Dear Tierany,

It's nice to hear from you again, I hope you are well.

Signs. It is OK to ask for and examine the normal signs, but I do not recommend asking for extraordinary ones.

What are the ordinary signs? Having the qualities that are needed (physical health, psychological health, proper maturity for your age, a spiritual life, the ability to sacrifice and dedicate yourself to your commitments), wanting to do it of your own free will for a good (spiritual) reason, and not having any impediment.

If we have the qualities, are free from impediments, and the desire is in our heart (even though other desires may be battling against it), it is safe to presume that there may be a vocation there. At that point there are two things we should take care of simultaneously. One has to do with our prayer: we need to direct it towards increasing our generosity, asking Christ to give us the grace of loving and choosing him above everything so that whatever he asks of us is what we will do, be it a consecrated vocation or not. In our prayer we also need to open up our hearts to the needs of souls around us, because a vocation is a call of service to Christ which always entails some form of service for others (even the contemplative vocation is at the service of the needs of the Church). The second has to do with our action: we have to actively look at the type of vocation we think God may be calling us to, visit there, get to know the people and let them get to know us, and ask their advice.  We have to favor the vocation, and keep it in mind when we choose our friends, pastimes, etc...

It is very helpful to talk this over with a prudent person whose judgment we trust, such people often see things that we do not.

God bless,