By Sister Genevieve Sachse

When speaking to any group on the topic of vocations to Church ministry, I find that the most frequently asked question (next to questions on celibacy) is basically this: How do you know if you have a vocation to religion life or the priesthood?

Each person faced with this question (myself included) wishes there were some clear formula or check list by which one could end the doubts and be able to say with absolute assurance, “Yes, this is what I must do.” Since these determinants do not exist, the next alternative would be to hope for some kind of vision whereby the Lord would provide the certitude.

Unfortunately, the complete confidence that such-and-such an action is the correct one is rarely possible in any of life’s crucial decisions.

Sometimes we tend to think that the saints had this kind of foreknowledge; but as I reflect on some of the figures highlighted in the Advent liturgy, I am more and more convinced that their decisions, like ours, had to be made in the context of faith. If they responded as best they could to the inclinations they felt to be from the Lord, the Lord in His turn would somehow, at some time in the future, make clear to them His plan.

Abraham left his tribe and set out to find a new land and become the “Father of a Great Nation” despite the fact that all logical indications pointed to the fact that his conviction could never be realized. He even accepted a concubine, thinking maybe he needed to help the Lord fulfill the promise. Yes, even the great patriarch Abraham was unsure of decisions, but great faith was attributed to him because he acted according to his best knowledge despite the certainty reason can afford.

Mary, too, had questions. She asked the angel, “How can this be?” but consented anyway. After the events of Jesus’ birth and childhood, Scripture tells us Mary could only “ponder these things in her heart.”

Any vocational decision must be an on-going response. If any marriage is to survive, the decision to love and to cherish must be renewed over and over again and accompanied by those actions and attitudes designed to strengthen and perfect the union. Likewise in a religious vocation, the commitment is made not only on the day of vows or ordination, but again and again with every situation which adds new dimensions or asks again a dedication to the familiar.

Accepting then the fact that it may not be possible to know beyond the shadow a doubt about one’s vocation, what are the criteria by which one acts?

There are three basic criteria for a religious vocation which must be met, so these should be checked first: Physical – the person must be in sufficient good health to fulfill the demands of the ministry. Psychological – the person must have sufficient intelligence to understand the nature of religious commitment and be free of any emotional disturbance. Spiritual – religious commitment demands a basic faith as a foundation; it is not expected that the person be ultra-pius (in fact, the kind of super-piety people often think would be required might even be suspect as false or indicative of a problem).

If these criteria are met, then the person must ask the reason why he or she thinks God may be calling them to this vocation. And here is where it becomes so difficult; many of the reasons we can verbalize just seem inadequate even to our own ears, but the thought remains and pounds away at our consciousness. Many of us must just say that we simply came to believe that this is what God wanted us to do.

To this response many people say that it doesn’t make sense. I’m sure Abraham was told the same thing. But then, if God’s mysteries made sense they wouldn’t require faith.