Somascan Fathers and Brothers (C.R.S.)
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." Jn14:18
Steps for Discernment
Personal Prayer
You need the time and space to communicate with God, because God is communicating with you. Listen and talk, express your desire to Him and be constantly in touch with him.
Liturgical Prayer
You need to participate to the Prayer of the Church. You are part of the Body of Christ and you need to express your prayer in union with the rest of the Church.
Sacraments
The sacraments are doors for us to get to God and for God to get to us. Eucharist, as often as you can; confessions; adoration.
Spiritual direction or Spiritual accompaniment is a way for you to express to someone else your desires, struggles, dreams, and what you think God is telling you.
Tell someone what is inside of you, trying to describe it. The more you do it, the more you understand what is going on; it gets clear!
Use words to describe your sensations, feelings, thoughts. Write them down, tell someone…
You need to make the first step and trust God. Action is when you move, you take action, you make a decision toward that path that you think God is calling you. Your decision is 100% free and no one can take that decision for you.
Send an e-mail to a vocation director.
Visit a religious community.
Meet other young men who are discerning.
Check what is out there:
discovery programs or activities (visit your pastor and see what being a diocesan priest looks like, visit a religious community and stay for dinner, prayer with them, talk with religious members); vocations events (Life Awareness, Come and See weekend, vocational retreats).
After that you go back to prayer and to your spiritual direction and talk things over. God will lead you to where you need to go!
You need to move and see where God is leading you. After all… God said, “Follow me”!