Signs of a Religious Vocation

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm.

2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God.

3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements.

4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love Jesus Christ.

5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation.

6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation.

7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward.

8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.

9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners.

10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not havce a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state

my priest quoted one of the sanits to me ( i dont know which one sorry) that said: One of the signs of a vocation is an unexplainable joy.
of course that is not required but it is a sign.

I'm personally a big fan of number 10 because that was the story of my life throughout college.

yeah all those have happened at one point or another.

Reading the down the list, most all of the things make sense with me in one way or another, as I thought, but wow. That #10 describes it almost perfectly; you could almost say that's the story of my life.

I hate #10. I want a family.

I have never experienced number 10... I have been open to God's will for a long time and I have embraced this calling! Hmmmm...

Hey! I found these signs of a vocation to be very helpful to me personally... I have read them many times before in my past and feel as though I can relate to all of them...

1) I do feel as though God is calling me... And when I am calm and in silence I am in peace and joy! I want so badly to do Gods will.
2) I am really attracted to holy things and being at church!! I want to be up at church as often as possible and I want to always grow so much closer to God!! My attention is always grabbed when I see a priest, seminarian or sister!! I get super excited and must talk with them, and then I find myself more at peace. I have a lot of seminarian friends and my family insists I have crushes on them, but really, It's Gods love that radiates out of them that attracts me. It's how beautiful their souls are.

Ahaha... Saturday I was at the mall with friends and thought I saw a nun going up the escalater and ran over to see... But then I realized that it was a girl with really long dark hair that looked like a veil from far away.. ahaha!!! I was laughing and so embarrased!
3) I feel like the ways of the world, all of the materialisitic things are not satisfying at all!! It doesn't matter where I am, what I am doing or so on... Like so many times I would be in the movies theaters, amusement parks and so on and I could not get into it... I would have my vocation on my mind instead...
4) I long deeply to sacrifice my life for God, to reach out to all souls, to draw only closer and closer to God always. I don't want to live for myself, but live for God always and serve others and God.
5) I want so badly to help reach out to all souls... To save souls through God, that God may work through me as an instrument, to bring peace. Life is short and prayer is so powerful for God is the almighty!!
6) I don't mind conditions and so on of any religous life... Really, I just want to do Gods will. May Gods will be done always!!
7) Happiness, peace, joy!! That is all I am lately!! I am SO happy and filled with an inner peace and joy!! I just feel so sure about what God is calling me to, the Dominican Nuns of the Heart of Jesus.
8) & 9) I want so badly to spend my life in prayer, to atone for sin!!
10) When I first felt called it was after I surrendered to God... I asked God what His will of me. It took me a while though to actually surrender in prayer, to tell God I was ready to surrender to His will alone! At first it was hard, but now thats all I want, I have only grown in joy and the desire to be a Bride of Christ. Thats all I want, nothing else, to be a nun!

Anyway... Sorry, that was sort of long... But I wanted to briefly share my thoughts on the signs, my reflections.

I hope all are doing well!!

~Marjorie

I thought I'd never experienced number 10 until this last year. In March I met a postulant to the Community of the Beatitudes, a really beautiful soul, and she was expressing fear and doubt about her upcoming temporary commitment to the community. I couldn't imagine doubting. Just a week later it all crumbled and I started to really doubt my vocation and really want a family. I couldn't remember whether or not I had any good reasons to think about religious life at first and tried to convince God that I was called to marriage.

Anyway, I feared leaving my home town and visiting Sydney, because I didn't want to see that there was more to life than what I was doing. Anyway, I arrived in Sydney a few weeks ago, went to Solemn Choral Mass at the Cathedral and had no desire other than to lie prostrate before the altar and live there for the rest of my life. On the way out I said to Dad, "I want to live here!" He said, "What, in Sydney?" and I replied, "No, in the Cathedral!" Anyway, a week later and a seminarian I had barely met for ten minutes asked if I was thinking of religious life and from that moment on and for the last month I've been filled with a certainty that I don't think could completely go away.

I say this, because I've learnt that the best thing to do in times of doubt is to tell Jesus about it. Very simple, but it never occured to me for a long time. Isn't it amazing how the biggest barriers can be overcome by something so simple as a gaze at Our Lord? Isn't is amazing how silly we (I) can be when we (I) forget it?!

