Vocations and Formation

Almighty Father, we beg You for an increase in religious vocations and holy marriages in our diocese.

Help us to be generous in our response to Your call. Choose from our homes those who are needed for Your work and strengthen us with the courage to say “yes” and to follow You.

Help us as a diocese, as a parish, as families to encourage and foster vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, and consecrated life. We commend our prayers to our patroness, Mary, Queen of the Rosary, and ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

— Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr

1. A desire to have a religious vocation, together with the impression that God is calling one to His service. This desire is most strongly felt when the soul is calm.
2. A growing attraction for prayer and holy things in general, together with a longing for a hidden life and a desire to be more closely united with God.
3. A conviction of the emptiness of the world and of its insufficiency to satisfy the soul. This feeling is often strongest felt in the midst of worldly amusements.
4. A longing to sacrifice oneself and abandon all for the love of Jesus Christ.
5. A longing for God's glory, a realization of the value of immortal souls, and a desire to cooperate in their salvation.
6. A willingness to be received in any capacity is a proof of a real vocation.
7. The happiness which the thought of religious life brings, its helps, its peace, its merits, and its reward.
8. A desire to atone for sin, to make reparation.
9. A desire to devote one's whole life to obtain the conversion of sinners.
10. It is sometimes the sign of a vocation when a person fears that God may be calling her; when she prays not to have it and cannot banish the thought from her mind. If the vocation is sound, it will eventually give place to attraction. Though St. Thomas explains that one need not have a natural inclination for the religious life; on the contrary, a Divine vocation is suitable with a natural distaste for that state.