signs revealing the call - Wednesday 1st week of Lent

Things seldom happen in one instant.  Usually before things explode or develop into a full blown event, they develop gradually revealing signs along the way.  It is important to be aware of these signs.  It is important that we pay attention to them.  This is also true in a religious vocation or a vocation to the priesthood.  It does not reveal itself in an instant.  Rather it reveals its presence in little signs along the way, signs that reveal the presence of a call.  What are these signs?

One of the most obvious signs is the recurring thought of the priesthood.  It keeps coming back.  I have talked to one who left the seminary after 7 years and he told me “I am getting really tired trying to deny the call to the priesthood, I am tired trying to escape it.”  That is the first sign of a vocation - it keeps coming back.

Then there is also that other sign – a desire to serve people expressed in sensitivity to their needs and expressed in generous service.  People who have the vocation do not isolate themselves but always shows a willingness to help others.  Mabinuligon, indi maisip.

Then there is also that growing desire to lead people.  It reveals itself in leadership skills, in the performance of our duties, in the way one takes seriously the responsibilities given to him. He loves his work and most of all he loves to work especially when these would be of help to other people.

Then there is also a love for the church  - revealing itself in an attraction and interest in the liturgy, an attraction to the work of the church and the parish, an attraction to preaching and the mass.

These are signs and signs are important for they reveal a deeper reality, the reality of a vocation.

When the Pharisees asked for a sign from Jesus to prove that he was indeed the Messiah, he gave them the sign of Jonah the prophet.  They rejected the sign, they would not let the sign speak for itself.  That is the danger there – when in our obstinacy we failed to see and believe in the sign.  Be attentive to the signs.

When you hand in your application letter on March 19 and 22 be sure that you have seen the signs and in seeing you have recognize what God is trying to reveal to you in your discernment.