Well, here we go

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Irock104

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My story starts about a year ago. The school year had just ended, and I felt a darkness in my life. A dark dreary emptiness, my should was longing for something. At that time though I didn’t know how to fulfill my souls desire. So I started reading many books on different religions, and attending many different church services. I went to a couple mosques, I attended a few services at an orthodox Jewish synagogue, and I looked at many different Protestant denominations. None of them seemed to be right though, and none of them had the theology to back up their claims, and none of them helped to ease my souls suffering.

I had almost given up, but then I remembered. Right across the street from an elementary school was a Catholic parish and school. Deciding to check it out, I attended mass the Sunday after Easter Day. When I entered, I had this strange feeling. It was a sense of peace I had never known, a sense of belonging and fulfillment I had never known. I didn’t understand it at that time, but I knew that I had found it, I knew that I had found my home.

I immediately began to study more about Catholism. Everything facinated me, all the theology, all the history. Everything about Catholisim seemed right to me. It was then that the idea about becoming a priest came into mind. What started as a whisper in my head soon grew and took over my thoughts. I knew that I wanted to be a persist from that moment. However there was one problem, I had to be baptised and confirmed. So I signed up for RCIA and waited for months and months and then RCIA started in September. Now it is January, and I will be welcomed into the church fully on Easter Day. Is it normal for a 16 year old man who isn’t even baptised to have his heart set on the priesthood? I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. So my question is, what do you think about my is situation? Is it odd for me to feel called to the priesthood at this stage?
 
I know how you feel, as I am a 14 year old girl who tried many different denominations, and learned about other religions. I am also being welcomed into the Church on Easter Vigil. (God Bless you and good luck)…and I’ve felt called (consistently) to be a nun (Carmelite) for almost a year. I feel it very strongly and can’t imagine anything else for me either. 🙂 I believe God can give us our vocaion at any stage. St Therese heard her calling when she was 3. God is not bound by whether you are Catholic yet or not (as far as when He calls you to something like the priesthood). Just keep praying, and I’ll pray for you also. If your truly called to be a priest then it will happen if you keep walking with God.
 
I completely agree with MaeganFlinchum1. Keep up with and expand your education and prayer life and start a dialog with your Priest, Youth Pastor, Deacon and any other Church leaders you have. Hannah’s son Samuel was called at a very early age too and it’s a story worth checking out!

Also, I would submit that you are already leading others to God when you reflect His light!

Pax
 
Don’t feel that strange about this at all! The Scriptures tell us that whoever can accept [celibacy] should! It is a gift of the Spirit and you should celebrate the Holy Spirit’s gift to you! 😃

Priesthood is a noble calling!
 
Irock104 said:
…Is it normal for a 16 year old man who isn’t even baptised to have his heart set on the priesthood? I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. So my question is, what do you think about my is situation? Is it odd for me to feel called to the priesthood at this stage?
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Perhaps not, keeping in mind however that it’s something that must be discerned with great care. One has to be sure that the tug of the priesthood is still there after the “conversion glow” fades.😉
 
Lamentation said:
Perhaps not, keeping in mind however that it’s something that must be discerned with great care. One has to be sure that the tug of the priesthood is still there after the “conversion glow” fades.😉
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Indeed.

It would be very unlikely that your diocese would accept an application from you to join the Seminary until roughly two years had passed since your acceptance into the Church.

However that should not stop you from talking about it with people, exploring it with the diocesan vocations director, and, in any case, at 16 you’d almost certainly have to wait 2 years anyway until you’re 18 to enter the Seminary anyway, so you’re not losing anything by the wait.

So, keep on learning, experience all the spirituality the Church has to offer, after you are received into the Church you can then offer yourself for lay ministries if you wish - reading, Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, visiting the sick or serving at the Altar at Mass. These are all good ways to experience the life of the Church.

Ask your priest, if he’s got time, to show you the daily Office (the Liturgy of the Hours) - it’s the Prayer of the Church throughout the day, starting at daybreak (more or less) and progressing through the day until Night Prayer before bed time. Priests are supposed to recite it daily and in communal settings a lot of it can be chanted or sung (it goes in a cycle according to the Church’s calendar) - it’s a very serene experience and something that can really ground you in the regular prayer of the Church; it’s something where you can join in with countless priests and laity around the world who are all saying the same prayers as you and the spiritual connection it gives to these other people is greatly sustaining.

Above all, welcome and may your enthusiasm grow each day!

God bless you.
 
Hi Irock 104,
first off congratulations for beginning RCIA. I wouldnt say its normal, but i know of allot of people who it have felt a vocation before they were Catholic. It happened to me. My parents let me choose what religion I would be when I was old enough to understand. But by divine intercession or something, I ended up in Catholic school and in 1st grade I announced to my parents that I wanted to be Catholic and to be a nun. So i had a series of classes with my priest and I got baptized later that year. Later that year my dad enrolled in RCIA. I am 16 now, and still want ot be a nun
 
Irock104 said:
My story starts about a year ago. The school year had just ended, and I felt a darkness in my life. A dark dreary emptiness, my should was longing for something. At that time though I didn’t know how to fulfill my souls desire. So I started reading many books on different religions, and attending many different church services. I went to a couple mosques, I attended a few services at an orthodox Jewish synagogue, and I looked at many different Protestant denominations. None of them seemed to be right though, and none of them had the theology to back up their claims, and none of them helped to ease my souls suffering.

I had almost given up, but then I remembered. Right across the street from an elementary school was a Catholic parish and school. Deciding to check it out, I attended mass the Sunday after Easter Day. When I entered, I had this strange feeling. It was a sense of peace I had never known, a sense of belonging and fulfillment I had never known. I didn’t understand it at that time, but I knew that I had found it, I knew that I had found my home.

I immediately began to study more about Catholism. Everything facinated me, all the theology, all the history. Everything about Catholisim seemed right to me. It was then that the idea about becoming a priest came into mind. What started as a whisper in my head soon grew and took over my thoughts. I knew that I wanted to be a persist from that moment. However there was one problem, I had to be baptised and confirmed. So I signed up for RCIA and waited for months and months and then RCIA started in September. Now it is January, and I will be welcomed into the church fully on Easter Day. Is it normal for a 16 year old man who isn’t even baptised to have his heart set on the priesthood? I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. So my question is, what do you think about my is situation? Is it odd for me to feel called to the priesthood at this stage?
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There is nothing wrong with it–it is wonderful! I have felt called to religious vocation since I was still in RCIA myself. It is still a long discernment process after you enter the Church and you are not usually permitted to apply to religious orders or seminaries until you have been in the life of the Church for at least 2 years or so… The reason for that is good. It is because the graces that are given to us by God in conversion often look very similar to and are easy to confuse for the graces given to people to live out a religious vocation. But I don’t think that should stop you from discerning and desiring it. After a couple years, if it is still occupying your thoughts, that should be a good indication that you should maybe discern more actively in the seminary. There are priests who say they knew from a very young age that God was calling them to be a priest–even as young as 4 or 5 years old sometimes. God calls people in his time. We just have to work with him in ours 😉 As a 16 year old in RCIA, I see this as a good time for him to call you. You still have a few years to discern before you will graduate high school and even be of the proper age to enter seminary. By that time, you should be able to have a much clearer perception of what God is calling you to. Just be sure to find a good spiritual director who can help you in the process of discernment. God bless you!!!
 
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