By bustedhalo.com

A listener named Beth asks Father Dave how she can best support her son who is discerning his vocation. “At the age of 12, my son told me that he thinks he wants to be a priest when he grows up. That thought hasn’t changed in the past year,” she says. “Just looking for some extra input, because I’m worried about being a bad mom. Don’t get me wrong, both my husband and I would be thrilled if he becomes a priest, but we don’t want to make any accidental missteps. If Father Dave could [offer] some reassurance, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Father Dave begins, “This may sound weird coming from a priest, but imagine if your son at 12 years old says, ‘I really want to be a fireman when I grow up.’ I would treat that with the same grain of salt that I would treat this. That doesn’t mean to dismiss it, or to be condescending, but kids at that age have a lot of different ideas about what they want to be when they grow up.”

“We should give credit to the Holy Spirit, and this may be a genuine call from God,” he continues. “Certainly in the history of the Church, people have been called at that young age. That was not my experience, but many people I know certainly did have an inkling going back that far, so it’s good to respect that and honor that.”

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He offers Beth assurance that her son’s vocation is in God’s hands. “If the Holy Spirit really, really wants to call your son as a priest, how much you encourage that, or what accidental thing you say isn’t going to have an affect on that call. The Holy Spirit will use that, whether it’s positive or negative.”

“That doesn’t mean don’t do anything or start buying him albs and stoles and just presume that it’s a done deal,” Father Dave says. “But don’t worry that if you do something wrong that you’re going to mess up his call from God. God is in charge of this stuff. I did not have any sense of a vocation when I was that age, or even much later, but God knew all along. God knew when I was 12, when I was 6, and when I was in college that eventually he’d called me to the priesthood. What my friends were saying or doing, or girls that I dated didn’t interfere with God’s plan; It all just played a part in it.”

He also advises, “If you would be thrilled that he’d be a priest, tell him that. But I think you could also say – and I don’t want to put words in your mouth – that you’d also be thrilled if he became a doctor or a custodian or whatever. You would be thrilled for him living out genuinely what his call is.”

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Krista speaks from the perspective as a mom and how her parents handled her career discernment growing up. “It’s about pressure: not putting too much pressure on you and not putting too much pressure on him,” she says. “To me, it’s like if he said he wants to grow up and be a concert pianist. How do you foster that as a parent? You get him piano lessons, you encourage him to practice, and maybe meet with potential mentors.”

“In that same way for the priesthood, you can help him to be involved at Church altar serving, talking to younger seminarians, and getting involved in youth group,” Krista continues. “But it’s not a decision he has to make right now…it’s okay for his dreams to change. So foster [the vocation], but you’re not a bad mom.”

You can read the original article here.