The Vocation Question: Answered in the Heart
By Philip A. Nero
The question: Am I being called to a religious vocation?
After years of wondering and months of discernment, Thomas Doyle has his own answer to the question he posed to a Jesuit priest he met at Marquette University in Milwaukee. Doyle first heard the question within him in high school. It persisted and grew louder through college and even, he says, after a few years of a certain emptiness as a medical technologist.
"Older candidates often experience disillusionment with the everyday world and an emptiness in their work and career," says Father William Kraus, a Capuchin and vocation director for the Capuchin Province of Mid-America. Sometimes, however, they're fortunate enough to look to the Church for "how to do something more fulfilling with their lives by reaching out to others.'' Candidates often are influenced by their respect for a priest, brother or sister, but it's no longer typical that youth emerge from high school with a calling to the priesthood or religious life resonating in their hearts. "This may have been common years ago, but is the exception today,'' Father Kraus says. "I find the typical young person is still trying to find out what to do with their life and talents. They're still asking: 'What is my life all about and how do I fit into this world?' '
Motivating factors vary from person to person, says Sister Catherine Bertrand, a School Sister of Notre Dame and executive director of the Chicago-based National Religious Vocation Conference. "Some have radical conversion stories. But by-and-large it's a matter of coming to a decision more slowly than not,'' she says.
Significant discernment time is very important, agrees Jesuit Father Peter Etzel, vocations director for the Jesuit's Wisconsin Province. "I am suspicious of the radical conversion and the clear-cut call from God,'' he says. "It's important to explore the nature of the conversion and see how it plays out in a person's life. We ask what is the fruit of the conversion? How does one, over time, become more directly involved with God and with others.''
"Though motivating factors vary, most men and women considering a vocation do share a few common goals. Typically they seek to:
- Be of service to the community at large.
- Be part of a smaller community with similar values and faith.
- Have a deeper relationship with God.
"One of the non-negotiables for religious life is that the man or woman put other people at the forefront of their lives,'' Father Etzel says. "To be a religious is not about having a career in the normal sense of the word. It isn't about prestige and status and gathering things. It is about love for God and for people, and how one can best respond to God's love in service to others.''
Sister Bertrand cautions that a religious life is not for those who lack love or other options in their lives. "It's for people who have other options, people who are excited about life and excited about serving others,'' she says.
Understanding one's vocation comes through listening for the call not with ears, but with the heart, Father Kraus says. To better hear the heart Father Etzel offers a series of questions upon which to reflect:
- Where does my heart come to life?
- What is it I value most?
- What are my deepest desires?
"It is at the core of our being, deep within our hearts that God invites us,'' Father Etzel says. As for aspiring priest Tom Doyle, that trip to his spiritual director took place in 1985. He listened to his heart through 12 years of formation. There were intermittent bouts with doubt. He re-examined and affirmed his decision several times over the years. On June 13, 1997, he became Father Tom Doyle, S.J.