Discernment For Boys

[Aloysius]

well, i posted in the open mic too a while back. i'm homosexual... i'm almost positive it's a biological type thing i can't change and even if i did it would cause suppressed stuff, mental problems. i donno, i'd havta exchange one lust for another, i donno. anyway, that kinda rules me out for marriage, it wouldn't be fair to any girl to marry them. also, i couldn't be a priest or religious. not only has the Church come out against that, but it would be a source of constant temptation for me if i lived with other men.

anyway, that kinda leaves me at single life. i've been praying to be able to accept that. it's tough, it's so hard to see what my future would be as a single man. anyway, that's my discernment story.

wow. that kinda stinks you don't have a choice... you completely sure it's something biological? you might wanna consult a psychologist or something. but that does make sense i guess, you don't wanna "exchange one lust for another"

not a lot of ppl seem to even think of the single life as a vocation, but it def. is. continue to pray about it, and whatever God wants you to do follow that. He's got a plan for all of us, he's got a plan for you.

so, so far we got me who wants to be a priest but i prayed about it and it seems God says no, so i don't know what my vocation is, Rebirth Flame seems to be the same as me, cimlog has no idea hehe, mammo might wanna be a priest hehe, then there's lundercovera who seems to have no choice but the single life. i wonder if that no choice thing is God speaking to you in a way you can see real well, or just circumstances you might haveta overcome depending on what He wants you to be...

[Aloysius]

bump.

these really should be pinned why won't dUST listen to me! <_<

[cimlog]

i wonder if that no choice thing is God speaking to you in a way you can see real well, or just circumstances you might haveta overcome depending on what He wants you to be...

Interesting Al. It boggles my mind.

THESE NEED TO BE PINNED!

[VeraMaria]

Al, didn't you ask if you could be moderator?

then u could pin these!

Edited March 19, 2004 by Aloysius

[cimlog]

He asked but never received.

[Aloysius]

bump

~either i should be a Mediator of Meh or at least these should be pinned! :(

[Aloysius]

bump

~either i should be a Mediator of Meh or at least these should be pinned! :(

[BLAZEr]

Ok, this is a post from an "Old Guy" at 25 but I just wanted to say this:

Discerning the priesthood isn't about making a decision "Is God Calling me yes or no?" Discerning the priesthood is about living your life in holiness and being open to Christ calling you to give up many of the things you love in order to follow him in more closely, in a way of greater sacrifice, in a way of greater imitation.

I think it can get really stressful to focus on "What does God want me to do with the rest of my life?" And sometimes that "rest of my life" can make us ignore forget that right now is what is most important.

A very wise priest told me once that God calls through your ordinary vocation. He doesn't call you AWAY from your life, but TOWARD it. This is amazing to me. It is the idea that if you are being called to be a priest you will know this more and more and more when you are living a holy life in the world. You will begin to be more attracted to the priesthood and resisting the idea of becoming a priest will be more of a fight. You can ignore your vocation, you can not follow Christ when he calls, but it will be because you are not living the Christian life well. It will be because sin is causing you to forget or resent your vocation.

The amazing thing is that a priest is just like any other Christian. He is living a vocation he desires. If you desire or are attracted to the priesthood, then you owe it to yourself and to God to give it a real shot. Not just to "think" about it, but to "try" it. To "come and see" with Christ if you will follow him like an apostle. The vocation to the priesthood is a vocation to love . . . and you fall in love with your vocation just like a couple falls in love with each other. They don't try to "figure out" if they are called to marry without spending some time together. They don't try to figure it out "before hand."

In a certain sense, you cannot know if you are called to be a priest unless you have tried to follow that vocation and found that you could not, or did not want to. That's what the single life is like, trying to follow Christ and live devoted to him . . . from that faithfulness your vocation to either marriage or the priesthood will be born.

[Aloysius]

# 1 you're too old, go away JK

# 2, i'm not sure. discovering your vocation is about prayer. if through prayer you are called to be a priest, you go test it out. you don't go around testing everything out first to see if you like it and assume if you like it God wants you to be it... it's always a calling from God, through prayer or through some deep down desire He gives you, it's God's initiative. especially evident in prayers about vocations: we pray asking, "what shall i do to serve you best, Lord?" and God answers "go here or there or do this or that" by instilling within you deep desires for that vocation and giving you a conviction to seek it out. only after that happens through prayer do you discern by testing it out.

steps are first: discerning through prayer and second: discerning by trying out what you have seen yourself called to after much prayer.

