Discernment Resources

Let Your Life Speak

Vocation does not come from willfulness, no matter how noble one’s intentions. It comes from listening and accepting “true self” with its limits as well as its potentials…Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. A vocation is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received.

Writer, teacher and activist, Parker. J. Palmer

The deepest vocational question is not just, “What ought I do with my life? It is the more elemental and demanding, “Who am I? What is my nature?”

Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks – we will also find our path of authentic service in the world. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as “the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.”

Helpful Resources:

Websites:

National Religious Vocations Conference: www.nrvc.net
VISION Vocation Guide: www.digitalvocation.org
Paths of Love – Catholic Vocational Discernment: www.pathsoflove.com
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.usccb.org

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Books:

Let Your Life Speak – Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker Palmer
Pay Attention to God: Discernment in Prayer by William A. Barry, SJ
Here’s My Heart, Here’s My Hand by William A. Barry, SJ

Brochures:

Download (PDF, 2.69MB)

Prayers:

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me,
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think
I am following your will
Does not mean I am actually doing so.

But, I believe
That the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart
from that desire.

And I know that if I do this
You will lead me by the right road,
Though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always
Though I may seem to be lost
And in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
For you are ever with me,
And you will never leave me
To face my perils alone.