Dear Raymond,
You are truly searching, and I think there are two elements you need to keep separate in your mind and heart as work towards a decision. One is the pressure you feel from your parents as regards your career. As a reaction to this you started looking into what you are truly meant to be, and now you can feel the nudging towards the priesthood, which is the second element. Make sure to keep them separate and independent in your mind, because they are two separate realities. If your parents pressure made you search more deeply, and your search has led you to thoughts of the priesthood or as you put it, feelings that you are being nudged towards it, just make sure that this nudging or discovery stands alone, on its own merits, and is not also simply a reaction against pressure.
Now, the dispositions reflected in your words are beautiful and dead-center. God is what matters, what you can do for souls is what matters, everything else you will willingly sacrifice, its not a question of what you would be losing but of what God wants. There is nothing to correct there.
It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that you probably have a vocation, but it would be premature. It is true that many of the necessary signs are there, especially your realism and your love for God and souls. Now you need the help of a spiritual director to see if there are any impediments, any signs God may NOT be calling you to the priesthood. Just a word of caution, a promising relationship is not of itself a sign the vocation is not there, fears about the future are not a sign the vocation is not there. If you need help to find a spiritual director please let me know and I will try to put you in touch with a priest you can go to.
And as regards your wondering if you could deal with the loneliness: a priest is often alone, as a matter of fact a priest will often seek to be alone (so as to pray, study, reflect), but
Dear Raymond,
You are truly searching, and I think there are two elements you need to keep separate in your mind and heart as work towards a decision. One is the pressure you feel from your parents as regards your career. As a reaction to this you started looking into what you are truly meant to be, and now you can feel the nudging towards the priesthood, which is the second element. Make sure to keep them separate and independent in your mind, because they are two separate realities. If your parents pressure made you search more deeply, and your search has led you to thoughts of the priesthood or as you put it, feelings that you are being nudged towards it, just make sure that this nudging or discovery stands alone, on its own merits, and is not also simply a reaction against pressure.
Now, the dispositions reflected in your words are beautiful and dead-center. God is what matters, what you can do for souls is what matters, everything else you will willingly sacrifice, its not a question of what you would be losing but of what God wants. There is nothing to correct there.
It would be easy to jump to the conclusion that you probably have a vocation, but it would be premature. It is true that many of the necessary signs are there, especially your realism and your love for God and souls. Now you need the help of a spiritual director to see if there are any impediments, any signs God may NOT be calling you to the priesthood. Just a word of caution, a promising relationship is not of itself a sign the vocation is not there, fears about the future are not a sign the vocation is not there. If you need help to find a spiritual director please let me know and I will try to put you in touch with a priest you can go to.
And as regards your wondering if you could deal with the loneliness: a priest is often alone, as a matter of fact a priest will often seek to be alone (so as to pray, study, reflect), but truly he is never lonely. Humanly he might feel like he is, but all he has to do is use the gift of faith to realize how close Christ is to him, working with him and in him. Faith is the priests life.
God bless.
