Do I have a vocation?

Do I have a vocation?

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JMJ

I am convinced that the Church cannot / will not emerge from this Crisis until Catholics believe, think, and act as Catholics have before this Crisis began - some 200 years ago.

Yes, you read correctly, I wrote 200 years ago. It is about that time that Liberal Catholicism came to forefront. Its principles morphing over the decades, but still a consistent rebellion against the authority and certainty of Catholicism.

One way we'll know that Catholics are doing this would be a sustained uptick in vocations to a level comparable to the SSPX and Traditional Orders. This would indicate an environment where Catholics are breaking the shackles of the Worldly view and re-adopting the Catholic view.

Beliefs such as the Catholic Church IS the Church of Christ. Outside of this Church there is no salvation. This would be accompanied by generosity of spirit and respect for authority!

The following links (courtesy of SSPX.org) provide some insights to the question: Do I have a vocation?

P^3

Religious vocation?

Fr. Barrielle explains the basic principles concerning a religious vocation.

Do I have a vocation?

God's call is obligatory

How to discern a vocation?

Some signs of a vocation

Hesitate no longer

Reply to some objections

Introduction

Fr. Barrielle was spiritual director for St. Pius X Seminary in Econe, chosen for this extremely important role by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Founder of the Society of St. Pius X.

In this work dedicated to St. Joseph, patron of vocations, Fr. Barrielle explains the basic principles of Catholic doctrine concerning a religious vocation. He wrote the booklet in 1967, at a time when the fruits of Vatican II were not yet clear, and accordingly he references the council documents. After all, the documents of the Council say many things that are traditional, but many other statements are couched in ambiguous terms that can be—and have been—taken in several senses. It was the outrageous exploitation of these terms, above all, that has made for the destruction of the modern day Church and the plunge in the number of those answering the call of a vocation. Once Fr. Barrielle perceived this dangerous trend, he refused to participate in the destruction of the Church and allied himself with the SSPX.

Do I have a vocation?

Here we speak of the particular Vocation by which God calls one to a higher state of life. Man renounces the world in order to give himself totally to God and binds himself to the observance of the evangelical councils. It is to this higher state of life that one generally reserves the word “Vocation” in its strict sense.

“The Fathers most strongly exhort those who are preparing for the sacred ministry to develop a keen awareness that the hopes of the Church and the salvation of souls are being committed to them.”

(Vatican II – Optatam Totius n. 22)

Everyone is called to Sanctity, to Salvation: “the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus,” says St. Peter (1 Pet. 5:10). We do not speak here of the vocation of every man to Salvation, but of the particular Vocation by which God calls one to a higher state of life. There, beyond the observance of the commandments of God, a man renounces the world in order to give himself totally to God and binds himself to the observance of the evangelical councils. It is to this higher state of life that one generally reserves the word “Vocation” in its strict sense.

Troubling questions

"Am I called by God to a state of life of perfection rather than to live in the world?"
"Do I have a vocation?"
“Can I? Should I give myself totally to God?”

Here we have a question which has troubled many generous souls.

It even happens that consecrated souls, in the face of temptations or of the “demon of midday,” are troubled and ask themselves: “Am I following the right path? Was I not mistaken in entering the Seminary? the Convent?”

And the devil profits from this to confuse, trouble, and discourage these souls by scruples: “Who knows if...? Am I following the right path?” etc…

Both in order to make clear for the young people who, standing on the threshold of their adult lives, pose this incalculably important question to themselves: “Do I have a vocation?”, as well as for troubled souls who are already in the religious life, we are going to consider the question head on. The first point to consider is:

There are more vocations than one thinks.

God has always given the world the vocations it has needed:

“In no time and in no place can one think that God does not provide for the needs of the Church and, as in the past, that He does not call to Himself innumerable batallions of receptive adolescents, in their generosity, their strength, their integrity, their purity, to obey the voice of Christ and have the desire to devote themselves to the Church…”

(Pope Paul VI, Allocution to the Congress of Priestly Vocations, Dec. 3, 1966).

