First of all, I thank you for your candid and honest “confession” and your openness in seeking help to find that “something more” in your life. This is actually the first step in the process of self-discovery: reflecting to understand where your current life is leading you. However, since yours is not a black-and-white issue, it has no clear and easy answer. Even so, there are ways that can help you discover what lies ahead of you. One of these is discernment.

From what you shared, I have the impression that you are a person who takes life seriously, but at the same time, wants to live it to the fullest. As a consequence, it is important for you to know the things that impact your life. So let me present to you some ideas that may be helpful in the process of discerning your future life. Drawing from the wisdom of Pope Francis, I would like to offer you his thoughts on discernment, particularly in the Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit. In no. 283, he highlights the importance of silence. He said that since discovering our vocation is a personal decision, it requires a certain degree of solitude and silence. The Pope continues, “The Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, through others, and at every moment. Yet we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us to better perceive God’s language, interpret the real meaning of the inspirations we believe we have received, calm our anxieties, and see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light.”

Here you will understand how much effort you will have to exert to discover the most profound message God is communicating to you. And I believe your giftedness will be of great help in this whole process. So make good use of it.

Perhaps you will ask: Is silence enough? No! Silence should be coupled with listening. In fact, in Christus Vivit, Pope Francis explains, “We must remember that prayerful discernment must be born of an openness to listening – to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways. Only if we are prepared to listen, do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient ideas… In this way, we become truly open to accepting a call that can shatter our security, but lead us to a better life.”

I would like to bring here what you mentioned in your message. Despite having a good professional career that allows you to help people in and outside your family, you feel a lack of fulfillment in your life and wonder if you are being called to a particular vocation. True enough, being successful in one’s profession offers security in life. Yet if you are to entertain a specific calling, this security needs to be put aside – as the Pope underlines – but it can lead to a better life. In fact, the Pope seems to give a warning to those who may feel “called” but continue to live a comfortable life. He says: God may be offering us something more, but in our comfortable inadvertence, we do not recognize it.” So, you need to be alert in listening to what God is telling you in the present moment, recognizing his subtle voice in your heart. Because at the end of the day, it is God who will ultimately tell you which way to go. So, it is best to have a listening heart.

To know if you are being called to a particular vocation, perhaps it is necessary to have a clear grasp of what a vocation is. Your dedication to your professional career and to your family can already be considered a vocation because you are giving yourself to the service of others. This is vocation in general: a calling to live one’s life for others. But if vocation for you means “a calling from God” then there are clear ways to discover it. And the words of Pope Francis in Christus Vivit are a sure guide to someone who is on the road to discovering his or her vocation: “To discern our personal vocation, we have to realize that it is a calling from a friend, who is Jesus. When we give something to our friends, we give them the best we have. It will not necessarily be what is most expensive or hard to obtain, but what we know will make them happy. Friends are so sensitive to this that they can already imagine the smile on their friend’s face when he or she opens that gift. This sort of discernment that takes place among friends is what I suggest you take as a model for trying to discover God’s will for your lives.”

Your capacity to give yourself to others will surely become a launching pad to figure out your path in life, helping you discover what God has in store for you. As Pope Francis clearly states, “When the Lord awakens a vocation, he thinks not only of what you already are, but of what you will one day be, in his company and in that of others.”

Romeo Pelayo Vital