Each person has a specific calling, a unique vocation. Our constant prayer is that God will make His Will clear to those who are searching. We are happy to help in any way with your discernment process, although most important is to ask God to help you know your vocation.

What's the first step?

If possible, go to daily Mass, pray before the Blessed Sacrament, and go frequently to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Choose a few prayers and be faithful to reciting them daily as you seek to know God's Will. The following is an example of one such prayer:

Come Blessed Mother.
Come Holy Mother.
Come Mother of God.
Come and walk with me
As I walk towards the cross,
Where your Holy Son, Jesus,
Waits for me with open arms.
Stay with me; hold my hands and
Pray for me as I walk this walk towards Jesus.
Keep your mantle of protection around me.
Pray that I would be Holy.
To do my Father's will.
I love you Jesus.
I love you Father.
Pray for me my Blessed Mother.

Lloyd Ram, 2003

(See also a prayer to St. Joseph below)

What is a nun?

One saintly woman writes:

"A nun is a diamond with many facets. She is a woman in love with God. She is a saint in the making. She is a creature in search of her Creator, a pilgrim of the Absolute, a song, a flame, the Spouse of the Crucified, the garden of the Father, the delight of the Holy Ghost. She is Mary's companion, Martha's helper. She is all those, and more."

-Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Dear Sister, Chapter II
 

What is the way to holiness?

"...the way is so simple. It is the way of the Holy Ghost; of Mary, His Spouse; of the Holy Trinity; the way of love. Love that knows love's Source and daily goes to be filled to the brim, so that it may spill over; so that it may spend itself in service and sacrifice for others; and, having spent itself, go back to be renewed, to spend itself again, gloriously, passionately, constantly! This is how I see the life of a human soul through the span of time allotted by its Maker."

-Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Dear Sister, Chapter IX
 

Prayer to Saint Joseph to Know One's Vocation

O Great Saint Joseph, you were completely obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Obtain for me the grace to know the state of life that God in his providence has chosen for me. Since my happiness on earth, and perhaps even my final happiness in heaven, depends on this choice, let me not be deceived in making it. Obtain for me the light to know God's Will, to carry it out faithfully, and to choose the vocation which will lead me to a happy eternity.
 

Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on his own vocational discernment:

Crucifix at Most Holy Mother of God Catholic Church in Vladivostok, Russia

"There is a moment, when we are young, when each of us wonders: what meaning does my life have? What purpose and direction should I give to it? This is a very important moment, and it can worry us, perhaps for some time. We start wondering about the kind of work we should take up, the kind of relationships we should establish, the friendships we should cultivate... Here, once more, I think of my own youth. I was somehow aware quite early on that the Lord wanted me to be a priest.

Then later, after the war, when I was in the seminary and at university on the way towards that goal, I had to recapture that certainty. I had to ask myself: is this really the path I was meant to take? Is this really God's will for me? Will I be able to remain faithful to him and completely at his service? A decision like this demands a certain struggle. It cannot be otherwise. But then came the certainty: this is the right thing! Yes, the Lord wants me, and he will give me strength. If I listen to him and walk with him, I become truly myself. What counts is not the fulfillment of my desires, but of his will. In this way life becomes authentic."

Message of His Holiness for the 26th World Youth Day, August 6, 2010
 

Additionally, I sought for something to love, for I was in love with love. There was a hunger within me from a lack of inner food which is none other than Yourself, my God."

Confessions of St. Augustine

"We are wise if we do not try in isolation, with everyone acting for himself or herself, to build the purely private house of our own individual life. It is our wisdom to build the joint house with him so that we ourselves become his living house."

Pope Benedict XVI, The Yes of Jesus Christ
 

"Mary is the bearer of an indelible youthfulness and beauty that never wanes. May young people have increasing confidence in her and may they entrust the life just opening before them to her....Look to Mary to see how to respond to Jesus' call."

Pope John Paul II

 "And to all of those who suspect that they may have this possible personal vocation, I say: pray insistently to receive the needed clarity, but then reply with a joyful yes."

Pope John Paul II