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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

7A

Do you know any priests or consecrated people (monks or nuns, religious brothers or sisters, consecrated single people)?  

What work or ministry do they do? What is special about their vocation? Do you know how they discovered their vocation or what it means to them?

What images of priesthood or religious life have you seen in films or on the TV? Were they positive images?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

7B

Have you felt any attraction to the priesthood or to consecrated life? What attracts you about the vocation?

What special qualities do you see in the priests or consecrated people you know?

Are you happy to share a little about your own vocation journey? What have you been thinking about and how has God been guiding you?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

KEY IDEAS FROM THE FILM

Let’s look at priesthood and consecrated life. They’re distinct vocations, but the way God stirs them in the heart can be very similar.

A priest shares in the priesthood of Jesus Christ in a unique way. Through ordination, he represents Christ the Good Shepherd for God’s people. When he teaches with the Church, Christ teaches. When he forgives sins, Christ forgives. When he offers Mass, Christ offers his sacrifice. He is configured to Christ for the service of the Church.

Consecrated life is when someone makes lifelong vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience – the evangelical counsels. This includes monks and nuns; religious brothers and sisters serving in schools, parishes, hospitals, missions; and also consecrated men and women living and working in the world. Their whole life becomes a visible sign of Jesus: poor, chaste, obedient, poured out for others, pointing to heaven.

How might you recognise this call in yourself? Here are seven common signs:

1. A desire to be a priest or to be consecrated. It may be deep and old; it may have grown slowly; it may have arrived suddenly and shocked you; it may even be something you’ve spent years running away from. But it keeps coming back. You imagine yourself in that life and, beneath the fear, there is joy.
2. Admiration for priests or consecrated people. You’ve met priests, religious sisters or brothers whose lives strike you as meaningful and beautiful. You’re drawn to their way of praying, serving, teaching, loving. Maybe you think, “I could never do that,” but at the same time, “Something in that is mine.”
3. A sense of being “pushed” toward it. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like your idea. It’s as if God keeps quietly (or loudly!) nudging you and you can’t shake it off. You make excuses; you argue with yourself; but the question won’t go away.
4. A growing desire to pray and give yourself to God. You love Jesus and you feel an urge to give him everything. You’re hungry for the sacraments, for Scripture, for silence. Celibacy starts to make mysterious sense – not because you reject marriage, but because you desire to belong to Christ and his people with an undivided heart.
5. A desire to serve. You feel pulled to the work of the Church: preaching, teaching, visiting the sick, helping the poor, leading others in prayer, bringing Christ to people who are hurting or far away. It’s not just “I like helping”; it feels like a mission.
6. Encouragement from others. People you trust say, “Have you ever thought about priesthood?” or “You’d make a good sister/brother.” Sometimes even strangers say it. This doesn’t mean they’re always right, but it can confirm what’s already in your heart.
7. A sense of unworthiness. Paradoxically, “I’m not holy enough,” “I’m not good enough,” can be a good sign. You see the beauty of the vocation, and you know you can’t live it without God’s grace. Humility is fertile ground for a vocation.

For me, it wasn’t one moment. It was a pattern: falling in love with prayer, with the Mass, with confession; admiring the priests who had helped me; sensing a desire to speak to others about Christ; hearing certain scripture passages as if they were addressed to me; and being encouraged by people who knew me well. Over time, it all started to point in the same direction.

If you’re experiencing some of these signs, take the next step. First, talk to someone you trust – a wise friend, a good priest, a consecrated person. Then, in time, speak to someone officially: your parish priest, the diocesan vocations director, or the vocations director/novice master of a religious community. Discernment is never just “me and God in my head”. The Church helps you test what you’re feeling. A vocation is confirmed when your own sense of call and the Church’s discernment meet.

If you feel drawn to consecrated life and don’t know where, explore. Read about different orders and communities. Visit. See how you feel praying and living alongside them. Ask: Do I feel at home here? Do I admire these people? Do I feel at peace in this way of life?

A special word to women who feel an attraction to priesthood. The Church teaches that Holy Orders is reserved to men. That’s part of Catholic tradition and self-understanding. If you’re a woman who feels drawn to aspects of the priesthood – preaching the Gospel, spiritual leadership, sacramental closeness to Christ’s people – it may be that the Lord is calling you to a radical life of consecrated service in another form. Be courageous in following the deepest call of your heart, and also humble and trusting in the discernment of the Church. God will not waste that desire.

Whatever the specifics: keep praying, stay close to the sacraments, and trust that if this call is from God, he will make it clearer.

[This is an AI generated summary of the film script]