[cimlog]

A very wise priest told me once that God calls through your ordinary vocation. He doesn't call you AWAY from your life, but TOWARD it.

That is powerful stuff. I never though about it like that.

In a certain sense, you cannot know if you are called to be a priest unless you have tried to follow that vocation and found that you could not, or did not want to.

So are you recomending all guys try the priesthood. Kinda the guess and check method. Trial and error? Try all vocations and see which is best?

[VeraMaria]

Ok, this is a post from an "Old Guy" at 25 but I just wanted to say this:

Discerning the priesthood isn't about making a decision "Is God Calling me yes or no?"  Discerning the priesthood is about living your life in holiness and being open to Christ calling you to give up many of the things you love in order to follow him in more closely, in a way of greater sacrifice, in a way of greater imitation.

I think it can get really stressful to focus on "What does God want me to do with the rest of my life?"  And sometimes that "rest of my life" can make us ignore forget that right now is what is most important.

A very wise priest told me once that God calls through your ordinary vocation.  He doesn't call you AWAY from your life, but TOWARD it.  This is amazing to me.  It is the idea that if you are being called to be a priest you will know this more and more and more when you are living a holy life in the world.  You will begin to be more attracted to the priesthood and resisting the idea of becoming a priest will be more of a fight.  You can ignore your vocation, you can not follow Christ when he calls, but it will be because you are not living the Christian life well.  It will be because sin is causing you to forget or resent your vocation.

The amazing thing is that a priest is just like any other Christian.  He is living a vocation he desires.  If you desire or are attracted to the priesthood, then you owe it to yourself and to God to give it a real shot.  Not just to "think" about it, but to "try" it.  To "come and see" with Christ if you will follow him like an apostle.  The vocation to the priesthood is a vocation to love . . . and you fall in love with your vocation just like a couple falls in love with each other.  They don't try to "figure out" if they are called to marry without spending some time together.  They don't try to figure it out "before hand."

In a certain sense, you cannot know if you are called to be a priest unless you have tried to follow that vocation and found that you could not, or did not want to.  That's what the single life is like, trying to follow Christ and live devoted to him . . . from that faithfulness your vocation to either marriage or the priesthood will be born.

Wow, Blazer, that was amesome!!!!!!

:cool:

Edited March 19, 2004 by Aloysius

[Aloysius]

bump. i'm still confused as to what blazer means. should we not pray about it to find out where God wants us first, then test out prayerfully that vocation which we believe God has called us to to see if He was truly calling us there?

just because we like something doesn't mean it's what God wants for us.

[cimlog]

Yes I am still confuesed as well.

Blazer, should we keep trying various voaction until we found one we like? How do we know what we like is what God wants?

[Rebirth flame]

How do we know we're not picking something that we just "wanna do"??? Is that where praying for discernment would come in??? Obviously this feeling wouldn't be the same with everyone, but would it be something like a "click" into the right place??? Maybe like something missing was just "put into place"? BLAZEr, HEEELLLLPPPP!!!! i'm just a smidge confused...

maybe i just misinterpreted what u said, BLAZEr...

if u have any advice to share/add, please do!!!! :D

Edited February 18, 2004 by Rebirth flame

[BLAZEr]

THat's wierd, I posted this long thing earlier (I thought) to clarify what I was saying . . . and here I go to read this thread again, and I don't see it.

Well, anyway . . . let me try again . . .

I don't want to suggest that prayer isn't an important part of discernment. In fact, I think it is the most important part, but not because you will get some "answer" to your question. Instead, I think prayer is important because it will help you to grow in virtue and its this growth in virtue that makes you the person you are supposed to be. It opens you up to yourself as you SHOULD be. Only when you are living as you SHOULD be living will you recognize whether you are called to be a priest or not.

