Father Scott Wallisch is the archdiocesan vocations director. You can email him at: frscott@archkck.org
Father Scott Wallisch
Let’s say that you need a car. I doubt any of you would walk onto a random dealer’s lot, close your eyes, spin around, point aimlessly and say, “I’ll take that one.”
Even those of you with decision-a-phobia know this is a horrible way to determine your mode of transportation for the next 10 years.
Or maybe you’re in need of some shoes. How many of you would walk up the shoe aisle, pull a random box off the shelf, pay for it at the register and stroll out to your car? It probably would be the wrong size and style. I hate shoe shopping as much as the next guy, but obviously this is ludicrous.
Making smart decisions entails gathering good information. If we don’t know the facts, we can’t be surprised if we make a poor decision.
The more informed we are, the more likely we will decide well.
This is especially true when discerning our vocations. In my continuing series on discernment, I want to stress the necessity of gathering good information about possible vocations.
There was a time during grade school when I thought that priests had two occu- pations: priesthood on the weekends and something else during the week. I rarely saw our parish priests during the week, and I hardly ever heard them talk about their daily life. And while I knew little about the priesthood, I was clueless about the seminary or religious life.
I knew a good deal about marriage and families from my daily home life, but I knew very little about other possible vocations. It was not until college that I had regular interaction with priests, getting to know more about their lives.
Later on, I read now-Cardinal Dolan’s book, “Priests for the Third Millennium,” which spoke of inspiring ways that priests daily live out their vocations. Finally, I visited a seminary, getting a glimpse into the lives of those preparing for the priesthood. With more information, God’s call for me became clearer.
For those of you still searching for God’s vocational call for your life, arm yourself with information. Get to know your local priests or Sisters. Contact the vocations office for great resources, including books like “To Save A Thousand Souls” and “Discerning Your Vocation,” both of which are packed with information to walk you through discernment. We can also help you to make a visit to a seminary, monastery or convent.
God does not expect you to discern in the dark. Enlighten yourself with good information so that, with God’s guidance, you can make a good decision. It’s the way to make sure that what you pull out of your discernment box will fit for a lifetime.