If all those who had been called by God would have responded, the world would already be converted. But we must consider:

Those who were not born! What a joy and glory for those large families from which God has chosen so many elite vocations: a little Thérèse (ninth child), a St. Ignatius (eleventh), a St. Francis Xavier (thirteenth), a St. Catherine of Siena (twenty-fourth!). Without rashly judging individual cases … what a shame if Madame Martin had refused to bear her ninth child! The world should not have St. Thérèse of Lisieux!
There are the only children... adored... they are not accustomed to sacrifices. And then, a family for which God is not God, is not proper soil for vocations!
There is that monstrosity of an education where God and His Christ are continually made an abstraction. This is a fact many times verified and besides proclaimed by those who have engineered atheistic teaching, i.e. teaching which willfully excludes speaking of God, His Revelation, the Divinity of Jesus Christ and our duties toward Him, and so on. There is nothing better than this for drying up a vocation in a man (and much more for women).
Lastly there are those who feel the call, but do not wish to answer it.

Vatican II proclaims in its “Declaration on Religious Liberty”:

“The rights of parents are violated if the children are constrained to attend classes which do not correspond to the religious conviction of the parents, or if one imposes a unique method of education from which religious formation is completely excluded.”

But when young Christians are given a Christian upbringing, vocations flourish, are numerous and strong.

Vatican II (Lumen Gentium) reminds parents that

“Parents should, by their word and example, be the first preachers of the faith to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each of them, fostering with special care any religious vocation.”

Men who understand this, as did St. John Bosco and St. Alphonsus Liguori, say: “In general, for every three children, there is one vocation!” That is more or less what Paul VI said above: “God calls innumerable batallions.”

Misconceptions about a vocation

Some believe that, in order to have a vocation, one must have an attraction to it. There are some, however, who do not have the attraction and yet have the vocation. And there are others who desire a vocation and yet, quite clearly, are far from having one, because they do not have the required dispositions.
Others imagine that one must one day hear a little voice inside which says: “Come!”
Still others forget that there are many diverse vocations. I knew a priest who was not able to continue with the Chartreux (a strict monastic order) because of poor health, but who became a very holy diocesan priest, a holy vicar, a holy country pastor, and who died the curé (parish priest) of a cathedral with a true renown for sanctity.
There are some vocations which require health or intelligence beyond the norm. Alternately, there are vocations which, in requiring a great love of God, can befit a candidate with delicate health or no instruction (e.g. the humble lay brother and porter who became St. Pascal Baylon).

God's call is obligatory

Every young Catholic man must one day ask himself a question with incalculable consequences: “Do I have a vocation?” This is of primary importance!

One cannot say that he who, by his fault, has been unfaithful to his vocation will necessarily be damned. No! That is false! For whatever sin that one has committed, no matter how grave it be, if one humbles himself and asks pardon from God, then God pardons and grants all of the means necessary to be saved.

It is not any less true that a man who, by his own fault, places himself outside of the way to which God has called him in a certain and pressing manner (for there are some calls more urgent than others), deprives himself of many graces and compromises his salvation. If St. Francis of Assisi had remained a cloth merchant or if St. Ignatius had continued to be a knight of the court, one could rightfully ask what would have become of them.

How many young ladies there are who should have been sanctified, who should have progressed in divine love, who should have drawn down every manner of blessing upon the earth by taking Jesus for their Spouse and who, setting off with a vicious or superficial husband who wants no children, are placed in the midst of every kind of sin, with little actual religious succor. How many of these should have had a completely different destiny! Likewise, how many young men there are who should have had a life full of merit for the glory of God, yet, bound a little too quickly to a superficial woman, egotistical or opinionated, are enmeshed in sin in order to have peace in the house; it is an unhappy peace which is often a prelude to a terrible reckoning to be rendered to the Sovereign Judge!

Question of primary importance

How many times a person has been torn from a generous choice of higher service in order to turn to mediocrity and, by that very fact, to many falls!

It is thus of primary importance to ask oneself this question: “Do I have a vocation?”

