Men

Three Days of Discernment were held at the VEYO Centre in early November for young men interested in finding out more about a possible vocation to the priesthood. The three days were filled with talks and reflections on what is a vocation, what are the signs of God’s call and what are the steps of discernment. Leaving time for personal reading and for social interaction, the days were structured around prayer, communal and private.

Prayer, after all, is the backbone of any vocation and of all discernment. Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours and devotions produced the proper environment for the one-on-one conversation with Christ, in which alone a personal call can be discovered. Such one-one-one is, as the great spiritual masters tell us, the heart of a genuine spiritual life; it is the heart of any religious life in the priesthood or in the consecrated state; indeed, it is the heart of any truly Christian life, married or single.

The days of discernment addressed the questions of vocations: What is a vocation and what are the signs of such a vocation? How can I know whether God is calling me? How can I be certain? How does God call and how do I listen? What is discernment and how does it actually work? What if I think I am called, but don’t really want to? What if I am afraid of such a commitment, of my limitations, of negative responses from family, friends or community? What if I feel overwhelmed by the challenges of being a priest in a secular environment and would rather not stand out? How can I find out what it is really like being a priest? Who can help me?

The days of discernment tried to address the above questions. They gave our young men an opportunity to explore personally a possible priestly vocation and to find ways to discern it in the circumstances of their lives until such time that it becomes clear to them that God may have called them to the priesthood. Indeed, the process of discernment continues through the seminary years with spiritual direction, regular confession, daily Mass, rosary and Liturgy of the Hours so as to give candidates ample time to be certain. At the same time, also the Church needs to discern. The Church herself needs to be certain, since “a vocation is a gift of divine grace, received through the Church, in the Church and for the service of the Church.” (From: ‘Criteria for discernment of vocations’ Congregation for Catholic Education November 2005).

All of this makes those years, weeks and days of discernment critically important and we were blessed to have this opportunity. It’s a start!