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Five Excuses You're Using to Avoid the Seminary

It’s not always easy for a man to decide to enter the seminary.  Giving up a career, a home, a comfortable life is very hard.  There can be some resistance from parents, family or friends.  There is fear in stepping out into the unknown, to take that leap of faith, and to trust that God has a plan for your life.  When a man feels called to enter the seminary there are many excuses that he can give.  The top five excuses will be dealt with in five separate articles. 

I’m just not sure if God is calling me

In one of our Catholic High Schools there was a young man, a senior, a great young man, and I kept asking him if he wanted to be a priest.  He said he was thinking about it.  Towards the end of the school year I asked him if he was still thinking about it and he said, “Yes, because you keep asking me.” 

God calls each one of us.  Sometimes we answer the call and sometimes we tried to run away from it and put it out of our minds.  The problem with running away from it is that God, in a quiet way, continues to call men to the priesthood.  The more you try to push it out of your mind, the stronger it becomes.  You can run away from it, you can pursue your own dreams, you can keep denying it, but the call will remain.

Is God calling me?  How can I figure this out?  When you pray is the idea of being a priest on your mind?  Do you constantly wrestle with the idea, questioning your life, knowing that God has made you for something more?  It’s a mystery and for some reason you just can’t put your finger on why God is calling me.  Everything, and maybe other people are drawing you closer to the notion of priesthood.  That’s proof right there that God is calling you.  The best way to find out if God is calling you is to give it a try.  The seminary is the best place to discern a vocation to the priesthood.  The seminary will give you all the necessary tools to help you find the answer to “Is God calling me to the Priesthood?”  You have daily prayer and Mass, you have spiritual direction talking to a priest one on one, you have formation in which you better understand how God is calling you.  One of the greatest things about the seminary is you are surrounded by men who are asking the same question, thinking about the priesthood and searching for God’s will in their life.