Vocations

Discernment is the process of actively seeking to know God’s will for our lives. If we want to know something from someone, what do we do? First, we ask them and then we listen to their reply. It works the same with God. First, you must ask and then you must listen to His reply.

We call this communication between God and us – prayer. Often, the difficult part for us is the listening, because we usually don’t hear a voice speaking to us. So we must be open and ready for Him to speak to us in other ways. This could be through other people, through events or through heartfelt reflection. God speaks to us quite often. We are not always listening.

In your discernment, first and foremost, you should be active and disciplined in prayer life. Other steps often recommended include:

• getting a spiritual director,
• reading information about all vocations,
• speaking with persons who are happy and active in their vocation,
• visiting seminaries and religious communities,
• becoming involved in service to others.

Prayer is important in all vocations, not just priesthood or consecrated religious life. People in every vocation are called to communicate, talk, and listen with God. Not having prayer as an important focus point in your vocation, no matter which one that might be, is like not talking to or listening to your parents as you grew from being a baby to being an adult. It does not work.

Prayer is communicating with God, not just talking to Him. Communication involves talking and (more importantly) listening. Thus, prayer is extremely important in each vocation. It is possibly the most important part of a vocation.