Where is God Calling You to Serve Him?

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It is important to know that everyone is being called by God.  When we were created, God called us to serve Him.  How do we know that we are following our call to the right vocation?

Knowing ourselves and being honest about our dreams and abilities are the first steps in discovering how we are being called to live out our vocations to holiness.  Discovering the mystery of God's calling for us is not like solving a mystery laid out in a book or TV series. God is not trying to trick us into making the wrong choice.  As a matter of fact, God is so gracious that as we try to decide where our vocation is, many choices are placed in front of us.

As we explore whether God is calling us to holiness through marriage or single life, as a priest, deacon or member of a religious community, it is important to remember that our call is not a narrow plan that God is hiding from us. Taking our time and trusting that God loves us and always gives us what we need to serve Him will help us decide our vocation in a healthy way.

Serving God is not for a chosen few but is what everyone was called to in Baptism. And every vocation, married or celibate, involves service. The service required of us may be a specifically Church-related ministry such as religious education or pastoral care of the sick. Or it may be service of the poor in a soup kitchen, serving the sick as a doctor or nurse, or caring for children or the elderly.  As baptized Christians we participate in the life and mission of Jesus by attending to the needs of others.

God is choosing some of you right here to be priests or religious. Jesus is inviting some of you right here to come and see where He lives, to stay with Him as you serve the rest of the people in the Church as a priest, a brother, a sister. I do not know whom among you God is inviting, but if you ask Him, He will let you know.

Learning where God is calling us to serve Him begins with prayer, learning more about all of our vocation choices and guidance from our families, friends, priests, teachers and youth ministers.

               Bishop Griffin's Prayer for Vocations

Father, you call each of us to life. Through Baptism, you call us to discipleship and to a new and everlasting life in you. We grow and develop that gift of life in and through your Church. We experience the fullness of that life in the Eucharist, which nourishes us, transforms us, and unites us with Christ your Son and one another.

We ask you to bless your Church by calling forth generous and dedicated leaders from our family, friends and community to service in your Church, especially as priests and religious.

Your Spirit distributes different gifts for the welfare of the Church. Send us an abundance of that Spirit. May the Spirit direct and guide those whom you have called to service in your Church as priests and religious.

Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, encourages us to pray for vocations. We ask you, then, Lord of the Harvest, to call forth dedicated priests and religious in our day. May we all respond to the urgings of your Spirit in identifying, nurturing and accepting this special call to ministry and service. May we create a "culture of vocations" in our time, modeled on the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, who suffered, died and rose for us.

May Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, obtain for us the grace we seek. We pray, as always, through Christ our Lord. Amen.