When we pray we can often delude ourselves to think that we "understand" what we are supposed to do about something because we have "peace." The way that people talk about Peace makes it sound like all these glowy feelings, which make you "feel" like you're doing the right thing. I tend not to trust these things.

First of all, it's not the way Christ worked. Just look at him in the Agony of the Garden . . . he wasn't a man who felt "peace" in fact, quite the opposite . . . but his prayer did help him to face the task ahead of him. I don't think Christ ever felt "good" about the passion he would undergo, but his prayer helped him to follow his Father despite his fears.

Also, Christ didn't say to Andrew "Hey, can you pray about whether you will join in following me?" Not a chance . . . he said "Come and see." Andrew spent time with Christ, and of course prayer came with that, but what confirmed Andrews vocation as an apostle was spending time with Christ and other men who were, in a way, discerning this vocation as well.

Christ comes to us today the same way he did back in Galilee. He comes through an encounter in the flesh. Through the Body of Christ, His Church . . . our brothers and sisters. In the midst of this community we discern a call, together with the Body. I would never have thought about the priesthood if someone hadn't suggested that I think about it. I would never continued to pursue a vocation if others hadn't helped me to see that this is something God was calling me to.

Prayer is important, but it's important because it helps me to beg Christ to become present to me here and now, in my ordinary life as a Youth Minister. Here he becomes present and I grow in Holiness by making him present and recognizing him as present. The more I grow in hoiness the more I can see what I am meant to be. The more encounter Christ the more that I encoutner my self, my humanity. When I am the MAN I am supposed to be, my vocation is at its most clear.

And this is the important part:

The way you know that you aren't just picking what YOU wanna do, is because the Church helps you in your discernment. If you are faithful to God he will tell you yes or no. It may not be what you want to hear or the way you want to hear it, but he will speak if you are listening.

Here I will add a personal story. I thought God was calling me to be a diocesan priest in South Bend, IN. I applied to the seminary and hoped that I would be there now. I went through the whole process for the year and everything looked good. When I finally had my interview with the Bishop he decided that I would not be a good fit for the diocese of South Bend. I asked him point blank if he thought I had a vocation or if I was deluding myself. He said, "I can't answer that."

Now, this whole thing was pretty painful. But in the process I realized to things very clearly. God answered my prayer. The whole year I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing and I kept praying that God would show me if I was making the right decision. God did show me, he told me "No." At the same time I still felt (and continue to feel) like God is calling me to be a priest. So when the Bishop didn't answer my question I felt like God was leaving it open for me to continue to pursue.

Today I feel like I know where I am being called to. This is amazing, because if I had entered into the Diocese I would never have met the greatest joy of my life, Communion and Liberation.

It has been through Communion and Liberation that I have come to understand myself and my Christian life more clearly. This is quite an amazing thing, because I feel like I am more myself through CL. This is opening up for me a whole new, more amazing dimension to my vocation than I had ever thought possible. If I had been accepted to the seminary this would never have happened.

And so God is faithful, and he is continuing to show me my way. But he can only show me my way if I am following him today, if I am WITH HIM, staying with him, TODAY. And in the midst of Today he reveals me more to myself and he reveals to me my vocation.

And I still want to be a priest. Why? Because I think it will make me happy. In a sense, that's the only reason to be a priest at all . . . because you feel it will make you happy.

If you aren't pursuing your happiness, then you are not pursuing your vocation. When you marry someone you marry them because you think they will make you Happy . . . not because you think YOU will make THEM happy. The same has to be true with a vocation to the priesthood. If you think it will make you happy, then pursue it.

RebirthFlame, I think where you are in your life, with your depth of spiritual life and where you are in school, you would probably benefit from having a Spiritual Director. I recommend you talk to Fr. Sheidt and ask him if he can help you.

Peace.

[cimlog]

Wow. Thanks Blazer. Cleared a lot of stuff for me. :)

[Matthew]

I appreciate it Blazer. Thanks. :D

[Rebirth flame]

Thanx BLAZEr, i've got some prayin and thinkin to do....

Really appreciate it... :D

[cimlog]

What Blazer said kinda triggered some stuff in my mind. Thanks man. Gots to go pray about it.

[Rebirth flame]

Sweet!!!!! it's pinned!!!!!!!! :P