Encourage your children to be open to God's call

It is getting to be graduation season. Lots of our children, who are now young adults, are transitioning from one mode of being to another. Some are going off to college, some are going on to post-college academics and some are forging out into their careers.
Often there are a lot of questions about the direction they are moving in. Some college graduates find that they are not really excited to stay in the field they studied. Many of our Catholic young adults are realizing that there is a call in their hearts from God. They wonder if it might be a call to priesthood or religious life. Sometimes, when parents hear about this possibility we are not very enthused about the idea.
I am married. I am happy being married. My vocation is to marriage. I have difficulty imagining myself happy as a priest or religious. It is easy for us to take that disposition and apply it to our children. But, the fact that I would not be as happy as a priest does NOT mean that my child would not. If I am an electrician and I love it, I would not try to dissuade my child from becoming a teacher, or carpenter, or engineer. I understand that the profession that makes me happy may not have the same effect on my child.
The same applies to vocational considerations. The fact that I am not called to priesthood means that my happiness will be found in marriage. I cannot impose that on my children. My children should be encouraged to seek God’s will for them. If God is calling one of them to the priesthood or religious life it is because God made their hearts and He knows what will fill them. 
Please encourage your children to be open to God’s call. It will lead them to being the most fulfilled they can be. Also, please encourage your children to pray about their professions as well. We will all be most perfectly fulfilled if we do God’s will in our lives. God tells Jeremiah, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you-plans for your welfare and not for woe …” Jeremiah 29:11
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected] 
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