Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Everyone I'm interested in ends up discerning the priesthood!

Today's "must read" for Church Ladies comes from the Seraphic Single, sharing very wise advice (with more than a bit of humor) about dating and discernment.

Nobody should waste their youth dreaming of men who have no interest in them. Thus, we Catholic girls should hear "I'm discerning a vocation to the priesthood" and translate it into "I'm just not that into you." And at this point, we should drop the discerner like a hot potato. After all, he is thinking of foreswearing the greatest sweets of human love, so we should give him a hint of that loss pronto. Once he's actually in the seminary, we can be nice to him again. But not too nice. And if he doesn't go into the seminary (for so few of them do) we should cold-shoulder him until he shows up, weeping, with flowers, at our door.

Now guys, we realize the permanence of this all makes it a very serious choice but, don't let your discernment stretch on for years, and don't bore everyone around you with your internal struggles. In fact, if it's such a struggle, the religious life/priesthood is probably not for you.

I'm reminded of the angst-filled words of a little-known literary character, Snydert:

Who am I? Can I discern and date concurrently?
Pursue both [women] and the OP?
This choice, so difficult to make,
I must end, for my quadmates’ sake;
Who am I? Can I be celibate forevermore?
And never be the man I was before?
And must my life forever be
Confusion deep inside of me?
What to be? To be an ordered Priest? Or married man?
How can I ever face myself again?
My soul belongs to God, I know,
I made that bargain long ago;
He gave me hope when hope was gone;
He gave me strength to journey on;
Who am I? Who am I?
So with vocations, this is true:
It’s hard to pick between the two!

1 comment:

Padre Steve said...

You might make a good vocation director! God bless! Padre Steve