There are some men who had never previously thought of this question and who, one day, posing it to themselves, so transformed their entire lives that they became saints. Even more, they became, through the hands of God, instruments of salvation for millions and millions of souls (e.g. a St. Paul, a St. Francis Xavier, a St. Alphonsus de Liguori, etc.).

Every young Catholic man must one day ask himself this question with its incalculable consequences. The Spiritual Exercises, above all those done according to the strict method of St. Ignatius, are the best means to settle reasonably this question. For they obtain the necessary dispositions to see clearly and to have the required courage.

How to discern a vocation?

Do I have a vocation? One must have clear ideas on this subject. Otherwise, many of those who are called will not respond, and the souls that they were meant to save will perhaps not be saved. But how I am to know if I am called?

St. Ignatius does not pose the question in the abstract form: “Do I have a vocation?”

A vocation comes from God

This is true firstly, because often one only certainly knows the answer afterwards, since God has the right to ask of whomever He wishes for the sacrifice of Abraham (God asked Abraham to sacrifice to Him his son Isaac and, at the moment when the father was about to thrust in the knife, an Angel stopped him. God was content with his obedience).

Thus:

St. Camille entered the Capuchins twice and was obliged to leave twice; God reserved him to found the Order of Camillians.
St. Benedict Labre entered the Trappists … and left.
And Mr. Martin, the future father of St. Thérèse, did he not go to knock at the door of St. Bernard monastery to ask admittance? And he was refused it. God had other plans. But his generous act remains.

With every vocation comes a risk

How many young people have entered the Seminary or the Convent and (we do not speak here of the soft souls) have lawfully left? Not only have they no need to be ashamed, but on the Day of Judgment they will be astonished at the eternal and extraordinary recompense that they will then receive for having, one day when they were young, made this gesture of willingness to leave all for Christ. It is a gesture with which the Master is content.

God has willed that, with every vocation, there should be some risk. There is a great deal of risk in a marriage, in every enlistment of a marine or a soldier! Why would one wish that there be no risk for the sake of Christ?

Regardless, be certain that this risk will always have its recompense. Hence, St. Ignatius does not pose the question as: “Do I have a vocation?” He asks it in a manner more concrete: “What should I do, I myself, today?”

The problem, phrased in this way, is more easily soluble. A man of good will, who reflects even a little bit, comes easily to know what God wants him to do, at least for the moment. This is because the answer to the question: “What should I do today?” is made clear by theological principles and providential events that show us the will of God, which we should always want to follow.

Sometimes God’s will is manifested suddenly and very clearly. At other times, the ways of Providence will be shown progressively over time. God requires our good will, our inquiry. The game is worth the price of playing!

Hear Pope Paul VI in the allocution already cited:

“Most of the time, in reality, the vocation to embrace the priestly life is not revealed in itself, directly, but it must be detected as if it were the pearl of the Gospel that is buried in the field. In effect, God, Who reserves to Himself the calling of those whom He chooses, nevertheless asks for the collaboration of the sacred ministers so that the young men may become aware of the action that divine grace operates and that they might bring to maturity the divine seed placed in their souls.”

It is God who calls

“You have not chosen Me: but I have chosen you!” (Jn. 15:16)

A vocation firstly comes from God. It does not come from us. The word “vocation” comes from the Latin word “vocare,” to call. It is God who calls. It is not uncommon, even in a Christian family, to observe an early misdirection in a child who is asked the question: “My dear child, what do you want to be when you grow up?” If the child has been struck in the preceding days by the sight of a bishop or of a military pilot or of a mailman, he will answer: “I want to be a Bishop... a Pilot... a Mailman...”, etc.

St. Ignatius, in the preamble for the consideration of the states of life (Spiritual Exercises, n. 135), says to the retreatant:

“We will begin, in contemplating His life [Our Lord Jesus Christ] to look for and to ask from God in what state or kind of life His Divine Majesty will deign to make use of us.”

The perspective changes. It is not for us in the first place to choose, but for God to choose us. We must not forget that.

His Holiness Paul VI says:

“This vocation depends totally on a mysterious decision of God following the very word of the Redeemer: ‘You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.'” (Jn. 15:16).

