Weird experience regarding vocations

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juggernaut

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Hello

I have a story which quite frankly creeped me out. I had just finished praying the rosary at a perpetual adoration chapel and as I was leaving, a woman gets up and leaves with me. She grabs me by the arm and tells me “I don’t know how or why but God told me to tell you that he is calling you to be a priest, He was telling me how you were deciding between starting a family and being a priest and he wants you to be a priest”. And she goes on trying to explain how the Holy Spirit was working through her and such and I was getting rather uncomfortable with it. Now I’ve prayed about it a little bit in the past, not a whole lot, and I read some literature on becoming a priest and I do want to start a family (24/m/va). She seemed earnest and I didn’t detect any dishonesty, but still, I have no absolute assurance that she was being truthful (maybe it’s a conspiracy to con some suckers into becoming priests!!) or sane. I’ve decided to play it safe and will get in touch with a priest and start the discernment process just to see where it leads.

I’m just curious, has anyone had any similar experiences / stories? Does anyone know of a conspiracy to suck unwitting young men into the priesthood? I’m not really sold on the idea of becoming a priest but who knows, I’m sure God will make it so it works out.
 
juggernaut said:
Hello

I have a story which quite frankly creeped me out. I had just finished praying the rosary at a perpetual adoration chapel and as I was leaving, a woman gets up and leaves with me. She grabs me by the arm and tells me “I don’t know how or why but God told me to tell you that he is calling you to be a priest, He was telling me how you were deciding between starting a family and being a priest and he wants you to be a priest”. And she goes on trying to explain how the Holy Spirit was working through her and such and I was getting rather uncomfortable with it. Now I’ve prayed about it a little bit in the past, not a whole lot, and I read some literature on becoming a priest and I do want to start a family (24/m/va). She seemed earnest and I didn’t detect any dishonesty, but still, I have no absolute assurance that she was being truthful (maybe it’s a conspiracy to con some suckers into becoming priests!!) or sane. I’ve decided to play it safe and will get in touch with a priest and start the discernment process just to see where it leads.

I’m just curious, has anyone had any similar experiences / stories? Does anyone know of a conspiracy to suck unwitting young men into the priesthood? I’m not really sold on the idea of becoming a priest but who knows, I’m sure God will make it so it works out.
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I’ve heard a few stories of now-priests that were made notified this way of their vocation. It’s rather odd, but when God wants something of us, He persists. I’ve never heard anyone conning someone into believing that they were called to be a priest. If she was sincere like you say, and everything was true (the fact that you wanted to have a family, and she knew this), I would definitely look into it.
 
I have had MANY people come to me and tell me that I should be a priest, and one in particular came to mind when I read your post. I had just taken a “Life in the Spirit” seminar when our group leader came up to me just before we all left. Now, I was taking this seminar in a parish some 25 miles from my house, and had never seen this lady before the class, and haven’t seen her in the 6 months or so since the class. She told me that the Holy Spirit told her, while she was praying, to tell me to become a priest, and that he’s been trying to tell me and I’m not listening to Him.

Well, I dismissed it at the time, smiled at her and left. 6 months later, I’m plagued by the Holy Spirit with a call to something, and I believe it’s to the diocesan priesthood, so I’m praying a 54 day novena for discernment. That’s a first for me, I’ve never said the rosary every day for 54 days before. I don’t know if I’ve even made it 30 days without missing.

Anyway I’m going to pray my novena starting tuesday february 10, but I’ll say it for me…and for you. If God’s calling you, it’s not gonna stop and you can’t outrun Him, so pray you’re doing His will.

And know that the Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways!!
 
like honestly, why not just cut out the middle man and notify the individual in question directly??
 
juggernaut said:
like honestly, why not just cut out the middle man and notify the individual in question directly??
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Because He’s probably trying to get your attention, but you aren’t listening! 😛 This reminds me of the part in Scripture where the man asked for certain things from the Lord and He sent them, but the man could not see them and thought the Lord had abandoned Him.

