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Hello Father,
I am a 17-year-old boy with many dreams for my future career and social life, but I’m worried that my desires might not align with God’s plan for me, so how can I understand what the Lord wants me to do?
How can I know which plan God has for me? I would like to join an emergency team for a while and then spend my whole life as a policeman, but I am afraid that the Lord does not want me to do that.
I say so because during prayer and Eucharistic adoration, I often feel a strong desire to be close to God, so much that I want to serve Him as a priest.
Therefore, I cannot understand what the Lord wants me to do, whether to serve Him as a law-man or as a priest.
I remember Salvo D’Acquisto, who was a vice-brigadier, who served the Lord so much with prayers that his colleagues did not understand why he had not become a priest.
I hope you can help me.
The Priest’s answer
Dear,
1. vocations show up by personal desires as well.
Sometimes the desires are multiple, as in your case. This is why we talk about the plurality of vocations.
2. By what you reveal, you can succeed both as a policeman and as a priest.
Which path to take?
Even as a policeman you can do good deeds, as in the case of Salvo D’Acquisto.
And, even as a policeman, one can become a saint.
3.However, the deep connection you feel during Eucharistic Adoration suggests a strong calling to the priesthood.
The impact you could have on people’s eternal salvation as a priest is far greater than as a police officer.
How many are lost because there are no priests who are close to children, young people, adults, the elderly.
4. I think of the choice I made at your age too. I felt attracted, like you, to a plurality of vocations.
But at a certain moment, thinking that if everyone took other paths there would be no one going in the name of God to speak to people, I said to the Lord: «I will go».
In that moment, I felt a great peace in my heart. I had handed my life over the Lord, performing an act of love.
I do not regret what I did. How many people, especially young people, would have been left without a priest if I had not presented myself to the Lord.
5. I would be happy if you too had the same experience.
This also aligns with what is described in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, «Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? » «Here I am, » I said; «send me! »” (Is 6,8).
So, that is the help, the advice I give you.
Furthermore, I give you another one, even stronger: pray intensely so that the Lord enraptures you more and more, drawing you closer to the priesthood with an irresistible attraction.
7. Trusting that you will probably accept this second piece of advice, I already join in your prayer.
I believe this path would be a blessing for you, the Church, and the world.
I bless you and wish you all the best.
Father Angelo