It is thus not a question only of knowing whether this or that pleases me, but if God calls me. It is a question of searching out “where God will deign to make use of me” during my short earthly pilgrimage whose end is “to praise, honor, and serve Him” here below “and by this means save my soul” (n. 23). We have there a light which will help us to see the will of God for us.

Hence, St. Ignatius says it will be a matter of “choosing only that which better brings us to the end for which we have been created” (n. 23). The question is becoming clearer. Let us move on.

Response to God's call

“But God requires that man respond to His invitation by the free consent of his will,” continues Paul VI; “in other words, the divine vocation requires that a man listen.”

Without a doubt, it will be necessary “to provide to the faithful, and to the souls of the young in particular, the Secondary Elements so that those souls might be able to hear the divine word and that they might know how to respond to God...” “In all this, it will be necessary,” the Pope adds, “to respect the action of God and the liberty of the candidates.”

In the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, we see Our Lord give us a master lesson on this question:

A young man accosts Jesus:

"And behold one came and said to him: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting? Who said to him: Why asketh thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, [...] The young man saith to him: All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me? Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.

(Matthew, 19: 17-21)

Jesus looked at him and loved him, remarks St. Mark. The young man is suitable. The Lord has considered him with his response. He sends forth the call:
— “Si vis!” There only remains for him to will.
— “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come! Follow Me!”

“If thou wilt!” God respects free will: “Si vis!” ...

Alas! This young man walked away sad, instead of answering the call. The reflection that Jesus made after this leaves one doubting of the young man’s salvation. Thus:

Up to now, we have considered two elements of a vocation:

The call of God. It is a call which will be made definite by the Bishop or the ecclesiastical Superior in charge of admitting candidates to a state of Perfection in the name of the Church.
The free will of the candidate: “SI VIS! If thou wilt!”

It remains now to look at the other elements. They will permit the Superior to pronounce the call and the candidate to answer, to present himself for the call... to leave all, in order to give himself totally to God in this or that higher state of life, or “Vocation.”

How do I know?

“But how do I know if I am called?”
“Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!”

In order to know, we must first of all pray. A vocation requires many prayers in order:

to see clearly and
to dispose oneself properly.

Say with Saint Paul: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6); say with young Samuel: “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth” (1 Kings 3:10); invoke Our Lady of Good Counsel, pray to St. Joseph, patron of vocations, to your Guardian Angel, to your baptismal saint, etc. And make the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

The Spiritual Exercises

The Holy Father, in his talk on vocations does not explicitly name the Spiritual Exercises but he asks us to prefer the conditions which will help and dispose the adolescent to hear the Word of God. Now, the conditions listed by the Holy Father are found assembled, in fact and above all, in the retreat of the Spiritual Exercises:

“In the first place, interior silence… for their thoughts (those of young people) … assailed by a great deal of external excitement, often vain and empty, sometimes even wicked and pernicious, prevent them from conceiving and meditating on the idea of the perfect life, the value and beauty of this life... Moments of silence, of recollection… meditation on eternal realities… will be very profitable for them… as well as thanksgiving after Mass. It is above all through this latter devotion that they might unite themselves to God and that God Himself might unveil to them by stages His mysterious Will; and… that the adolescents might understand better if they are called to the priesthood or what role God is confiding to them."

Some signs of a vocation

There are five signs that give a candidate fro a state of perfection the certitude that he can advance secure in his conscience and realize a vocation.

What are the “secondary elements” of which the Pope speaks above and which will help one see clearly?
There are five of them. They will show a young man if he has the right, and perhaps the duty, to say: “Here I am, Lord!”

Certainty to serve God better

To understand that, in such a vocation, I will serve the Lord better, I will be more sanctified, I will work more for the salvation of my own soul and the souls of others, and I will give more glory to God both here below and above in Heaven.

Speaking of those who remain virgins for the Kingdom of Heaven, Our Lord tells us that no one is capable of understanding it without a special grace: “All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given” (Matt. 19:11). It is not a question of knowing that, in theory, a religious vocation is higher than the common path; but that I, with my particular qualities, I will serve the Lord better in such a state. If I understand this, I already have the first divine sign.

