How to define the priestly vocation?
« The history of every priestly vocation, as indeed of every Christian vocation, is the history of an inexpressible dialogue between God and human beings, between the love of God who calls and the freedom of individuals who respond lovingly to him. » (« Pastores Dabo Vobis », n˚ 36). God always takes the initiative, sends his call freely, and the called man responds to it freely and with responsibility.
Am I Called? And what is God calling me?
At first glance, you should know that: « If the priestly vocation bears unequivocal witness to the primacy of grace, God’s free and sovereign decision to call man calls for total respect. It cannot be forced in the slightest by any human ambition, and it cannot be replaced by any human decision. Vocation is a gift of God’s grace and never a human right, such that “one can never consider priestly life as a simply human affair, nor the mission of the minister as a simply personal project » (« Pastores Dabo Vobis », n˚ 36). Therefore, the vocation to the priesthood is not a reward from God for following a very distinguished moral and ethical life, it is neither a certificate that the person obtains at the end of his academic career, nor a volunteering or a service. obligatory to be given, but it is a free grace granted by God to the human person.
Vocation is a deep inner feeling that fills and dominates the whole being of man. Thus, Pope Paul VI affirms that: « the voice of God who calls is expressed as well in two different, unique and united ways: the first is internal, it is that of grace, of the Holy Spirit and of interior attraction. It is the silent and strong voice of God which animates it at the bottom of the human soul, while the second is external, human, sensitive, concrete … It is the way of authority which Christ founded and that he wanted it a tangible and practical means for the evangelization and the proclamation of the Word and the divine commandment » (Extract from the pope’s speech on May 5, 1965)
Two extremely important things are recommended to the called person : on one hand his good intention, his honesty, his freedom without external or internal influences, his human, spiritual and cultural skills and abilities, and on the other hand the acceptance of his vocation by the church represented by the bishop of the diocese.
Am I called to the priesthood?
The priest is a pastor, master and sanctifier in the manner of the only priest the Lord Jesus, the good shepherd and the master who sanctified the Church and loved her so much that he himself is given totally on the Cross for her. And Jesus, himself, chose his apostles, and after them, the priests to continue building the Church in his name, to persevere in presenting the sacrifice of the Eucharist, to offer it in the name of the people and to remit sins. Jesus chose them to be good pastors who build the Church through the exercise of their priestly offices: sanctification, teaching, and government. They continue his mission as he commanded them.
So, if there are no priests preaching and announcing the good news, how to hear then? (Rom 10, 14-17), and if there are no priests who gather in the name of Christ, then it is in vain that the people meet, and if the priests are absent, who, therefore, will take charge of the remission of sins, nourish the people with the Sacred Body of Christ, and lift the Eucharistic prayer to God the Father as a sign of thanks, admiration and praise. These sacred tasks, reserved only for the priests of Christ, are great and sublime in that they bind the people to God and help them to receive the grace of the full life of God. These latter are essential, we cannot live without the grace they grant us, and also they are of crucial importance so that Christ can continue, through his intermediaries and his messengers, his saving mission.
So, in order to be able to answer the question, am I called to the priesthood? we must ask ourselves the following question: am I ready to follow Christ, to be his disciple and to bear witness to his mission in the heart of the world? Do I have this great desire to offer my life for the service of the Church, people of God?
Would you like to discern your vocation? How and where?
We invite you to participate in a series of meetings for vocational discernment, these meetings take place in the Maronite Patriarchal Seminary in Ghazir. They are divided into four meetings during the year and end with a spiritual retreat for two days which will be set in June. The meeting is characterized by spending a Sunday in the seminary to experience life in this school of priestly formation, prayer and participating in subjects directly related to vocation. In addition, you will be able to meet the priest-formators and the students, get to know them and start a conversation with them. You can participate in these meetings either by contacting your parish priest or the vocation committee in your diocese, or by calling the seminary directly to provide you with all the information and details you need.
Would you like to contact one of the priests to discuss the vocation and ask all the questions that dwell in you? then do not hesitate to call the seminary on one of the numbers on this site and you will certainly get help from priests who are responsible for accompanying young men and helping them to discern their vocation.
The moment has arrived, if after discernment and accompaniment you seriously think about priesthood and you want to enter the seminary, here is the series of steps to follow in order to be finally recruited to the seminary:
First step
- Inform the priest of your parish of your decision and ask for his help.
- You can also contact the vocations committee in your diocese, meet the person in charge of this committee and he will help and guide you.
- Also, you are welcome to call the seminary and get the necessary orientation.
Second step
- The pastor of your parish or the one responsible for the diocesan vocations committee will help you to present your request to the bishop and after his approval, he sends you to the seminary to participate in a week of discernment and recruitment.
Third step
- Participation, after the approval of the bishop to let you enter the seminary, in the week of discernment organized by the seminary during the first week of September. During this week, pre-seminarians experience life in the seminary and they will be made aware of all the dimensions of priestly formation that they await. Once this week is over and the seminary’s committee has accepted you, you will go to your homes to prepare to return to seminary in the third week of September and begin your first year of formation on the journey to the priesthood.
Do I have the skills and competencies recommended for the priesthood?
Could you ask yourself the following questions?
- Do I have good mental and physical health?
- Am I free in this choice of life?
- Am I living a serious and committed Christian life?
- Do I experience the life of prayer and repentance, and still strive for holiness?
- Do I love my Church and want to be a servant in the Church?
- Am I ready to integrate myself into a journey of learning and formation during which I am a disciple who devotes himself to prayer, study, and service so that I am prepared to receive the sacrament of priesthood?
In her care for priestly vocations the Church in every age draws her inspiration from Christ’s example. There have been, and to some extent there still are, many different practical forms according to which the Church has been involved in the pastoral care of vocations. Her task is not only to discern but also to “accompany” priestly vocations. But the spirit which must inspire and sustain her remains the same: that of bringing to the priesthood only those who have been called, and to bring them adequately trained, namely, with a conscious and free response of adherence and involvement of their whole person with Jesus Christ, who calls them to intimacy of life with him and to share in his mission of salvation. In this sense, the “seminary” in its different forms – and analogously the “house” of formation for religious priests – more than a place, a material space, should be a spiritual place, a way of life, an atmosphere that fosters and ensures a process of formation, so that the person who is called to the priesthood by God may become, with the sacrament of orders, a living image of Jesus Christ, head and shepherd of the Church. In their final message the synod fathers have grasped in a direct and deep way the original and specific meaning of the formation of candidates for the priesthood, when they say that: to live in the seminary, which is a school of the Gospel, means to follow Christ as the apostles did. You are led by Christ into the service of God the Father and of all people, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus, you become more like Christ the good shepherd in order better to serve the Church and the world as a priest. In preparing for the priesthood we learn how to respond from the heart to Christ’s basic question: ‘Do you love me?’ (Jn. 21:15). For the future priest, the answer can only mean total self-giving. (pastores dabo vobis, 42)