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Week 3
- Signs that God might be calling me to be a priest.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve covered what a vocation is and a little
bit about why I am studying to be a priest. Over the next few weeks, we
will explore some of the signs of a priestly vocation. The articles
will not contain an exhaustive list by any means, but they will include
many of the signs I experienced in my life, such as: (1) a strong desire
to serve God by serving His people; (2) God’s persistence; (3) the
confirmation of my calling by others; (4) the sense that I must be
crazy; (5) the feeling that “this call is just too scary”; (6) the
realization that it’s never too late to be called; (7) the experience of
being surprised by joy; and (8) an acknowledgment that in the end, it’s
all still a mystery to me. Maybe some of all of these signs will be
familiar to some of you reading this series. If so, who knows, maybe,
I’ll be seeing you at the seminary someday.
One
of the very basic signs of a priestly vocation is the strong desire
to serve God by serving His people with one’s life in some manner.
This desire can be fulfilled through a variety of different vocations,
but particularly through the priestly life. The trick of course is to
be attuned to the direction in which God is calling you. I have a
terrible sense of direction, always have. If someone tells me to turn
right, I automatically turn left. If someone tells me to go north, I
invariably head south. I can get lost simply by going out the front
door. It’s genetic. So when God planted the desire to serve Him and
His people in my heart, He may have said as a priest, but I was sure He
meant as an attorney. It took a long time to sort out the
misunderstanding, mainly by learning, through prayer, formal discernment
classes, and spiritual guidance, to be more attentive to what God was
trying to tell me.
Next
week’s article on signs of a priestly vocation will continue with God’s
persistence in calling. Stay tuned. |
