriage, I’ve considered it often!! Ah, the peace and quiet of the monastic life! 😃

(Just kidding honey, I’ll be there to clean that toilet in a second!)

Seriously though, as one pursuing the Secular Franciscan Order, in my studies I have at least taken into consideration the possibility of becoming a Franciscan Brother if anything was to ever happen to my wife.
 
i am waiting in the airport waiting for my flight to philly where i will begin my postulancy and seminary studies… pray for me.
 
goodluck dave, youll be in my prayers.
Ill be leaving for the monastery next Saturday.
 
Prayers for all you guys headed on out to new lives in religious life!

I think the committee in question is a parish-level thing to ENCOURAGE vocations, not to discern them. This is a good thing, if they can only think up ways to do that.

I think parents have an obligation to encourage a child to pray and discern whatever God wants from that child. On one hand, there are parents who discourage a child form even thinking about it. On the other hand, there those who try to create a vocation where there is none through brow-beating, nagging, even bribery. I think the ones who try to twist arms and force the priesthood or religious life had a vocation and missed the boat; either that, or they are looking at the status of having “my daughter, the sister” or “my son, the priest”.
 
I am currently 31, so a late potential Vocation.

What made the difference for me?

Well, the first time I met the priest who founded my parish, he asked me if I had considered becoming a nun. Of course I told him truthfully that I would have been kicked out of the convent.

Then, over the last year, I have begun going to the Adoration Chapel, so there, I tell you is step #1: if you don’t have Perpetual Adoration…get it NOW and do it at all costs. If your parish is not committed, then you will continue to see a poverty of Vocations.

That’s where I heard the call last spring during Lent.

So then as the pendulum swung, I had 5-6 people approach me randomly and ask me if I had a call to a Vocation. I always answered “no”, but it kept me thinking. What were people seeing in me?

So now the search continues…I am a late (if) Vocation to religious life, and if it is to be, here is what will sustain me: ongoing orthodoxy at my parish, frequent Confession, Perpetual Adoration, and people in my parish willing to take care of my dogs when I am away.

Seroiously.

Not all possible vocations are fresh out of high school or college. Those who are in my shoes need the most…we have homes and we don’t know what to do with them. We have pets but we can’t find people or funds to have them cared for so we can leave on retreats.

It’s easier for men entering the seminary…but women have an infinite number of communities to visit and in my area to find orthodox communities requires travel, sometims airfairs or long bus rides. This costs money. We need help, sometimes financial, sometimes just people willing to care for our pets.

If I do determine that I am ultimately called, or not, it will be through the support of myparish, my community of fellow Catholics and if I find I am not called, I hope to perpetuate and offer the support that I now need the most.

So that is my answer. Prayer, of course, is the true Number One…ask that God call sheep from your fold to his direct service, never cease praying and He will answer YOUR call.
 
Someone earlier brought up the point that everyone sees the need for more priests but they don’t want their sons to enter. I think that a vocations committee would work wonders if they worked to change this attitude of everyone in the parish. If they created an atmosphere that encouraged and loved religious vocations within the parish then I think we would see a lot more.

That is of course, my humble opinion.
Ciao
 
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