Discernment
The word discernment comes from a Latin word meaning “to sift apart.” When we discern, we “sift apart” different possibilities in the hopes of finding the one that is most life-giving. When Christians discern, we keep our hearts open to the voice of God, since God alone knows the secrets of our hearts, and He alone can call us on to live in His kingdom. God only wants what is best for us. God’s will leads us to fulfillment and total joy.
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Sometimes our vocation is not always clear and distinct to us, and it is good to seek opportunities to recognize what our mission in life is meant to be. This is where discernment is necessary. Discernment is being aware and reflective of our heart, to see how God is moving and leading us. When we take the time to discern, we take specific steps to reflect and determine our calling.
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Signs You Might Be Ready to Discern
Desire in Your Heart
A genuine, inner yearning to serve God and His people as a priest. Talk to a priest you admire about how you are feeling. There is a joy and excitement when you think about it, a sense that this is the right path, and it will lead to the place you are meant to be.
A Sense of Calling
Feeling a personal call or invitation from God to priesthood. Perhaps you can’t explain why, but you feel you would love to do this or that thing that a priest does: You wish you could celebrate Mass, or preach, or baptize, or visit the sick. Or maybe you can’t explain why you have this desire. You don’t want to ‘do’ anything priestly, but you just know that you want to be a priest – it’s a part of you, like falling in love
Desire to Help Others
You have a strong concern for the people of God. You hope to help them grow in holiness, you want to teach the truths of the faith and to minister to those in times of distress. Perhaps you do not have any explicit desires to be a priest, but you are attracted to many of the things that are involved in the life of a priest. You have a desire to serve people in different ways, or to pass on the faith, or to pray with and for others.
Love for Christ & Church
A lively, personal love for Jesus and a desire to bring others to Him. A man who becomes a priest loves Jesus above all else and has a deep love for the Church. Some scripture passage seems to be directed at you – about the priesthood, or the call of the disciples, or service. These passages seem to stand out for you and have a kind of clarity. You hear a sermon about the priesthood, or read something, and it seems personal; as if a light comes on, or it warms your heart; or as if someone is pointing at you.
Desire a Life of Prayer
You attend Mass frequently, receive the sacrament of Confession, serve others and strive to grow spiritually. You just find that you want to pray more and to learn more about your Catholic faith. You have a new attraction to the Mass (or you have always been attracted to the Mass; and drawn to go to Mass during the week). The Mass seems to mean more to you. You have become more honest about your faults and failings, and desire to go to confession more often than in the past. You are reading more about the faith, or the priesthood – it inspires you; your interest grows. Your love for Christ is growing, and your love for the Church.
Others Notice Your Faith
Sometimes people notice a "priest's heart" in a young man and will mention that " you would make a good priest" or talk about how they see that light of your faith. When you talk to people about the possibility of priesthood, especially committed Catholics, they don’t look as if you are mad. They affirm it, and say ‘of course, I could have told you that years ago’. They encourage you. In other words, from the outside, this vocation also seems to make sense – it is not just a subjective sign for you, but it is beginning to be a more objective sign to others too. Perhaps you talk honestly about your feelings to a priest, and he encourages you too.
How to ‘Interpret the Signs’
On their own, the signs listed here are not a guarantee of a vocation; they are different hints, small signs that the Lord may be speaking to us and calling us to priesthood. Like any language, they need interpreting, and we need help to interpret them. If it seems to you that some of these signs are very clear and strong, or if many of them seem to come together and add up and begin to form a pattern, then this can be the clearest sign that the Lord is calling you at least to investigate and humbly take the next step. And if these signs are missing, or they are very weak in our lives, then the Lord is probably not calling us, at least not yet.
Questions of Discernment
Certain essential things
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There are certain basics that we normally ‘need’ if God is really calling us, and if these are lacking then a priestly vocation is probably not for us at this time in our lives – although it may show itself later on. I am just explaining some of them informally here in my own language, but you would need to talk to the vocations director to be clear about the official requirements of the Church for priesthood. It is really important to talk to someone about these things (your parish priest; the vocations director; your spiritual director). If something concerns you here, do not just panic and rule yourself out, as we often judge our situation too quickly or too harshly, and there may be other factors which are greatly in your favour. But the basic things that we ‘need’ include:
you do not have any big responsibilities that would take away your freedom to become a priest (married, children under 18; huge debts; etc.)
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a commitment to one’s Catholic faith – a love for Christ, for the Sacraments, for the People of God (even if we are aware of our weakness and failings)
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a love and respect for the Catholic Church and for her teachings, and a desire to share that faith with others (even if we find some things more difficult to believe than others)
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a commitment to the commandments and to living a moral life (even if we are weak and still struggle); you are trying to live a chaste life
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basic physical and mental health (serious medical conditions will make it difficult for us to live and work as a priest)
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a reasonable academic ability (we may not have many qualifications, but we need to have a basic ability to study)
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a personal and emotional maturity (it will be very difficult for us to live in seminary, and to engage in pastoral work, if we have some deep and unresolved psychological issues;
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if we can’t get on comfortably with different people; if we are really struggling with some kind of addiction or anything else that is dominating our life at this moment) SOURCE: Fr Stephen Wang - The Diocese of Westminster