As you are thinking about the priesthood, you still take your smartphone with you everywhere you go. While your phone is not a substitute for other spiritual activities - prayer, the sacraments, spiritual direction - if used well, apps that you already have on your phone can help in your discernment. Here are a few.

Clock App

Setting time aside for prayer throughout your day is essential for discerning the priesthood, yet tasks and responsibilities pile up and your day can go by with little prayer or even silence. Yet it is possible to build in set time for prayer using your phone's clock app. Here's how: just sent a reminder on your phone to pause at certain times during the day. When that time comes, set your timer for a few minutes - even two or three - for silent prayer. When the timer ends, you can return to your other tasks. This adds up: even doing that five times in your day, can create an additional 10 to 15 more minutes of prayer in your day.

Settings App

We won't go into the psychology of distraction, but your phone is engineered to keep you scrolling and scrolling (and scrolling). Does it ever seem that you lose track of time while on your phone? That's intentional, and can give you less time to dedicate to your discernment to the priesthood. This is where the settings app can help.

In the settings app go to Screen Time in iOS or Digital Wellbeing in Android. There you can see exactly how long you spend on some apps. You don't have to cut these apps off completely, but you can just set limits on your time spent on them. With less time scrolling, you will have more time for spiritual reading, just to name one beneficial spiritual activity. (And while you're in settings, set up parental controls so that you don't have easy access to adult content.)

Podcast App

There are many wonderful podcasts that can help in your journey to the priesthood. One of the best out there for this is "Pray as You Go" a short daily podcast by the Jesuits of the United Kingdom. This daily reflection contains beautiful music, a reading from that day's lectionary, and a guided reflection. Listen to it on your way to work, or as your preparing a meal, or as a way to pray at the end of the day. 

Of course, your phone is not a primary tool in your journey to the priesthood. But since you have it with you for most of the day, it can be one small way that you can stay focused on this wonderful path you are now on.

One bonus app: use your web browser to learn more about the Paulist Fathers at beapaulist.org or get matched with another religious community using Vision Vocation Match.