On Sunday, 13th of April, seminarians from Corpus Christi College were given the opportunity to speak about their vocation at parish Masses throughout the Archdiocese. The following is a talk given by one seminarian.

Today, I would like to share with you my experience of a vocation and the advice I received that helped me to understand it. This might be helpful for anyone trying to discover their own vocation. If you have already found a vocation in marriage, religious, or single life, then I hope that this might help to affirm your decision.

I would like everyone to imagine their vocation as a ringing phone. Not one of those annoying ringtones, but more like a heartbeat. So quiet and gentle that you hardly notice and at times forget that it is even there.

But this is not just any old phone call. This is God calling you. But you cannot hear what God is going to say to you unless you pick up the phone and take the call.

If you are at all like me, then the idea that anyone thinks that God is speaking to them is a sure sign of a crazy person. Therefore, to believe that my phone is ringing, that God wants to speak to me, let alone considering the possibility of answering the phone, would mean to believe that I am some kind of religious nut.

Now this belief about craziness would be true, this reaction would be perfectly reasonable except for one crucial fact. And that fact is that the phone is ringing. And no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you cannot make it stop ringing. There is something inside you that wants to make sense of your life, that wants desperately for there to be meaning; something inside you that wants to be loved, and loved totally; something inside you that wants peace, real peace in the world and joy for your family and friends. You know you cannot stop this deep down desire ringing gently.

Also, you have a funny feeling that this deep down desire might be the best thing about you. That maybe this need for meaning and love and peace is the most truthful thing in your life. So what are you going to do?

If you pick up the phone, it is a massive leap of faith. It means you are running the risk of being considered crazy. Also, you don’t know what God is going to say to you. It could be anything. All you know is that Jesus said. “Do not be afraid” and that He died for you.

So, again, what are you going to do?

I faced this question when I was in the middle of a personal crisis. I had broken up with my girlfriend. I had a job I was not sure I wanted to do. I was working such long hours in that job that I was losing contact with many friends. I felt very alone and tried to run away from it all by going overseas.

But right in the middle of all of this, a priest I had never met before, after only speaking to me for about 20 minutes, asked me: “Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?”

Now I had not been particularly religious – I went to Mass on Sundays but it did not really affect my life – and had definitely never given serious thought to the idea of becoming a priest. I could have dismissed this as the talk of a crazy person. And believe me, I tried to. But the question would not go away – it kept bugging me. Whenever I had some quiet time and my thoughts turned to my future, it was there, gently working away.

I decided to pick up the phone. I decided to ask that priest more about this possibility. However, he told me not to jump the gun, not to rush into a decision, that I may not yet be hearing God’s message clearly. I needed to get a better line and that I could do this by taking my faith more seriously – by praying more, by going to Mass and Confession more and taking them seriously and by reading the Scriptures and applying them to my life.

I followed his advice and the voice got louder and the message got clearer until I knew that I was being asked gently, but firmly, to give the seminary ago.

And so, I would ask each of you to take the time to think about your own lives. What is that desire the lies deep in your own heart? What is it that you need most to be true? Do not be afraid of it – grab hold of it and pray about it – it is who you are.

And please when you pray, remember to pray for each other: that we will all have the courage to answer the call and that we will all have the ability to understand what is being asked of us. And when you are praying, if you have any time left over, please also remember your seminarians.