Sometimes it takes a third person to convey the message. You’re not alone, though!👍
 
When we were in pilgrimage in Rome, living in a guest house of Dominican sisters monastery, there was a lady with us who was a little weird. One day we were walking around Rome as a group, and this lady was lost in the city and returned to the monastery, when we continued our walk. At evening, we returned, and she looked at me with a strange look and said that when she was alone in the monastery, she saw me, in a monastery garden, dressed as a sister! I said that it’s absolutely impossible, but she continued telling me that she saw me, or may be this was a vision of “my future”. We were sharing the room with this lady, and every day of our stay she was picking on me that I must become a sister. It was, in fact, the desire that started growing in my heart - but I didn’t like that this lady was talking about this like as about something funny. There were many concidences, strange and nice “little signs” pointing that may be I have a vocation, but I really felt “attacked” and “being dragged into the monastery” by this lady. It was going too fast, and I wasn’t ready for all of this. So I went to the monastery roof and started praying for st.Dominic “Please call me to your Order, but not right now!!”

Well, and now I’m discerning… and feeling that the time “to be called” has come…
But sometimes I feel scared to death, like I was scared back then in Rome…
 
Sometimes, when God really wants you to follow Him in a vocation, he’s calling you and you aren’t listening. He’s given gifts, and you haven’t been willing to receive them. He may have made it blatantly obvious, and you still miss it, even if you are a good, prayerful Christian, it’s possible to be busy in the world and miss the call. At that point, I don’t see anything weird with God using someone to relay a message to you. Individual circumstances may be weird or unexpected, but they should be a call to prayer. Pray,pray, pray!

God bless you all, and all those people that have had the courage to tell you what God’s told them about you and your vocation
 
I have had similar experiences…first people in Church will ask me if I am a seminarian, and when I respond that I’m not, they insist that, well, I certainly should be! I’ve had one or two who were ready to march me off to the diocesan vocations office on the spot.

Question: how old are you? What sort of parish were you praying in? I am sure that many people speak to me about this with such a feeling of conviction because I am frequently the only male under 40 attending daily Mass or Adoration at my particular parish. (I am 23.) Of course, it’s true that I have considered the priesthood, as you have, which makes sense…I think it is rare for any young, single Catholic male who prays devoutly not to have had those thoughts at least fleetingly, even if he is also considering having a family.

But I don’t mean to dismiss this event! It’s still something to pray about…and whenever I come into contact with someone who feels that kind of trust in me and comes to me out of love of the Church, it adds something truly powerful to my discernment. God truly does send us signs. We just have to be circumspect. Funny anecdote: I remember one time a friend and I were backpacking through Europe. We took a taxi to a bus station so we could then take an overnight bus from Spain to Portugal. We had a female taxi driver, and afterward the two of us reflected on the fact that neither of us had ever ridden with a female taxi driver before.

We got on the bus, and since it was a long ride they were playing a film for the journey. And wouldn’t you know it? As the credits started to roll, we saw that it was none other than…“Taxi,” which features Queen Latifah as…a female taxi driver. I told my friend, wryly, that perhaps God was calling her to be a taxi driver…whereupon she asked me why I was so sure that God wasn’t calling me to be a female taxi driver…haha.

Point is, pure coincidences do happen. And yes, there are some crazy people at Church sometimes too. (As for conspiracies, I don’t know…) But it is good to take things like this seriously, at least as a point of departure for real prayer and reflection, no matter where it leads. You never know!!

God bless you and your discernment.

