7 Ideas for Giving Your Children a Vocations’ Mindset

November 1-7, 2015 is National Vocations Awareness Week – a week, according to the USCCB website “dedicated to promote vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education…”  In celebration of this week, here are some ways my family fosters an openness to a religious vocation in our domestic church.  1. Talk. talk. talk.In our family, talk of vocations, and the idea of God having a plan for our lives comes up regularly. Whenever we have discussions with our children about their futures, we always add the disclaimer:…”if that is God’s plan for your life.” Our lives are not our own and every baptized Christian is called to a vocation. We pray that by constantly keeping the “vocation conversation” open that our children will not view a vocation as a foreign concept or a way of life that is “for someone else”. Our desire above all else is to teach them to seek God’s will in their life – wherever he leads them. 2. Pray. pray. pray.Vocations are part of our family’s daily prayer life in many ways.  We pray for our priests, and for an increase in vocations to the priesthood daily. In listing the intentions for our family rosary, my husband and I pray for our children – that they may follow the path God leads them on, whether it is marriage, priesthood or religious life. Above all, we pray that they would be faithful to the Lord every day of their lives.It is important the our children hear us, as parents, praying this prayer out loud. Our parish is blessed at every Mass to pray for vocations during the prayer of the faithful. Finally, we take our children regularly to confession and Adoration and we encourage them to journal and ask the Lord for his guidance in their