By the way, number 3 is a big one for me. I keep on realising how true St Augustine was when he said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

Since I returned from Australia I've had two ladies and a sister ask me, quite out of the blue, if I was going to be a nun. It's getting funny!

#3 is one I know has been a problem lately. Since I've been living in Seattle, I feel left out of the loop in "fashion" trends. Why do shoes have to be so cute?
But I know when God tells me to give up the shoes, pairs of earrings, etc. I will totally do it for Him even if I have to walk around barefoot!

That's funny, because the silliest minute detail that I'm dreading about entering anywhere, as I'm not really looking into any discalced orders, is that I will have to wear shoes all the time. I hate shoes with a passion.

bump

Im' totally like you. I have always tried to be open to God's Will. I don't want my will at all, I wish I didn't have one.

I have to say I don't like shoes.... but not with a passion

Thanks for finding this again FutureNun! i think I went through the fear explained in #10 especially at the beginning of the discernment bcause it was such a radical shift from where I thought my life was going. But I guess, in a way, God had prepared me by opening my heart to the idea from an early age and I guess it'd been in the back of my mind. So even though in undergrad I wasn't discerning exactly, I was growing in my love of the Lord and the Church. When I first started discerning, there was certainly a sense of "Why can't I get this out of my head?!" And once I became less fearful of the unknowness and really sit and prayed over the idea, I grew to love it!

LOL The first time I ever visited a convent, I did so with much trepidation because we didn't have sisters with habits in our diocese at the time, and I was unsure what this meant, this calling, this nudging of mine that I was to offer my life up as a Bride of Christ. I wanted to do His will, but hadn't a clue what that meant and wondered 'what I got myself into'. I was shaking when visiting the sisters! I was so nervous!

Haha! That was totally my experience too! I almost chickened out and didn't gob, but I'm sure glad I didn't.

God is a relentless pursuer, to be sure. He would have gotten us anyway!

for me, #1 I can relate to. #2 is totally like me #3 just like Lauren, after the experience if over, I reflect back on it and take notice of this. #4 again, allot like me. #'s 5-6-7-8-9 all like me. All excpet # 10. I never went through that, and I hope I never will. The thought of my vocation has always been such a pleasant one. I fear of loosing it though I know if I have one it will never go away.

Signs of a Religious Vocation

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm. yes, I've felt this before

2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God. yes, I've definatly felt this before. I find myself going to adoration more and more.

3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements. yes, I definatly feel this one also. I feel our world is too much into materialistic things, that people should realize how lucky they are to even have a house to live in.

4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love Jesus Christ. I'm not sure what this one means

5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation. yup.

6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation. Yes I am.

7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward. my happiness is the thought of being a great saint.. not specifically of a religious life but I want to be a saint.

8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.... I think yes..

9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners. definatly yes

10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not havce a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state I don't pray not to have a vocation, I just pray for his Will to be Done. But sometimes I actually fear he's calling me to the marriage life to tell you the truth, because I don't know if I can handle kids.......

to abandon all and sacrifice oneself for the love of God means to me, to give up all worldy things first. All your possessions. Everything that is material that has no merit to your soul. Secondly, give yourself. Give your free will, you understanding, your knowlege, your memory, your intellect, everything, to God to be guided by His holy will. I want to be nothing, I want to be known as nothing, I want to be God's spouse, and nothing more. Live in sacrifices for the repartion for sinners, and live in union with God, in adoration, devotion and love of God. This is what it means to give yourself fully to God. Give up all else but Him. This is what I desire.

you live in Texas! we should talk!

here is what I wrote a while back...
I call it the Lord's Work.

I want to work for the Lord, not the world. I'm tired of my job. I don't know of any other jobs I would want. I just don't think I'm good enough for any worldly jobs, but I would love to work for the Lord. The Lord is my Master, he's the Creator. He's the one who made all things possible. Lord, I will work for you one day. I think we work for you everyday but we don't spend as much devotion to our work as we should. But I Lord want to show that devotion to you every single day. I am willing to give up my life for you. Lord, can I work for you forever? I want to show what I can do for you, what my service is to others. I want to work for others because you are the one who Created them. Lord, I want to be like you, please let your face shine through mine.

Lori, I couldn't have said it any better. . . To be alone with the Alone. To His friend, when He has so few. To be used by Him who created us.

Yep! Texas!

I like that Dusts Sister, that was pretty. Thanks Denise