Peace,
+AMDG+
 
juggernaut said:
Hello
I’m just curious, has anyone had any similar experiences / stories? Does anyone know of a conspiracy to suck unwitting young men into the priesthood? I’m not really sold on the idea of becoming a priest but who knows, I’m sure God will make it so it works out.
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I don’t think anybody is out to “suck young men into the seminary”. I do think there are a lot of people walking around who claim God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or Mary talks to them and gives them messages for other people. 99% of them are nut cases. Most of the rest have been improperly instructed in the ways in which private revelation is received, especially “spirit of knowledge” from the Holy Spirit. The invariable rule that all such “messages” intended for other people are submitted to the legitimate pastors of the people for discernment before being transmitted. You may safely assume that someone who does not follow that rule belongs in in the 99.9% range.

If that type of communication comes from someone who knows you well, knows you are discerning your vocation, it carries much more weight and should be considered. By all means, proceed with vocations discernment, as every young person should do, but feel free to disregard the (name removed by moderator)ut of a stranger.
 
I remember well the story of a conspiracy designed to force one unhappy dude to become a monk. This was very touching story, but it’s comes from a fiction, the gothic novel named “Melmoth the Wanderer”. This book is very anti-catholic in attitude, but however, it was one of the books that just inspired me to study the history and traditions of the Catholic Church more! 🙂
I believe I’ve read it in 1989 or 1990. So I may be forgot the details, but here it is:

(spoiler ahead, if you want to read the book yourselves, then skip it 🙂
  • This man was being forced by his relatives to join the monastery. He was refusing and hated this idea, but once said to other monks that if he will receive the sign from heaven, he will join the monastery. He pointed to a dry tree and said that it should blossom, and to the dry pool and said that it should become full of water.
    And so the monks prepared a false “miracle” for this guy… by attaching leaves and rosebuds to the tree, and bringing water to a pool.
    Later one of them told to this person what they did; and so he was filled by hatred towards the monks, and the Church, and God Himself…*
It was very strange, but when I was reading this book, I actually 1) didn’t took all anti-catholic passages of the author seriously and 2) funny, but I wanted to become a victim of such “conspiracy”! I actually wished for someone to want me to join the monastery.
Probably not the reaction that this anti-catholic author planned. 🙂
…

P.S. Wikipedia about this book:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmoth_the_Wanderer
(has a link to the full text online)
 
Not to say that what you heard was not legitimate but that just seems like a generic comment that can apply to anyone.

I mean, what good Catholic man wouldn’t be deciding between possible vocations and one of course includes having a family and another includes being a priest. It kind of reminds me of the psychics or the talking to the dead people shows where they ask generic questions that apply to anyone to make them think they are legitimate.

It is possible that the woman was legitimate; it is possible that the woman sincerely thought she was doing the right thing when she saw the need for priests and someone such as yourself in a perpetual adoration chapel who might be a good candidate for a priest and therefore said that generic comment to you to encourage you.

That being said, while my opinion is that it was not legitimate, you probably should still discern the possibility of being a priest as we all probably should. I still don’t know what my vocation is and I am 24 and halfway done with law school.
 
puzzleannie said:
I don’t think anybody is out to “suck young men into the seminary”. I do think there are a lot of people walking around who claim God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or Mary talks to them and gives them messages for other people. 99% of them are nut cases. Most of the rest have been improperly instructed in the ways in which private revelation is received, especially “spirit of knowledge” from the Holy Spirit. The invariable rule that all such “messages” intended for other people are submitted to the legitimate pastors of the people for discernment before being transmitted. You may safely assume that someone who does not follow that rule belongs in in the 99.9% range.

If that type of communication comes from someone who knows you well, knows you are discerning your vocation, it carries much more weight and should be considered. By all means, proceed with vocations discernment, as every young person should do, but feel free to disregard the (name removed by moderator)ut of a stranger.
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This is incredibly good advice. I was told by a confessor myself that private revelations should NOT be shared directly with others. This woman may not know this of course, but because “interpretation” of the Spirit is such a personal thing, all private revelations should be told first to a confessor or pastor, and only then (if told to do so) should these revelations be told.