To have the required dispositions.

In the fifteenth addition, Saint Ignatius tells us that outside of the Exercises, it is “licit and meritorious” to “push” not everyone, but “every person having the required dispositions” to choose: “Virginity, the religious life and every form of evangelical perfection.”

Here is a very precious indicator. If someone does not have the dispositions required for a certain vocation, normally (barring a miracle) one can conclude that God does not call him… But be careful! God might be calling him to another vocation. But normally not to that vocation for which he does not have the required dispositions.

(Examples of the required dispositions:

a minimum level of intelligence, if there are studies to be done;
a minimum of health, if it is necessary to do missionary work; etc… and,
for every vocation: common sense.)

No counter-indicators.

In medicine there is a thing that one calls a “counter-indicator”; for example: if you have heart problems, you cannot be a pilot, a stevedore, etc.; if you have a bad liver, do not eat too much chocolate; if you have bad eyes, that is a counter-indicator for working on the railroad, and so on.

In like manner, there are “counter-indicators” for a vocation. There are some from the natural law; others are imposed by Canon Law. For example: a young man who is the sole support of his poor family, a man who has debts or pending lawsuits, cannot enter the novitiate without having settled these questions. An illegitimate son cannot be a priest. Nor can those with certain sicknesses, certain bodily defects, certain public faults, at least for some vocations. Nor can a young man who has certain habits that he cannot correct.

There is in this third sign an important eliminatory element that can shed light on the existence or absence of a vocation.

Accept renouncement

You must, in giving yourself to God, accept the renouncements that the evangelical counsels require.

“It is much better not to vow,” says Ecclesiastes 5:4, “than after a vow not to perform the things promised.” Someone who does not want, for example, to observe chastity, poverty, or obedience, should not engage himself in the religious life. A man who has sinned against chastity must not advance before having corrected his wicked habit: “A long period of chastity,” says Saint Bernard, “is a second virginity.”

Acceptance of the Church

Finally, you must find a Bishop or a Congregation that will accept you. We have here the official sign of God’s call. If you cannot find any Bishop or any Congregation that will accept you, be at peace. It is a sign that God is not calling you.

Nevertheless, be careful! Let us not judge too quickly or too summarily. It is possible to be unfitting for one Congregation, yet succeed quite well in another. Likewise, those who judge in a single glance that a child does not have a vocation, can be mistaken. It is permissible to insist and try a vocation elsewhere. This is especially true if the subject has the four preceding signs.

For example: The story is told that a seminarian was sent home from the Minor Seminary for some sort of thoughtless act. The parish priest, knowing the child, sent him to an apostolic school where the young man made great progress, went on to the Major Seminary, and passed his theological courses. Ordained a priest, he soon became a prelate entrusted with high functions and one great day was made a Cardinal. According to the custom, his home diocese, honored to have one of her children clothed in the cardinal’s purple, made a great ceremony for him at the cathedral. A banquet followed which took place at the Minor Seminary. At the end of the meal, the new Cardinal asked the Superior there: “Could you bring me the admissions records?” and he read from a year long ago forgotten: “Pizzardo, sent away for lack of a vocation.” Then the Cardinal took out his pen and added with some humor: “And today, Cardinal of Holy Mother Church!” He was His Eminence Cardinal Pizzardo, today [1967] at the head of all the Seminaries and Catholic Universities of the world. The moral is that we must not judge too quickly. One can be deceived!

Church teaching

Canon Law

Canon Law reduces the signs of a vocation to four:

The right intention
The call of the Bishop
The required qualities
The absence of any irregularity or impediment.

May one who fulfills these four conditions put himself forward without fear of being mistaken?
Yes! even if he does not have the desire to do so. (Obviously, it is different if there is question of an unconquerable repugnance or of a forced entry due to the pressure of a father or a godmother. In this case, the candidate does not fulfill the required conditions.) The wise theologian Noldin says: “Whoever is suitable and has the right intention, while aspiring to the priesthood, may present himself to the Bishop.” This is also the same teaching that we find in various conciliar decrees.

