How do i know if i have a monastic Vocation? these are photos and a video, that start to answer that question.Testimonies and advice from young American Monks in Italy..
-Why monks? In every age, God has raised up men and women who hear Christ's call to discipleship, and respond in a radical way, leaving the comfort of friends and family to dedicate themselves completely to the Lord. The radical nature of this way of life finds a sympathetic echo in the human heart, which is "restless until it rests it Thee", as St. Augustine put it. When the Lord Jesus walked this earth, disciples gathered round him who wanted to be with him, remain with him, abide with him forever. The monk longs to follow the Lord in the same way.
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A vocation to the religious state supposes, then, not only a supernatural inclination or desire to embrace it, but an aptitude or fitness for its duties. God cannot act inconsistently.
If He really wishes one to follow Him, He must give him the means of doing so, and hence if real serious obstacles stand in the way, e.g., an lonely sick elderly parent to support, etc. , such a one is not called to enter Religious Life.
God at times inspires a person to do something which He does not really wish or intend to be fully carried out. Thus David longed to build the Temple of the Lord; Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, merely to test their obedience and willingness; for, says St. Teresa, “God is sometimes more pleased with the desire to do a thing than with its actual accomplishment.”
St. Francis de Sales regards “a firm and decided will to serve God” as the best and most certain sign of a true vocation, for the Divine Teacher had once said, “If you wish… come, follow Me.” He writes: “A genuine vocation is simply a firm and constant will desirous of serving God, in the manner and in the place to which He calls me… I do not say this wish should be exempt from all repugnance, difficulty or distaste. Hence a vocation must not be considered false because he who feels himself called to the religious state no longer experiences the same sensible feeling which he had at first and that he even feels a repugnance and such a coldness that he thinks all is lost. It is enough that his will persevere in the resolution of not abandoning its first design.
In order to know whether God wills one to be a religious, there is no need to wait till He Himself speaks to us, or until He sends an angel from heaven to signify His will; nor is there any need to have revelations on the subject, but the first movement of the inspiration must be responded to, and then one need not be troubled if disgust or coldness supervene.”
