St. Francis de Sales wrote sound advice about the ways we can discern a vocation to the consecrated life and cautioned us about imperfect tools of discernment.
As Founder of the Visitation Order, he spoke to the early Visitandines about vocations, “If we desire to know whether God wishes us to enter Religion or not, we must not wait until He speaks to our senses, or until He sends an Angel from heaven to signify His will to us; still less is it necessary to have revelations on the subject. Neither are ten or twelve learned doctors of the Sorbonne wanted to examine us and find out whether the inspiration is good or bad, whether it must be followed or not;
but we must correspond to the first impulse and cultivate it, not troubling ourselves at all if, afterwards, any disgust or tepidity should come upon us; for if we always try to keep our will firm in desiring the good which has been shown to us, God will not fail to make all succeed and redound to His glory.”
God has many ways of calling His servants into His service. Sometimes He makes use of sermons, at other times of the reading of good books. There are those who have been called by hearing the holy words of the Gospels like St. Francis and St. Anthony. Others have been called by weariness, disasters, and sorrows which came upon them in the world. Our Lord has often made use of such means to call many to His service, who otherwise would certainly never have entered it.
For although God is Almighty and can do whatever He wills, yet He does not will to deprive us of the liberty which He has once given us; and when He calls us to His service, He desires that we should come of our own free will, and not through force or constraint.”
St. Francis de Sales, Spirtual Conferences, Conference XVII
Reflection: How am I recognizing God’s Call?