The Teaching of the Council

In the decree on the formation of priests (Optatam totius), the Second Vatican Council gives the same teaching:

“2. The task of fostering vocations devolves on the whole Christian community… Teachers should strive so to develop those entrusted to them that these young people will be able to recognize a divine calling and willingly answer it… … Such an active partnership between the whole people of God in the work of encouraging vocations corresponds to the activity of Divine Providence. For God properly endows and aids with His grace those men divinely chosen to share in Christ’s hierarchical priesthood. To the lawful ministers of the Church He confides the work of calling proven candidates whose fitness has been acknowledged and who seek so exalted an office with the right intention and full freedom. Her ministers exercise the further commission of consecrating such men with the seal of the Holy Spirit to the worship of God and the service of the Church…”

Hesitate no longer

Many young people fullfill the necessary conditions to follow God's call. Some of them feel the divine invitation. Having all the signs of a vocation are they free to follow or to decline the call of God?

Here we have a young man, lively and intelligent. He would willingly be married and several young ladies have their eyes on him. He has only to make a sign. But, struck by the lack of evangelical workers and the great number of souls that perish due to the lack of apostles, he foresees all of the consequences that would follow for the salvation of the world by his renouncement of the lawful joys of marriage if he consecrates his entire life to the service of God. He sees the results of this gift in the likes of St. Francis Xavier, St. John Bosco, St. Vincent de Paul, St. John Vianney. He says to himself: “Why not me?”

He has the five signs or conditions indicated above:

He understands the efficacy that his sacrifice for the service of God and the Church would have. The number of families transformed! And how much more he would be sanctified!
He has the required dispositions.
If he gives himself to God, he is determined, with God’s grace, to hold himself to the obligations entailed therein.
There are no counter-indicators.
He will easily find a Bishop or a Congregation which will accept him.

Free to follow

Can this young man say to himself: “Does God call me? Should I devote my life to Him? Should I vow myself to His service?” Without any doubt! The young man can consider the words of the Divine Master as if they were addressed to him: “Si vis! If thou wilt, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me!” “Nothing,” says St. Ignatius, “ought to move me to take such means or to deprive myself of them, except only the service and praise of God our Lord and the eternal salvation of my soul.” (Spiritual Exercises, n. 169)

Fullfill one's obligations

St. Thomas Aquinas (read the whole of Summa Theologica II-II, q. 189, a.10) tells us that there must be more reasons for not becoming a religious than to become a religious. And he repeats several times in the same article: “Above all, do not seek advice among those who will prevent you,” and he quotes this sentence of St. Jerome: “Make haste, I beg you, and if you hesitate, cut away your moorings rather than lose your time untying them.”
Hasten, young man! Hasten and make a decision!

St. Ignatius (Spiritual Exercises, n. 185, 187) is saying to you:

To a young man who is in your exact situation, what advice would you give him for the greater glory of God and the greater perfection of his soul?
On the day of your death, what choice would you have liked to make today?
What value do your various reasonings have, on one side or the other, in front of the judgment seat of God?

Hesitate no longer. Act accordingly. Si vis! Understand the grace; understand the honor which is made you. “You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain” (Jn. 15:16).

Reply to some objections

If everyone would give himself to God, that would be the end of the world

The holy Father Berthier replies: That would be the most glorious end of the world!
But be assured, there is the “Si vis,” “If thou wilt,” and there are many who do not want it! And besides, the five signs given above exclude many.
On the other side, since our earthly pilgrimage is given to us as a means of loving and serving God freely here below and meriting to praise Him in an eternal ecstasy of contemplation and love, we should choose all that will best help us accomplish this. It is God who invites us to do this.

Is the attraction to things of the flesh an obstacle to a vocation?

St. Alphonsus becomes angry when one objects against a vocation due to concupiscence of the flesh. “Do you think,” he says, “that you will never be tempted in marriage? You will have occasions to sin, both from within and without. In the religious life, you will have many fewer occasions of sin, and many more aids. It would be a sin against hope to believe that with all of the helps which the religious rule gives, you would not be able to resist the devil.”