She may have received a message from the Holy Spirit, but I wouldn’t base my whole life’s choices on something another person told me. Pray a lot about this and discuss it with your confessor (if you have a regular one) or your spiritual director. It won’t hurt you to go through a period of discernment, but you definitely shouldn’t feeled “compelled” to make the choice for the priesthood unless it comes from deep within your own soul! We always need more priests, yes, and of course I pray for more to be called all the time, but in every case, we must pray to know God’s Will in all of this, and to do His Will, not ours.

I will keep you in my prayers :gopray2:
 
nunsense said:
This is incredibly good advice. I was told by a confessor myself that private revelations should NOT be shared directly with others. This woman may not know this of course, but because “interpretation” of the Spirit is such a personal thing, all private revelations should be told first to a confessor or pastor, and only then (if told to do so) should these revelations be told.

She may have received a message from the Holy Spirit, but I wouldn’t base my whole life’s choices on something another person told me. Pray a lot about this and discuss it with your confessor (if you have a regular one) or your spiritual director. It won’t hurt you to go through a period of discernment, but you definitely shouldn’t feeled “compelled” to make the choice for the priesthood unless it comes from deep within your own soul! We always need more priests, yes, and of course I pray for more to be called all the time, but in every case, we must pray to know God’s Will in all of this, and to do His Will, not ours.

I will keep you in my prayers :gopray2:
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thank you everyone for your advice 😃 . i’ll definitely go through the discernment process with a priest to try and figure out if i legitimately have a calling. and i think it’d be prudent not to tell him this story.

yeah, i thought what she said was sorta generic and not entirely accurate. and there really is no way of knowing if she was being truthful or if it was truly from God. in any case, i’m sure whatever the Lord wants will come around.

wjp984, that’s kinda funny. i applied to law school for fall 09. i’ll most likely be attending cua or gmu part-time. where you at?
 
I’m at a smaller school so in the odd scenario someone can figure out who I am I rather not say. You can pm if you want though or if you have any questions on law school in general.

However, that’s great that you are considering law since in my opinion it is a very rewarding experience. Oh, and one really has to depend on God a lot more to get through the intense amount of school so I think it is a great experience spiritually as well.

Speaking of law school, I need to get back to writing my 25-40 page law review note. Second year is harder only in the sense that unlike first year, it is very easy to procrastinate since you can do it and still do very well.
 
juggernaut said:
thank you everyone for your advice 😃 . i’ll definitely go through the discernment process with a priest to try and figure out if i legitimately have a calling. and i think it’d be prudent not to tell him this story.

yeah, i thought what she said was sorta generic and not entirely accurate. and there really is no way of knowing if she was being truthful or if it was truly from God. in any case, i’m sure whatever the Lord wants will come around.

wjp984, that’s kinda funny. i applied to law school for fall 09. i’ll most likely be attending cua or gmu part-time. where you at?
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I’m at a smaller school so in the odd scenario someone can figure out who I am I rather not say. You can pm if you want though or if you have any questions on law school in general.

However, that’s great that you are considering law since in my opinion it is a very rewarding experience. Oh, and one really has to depend on God a lot more to get through the intense amount of school so I think it is a great experience spiritually as well.

Speaking of law school, I need to get back to writing my 25-40 page law review note. Second year is harder only in the sense that unlike first year, it is very easy to procrastinate since you can do it and still do very well.
 
Juggernaut, yes that is a creepy story! Discernment to the priesthood is something between you and God. It seems suspicious that a complete stranger would be informed of God’s plans for you. As others have said, if you seek advice about your vocation, get it from a reliable source like your priest or bishop.

I’ve had well-meaning people at Church tell me that God “revealed” to them what He wanted me to do (usually help them with their pet ministry), It seems to me that they were projecting their own agenda on to their prayers and assuming it was God’s will. I would have been more open to their request if they had just said, “Will you help me with this?” which is more honest and less creepy.

She might be have been praying to God for more priests and then noticed a nice single young man in the next pew and assumed you were the answer to her prayer. You may be, but be sure to “test the spirit” first.
 
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