Discernment: Questions to ask family, friends, or college professors

Discernment:  In the last blog, we looked at the importance of growing in self-knowledge as part of the discernment process.   We talked about knowing your personality. Are you a cheerful person, a person with whom it is easy to get along, someone who lights up the room when you enter, who makes things happen that promotes growth in yourself and others. Are you a self-started, an achiever, someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to transform a situation from hopelessness to hopefulness, from a darkness into a brightness. Are you a melancholic person, someone with whom it is difficult to work or live, who holds back and resistant to challenging work and to making necessary changes within oneself to make the world a better place.  And even if you describe yourself as the latter, are you willing to make changes in the way your relate to others or engage in ministry, in making a difference in the world around you?

Another part of discernment of your vocation in life, and especially if you feel called to religious life or priesthood, includes asking your family, friends, colleges what your talents and strengths are.  Other people may recognize your good qualities before you do.  They may see greater possibilities for your life than you do. Ask them! Ask more than one person, as someone you ask may be bent in only one direction for you and exclude others because, for instance, of unperceived prejudices toward religious life or priesthood.