In fact, and this is very little known, it is relatively easy to practice chastity in the religious life! He who observes modesty of the eyes and the senses; he who follows the rule with regard to relations with the outside world; he who flees the occasions of sin; he who prays, confides in Mary, who practices a little mortification, who reveals filially to his spiritual director his faults and temptations, he who engages in a counter-attack (prayer and penance) whenever temptations approaches...

This man will easily practice perfect chastity. It is one of the graces and the most pure of the joys of the religious life.

I do not know all of the Congregations in order to choose one.

It is not necessary to know them all in order to decide, any more than it is necessary to wait to know every woman in the world before marrying, or to try on all the shoes in Paris before deciding which pair to buy.

God leads us. If He is calling you, He will make you recognize the Congregation where He wants you to go or that He wishes you to enter the ranks of the diocesan clergy.

In themselves, all of the Congregations approved by the Church can lead one to religious perfection. However, we should choose that one that corresponds best to our aspirations and our weakness, or that we understand to be of a more urgent necessity.

St. Alphonsus recommends above all that we not choose a lax community or one contaminated by false doctrine.

What should we think of those who enter without having a vocation?

St. Ignatius answers: If he has made final vows in a vocation without having the right intention, e.g. in order to please his godmother or to have a favorable position, then he should repent and force himself to lead a good life in the state into which he has engaged himself (Spiritual Exercises, n. 172). God will help him.

What about he who has doubts about his vocation?

He who has entered into a state of life, been approved by the Church with the right intention and the legitimate call of his superiors, is following the right path... “The devil is a liar” (Jn. 8:44). Such a one should neither be disturbed nor change his state of life. Let him despise those temptations. He cannot be deceived in giving himself to God. If the Enemy tries to lead him into sentiments of shallow egoism, let the elect of the Lord chase away the demon by renewing with all his heart his total consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and by having recourse to St. Joseph, terror of demons. Let him continue without dissembling to accomplish well his duties of state. And the demon will flee.

If prayer is the great means to know a vocation and to respond to it, prayer is equally the great means to persevere in a vocation. “He who prays is saved and he who does not pray is damned,” writes St. Alphonsus. And he adds: “All of the damned are in Hell because they ceased praying and they would not be there if they had not stopped praying.” And St. Bernard cried out in the face of the traps of the devil: “Ratio spei meae, Maria!” “Mary is the reason of my hope!” How could the Mother of the Church, the Queen of the Apostles, how could she abandon the “consecrated” who call for her: “In the midst of the tempest, look at the Star; invoke Mary,” repeats St. Bernard.

The perseverance of a consecrated soul is very easy if he only apply the means at hand.

“I know whom I have believed!” (2 Tim. 1:12)
God never abandons those who have confided themselves to Him.
“Non deserit nisi deseratur,” says St. Augustine. “He may abandon God, but God will not abandon him.”
“The fear of those who worry that they will not be able to reach perfection by their entry into religion is unreasonable,” says St. Thomas. And he cites the words of St. Augustine: “Why do you hesitate? Cast yourself on Him. Do not fear. He will not withdraw from you in order to let you fall. Cast yourself on Him in all confidence. He will receive you and heal you” (Confessions, VIII).
The Council as well, in Lumen Gentium, encourages souls to give themselves in this manner totally to God and to persevere in that state:
“For the counsels, voluntarily undertaken according to each one’s personal vocation, contribute greatly to purification of heart and spiritual liberty. As the example of so many saintly founders shows, the counsels are especially able to pattern the Christian man after that manner of virginal and humble life which Christ the Lord elected for Himself, and which His Virgin Mother also chose...

“Let all those who have been called to the profession of the vows take painstaking care to persevere and excel increasingly in the vocation to which God has summoned them. Let their purpose to be a more vigorous flowering of the Church’s holiness and the greater glory of the one and undivided Trinity, which in Christ and through Christ is the fountain and the wellspring of all holiness” (Lumen Gentium VI, 46 and 47).

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