My daughter had been trying to meet someone online with no success. So, she said, "God, tell me what you want me to do with my life. If you want me to get married, show me who I should marry. If not tell me what to do with my life." She met her boyfriend on Friday the 13th of January and they dated for several months. Then my husband died and her boyfriend waited a whole year to ask for her hand. Then, on The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, he proposed and she said yes. It's not often that a daughter gets to give her mother a son-in-law as a birthday present. They've been married 2 years now.

I’d like to add people should be careful about pressuring anyone else towards any vocation religious or otherwise. I know several cases where individuals were negatively effected by well meaning people who felt they needed to pressure every religious single person towards religious life. There are many ways the Spirit may call to serve.

Never dated anyone except for a quick stint in high school which wasn’t chaste. I spent most of my time being independent. Starting college I had this great conversion. I spent a long time alone and I was so happy in that. I was a little saddened by being alone but not very much. Last year I started getting a longing in my heart for a relationship. I kept my heart open but I didn’t know if or when I would find someone. I thought god was sending me someone my way so I really pursued him and was completely broken when he wasn’t interested. Little did I realize that I had been completely missing this awesome man that was walking into my life. Seven months later and I couldn’t ask for a better more fruitful and holy relationship.

I am a religious sister living in Vietnam, I just want to thank you for your words, for your testimony, sincerity and crazy love for God. Thank you, May God bless you.

I’m going on 24, don’t have any post secondary schooling, and just got baptized this year on the Easter vigil. The fear of wasting time is real, so hearing you mention that hit close to home.

I thought about the priesthood and I was thinking how does one live without a wife and children. It was at that moment I knew God was calling me to be a husband and father. I met my wife two weeks later.

When I turned 18, I joined a benedictine monastery for 2 years. I am now 27 years old and happily married to a beautiful woman with 4 cute kids. I DO NOT REGRET A DAY I SPENT IN THE MONASTERY. I was given an opportunity to receive formation from holy monks/ living saints during my early adult life. I sincerely wanted to do Gods will but He made it obvious to me and my superiors that I was not called to the religious life. I am so grateful for my time in the monastery and I am definitely a much better father and husband because of the formation I received. I got to watch holy men during their last moments before their death and there courage and peace before meeting Jesus has left a lasting impression on me. NOW THIS IS MY WARNING. DO YOUR RESEARCH AND PRAY A LOT BEFORE SEEKING VOCATIONAL HELP. NOT ALL VOCATION DIRECTORS, PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES GIVE GOOD ADVICE. Unfortunately some people in the church are so bent on getting more religious or priestly vocations they can sometimes ignore whether it is a gift you have truly received. You need to ask for help in discerning your vocations from someone holy and unselfish who wants the best for you even if that means eventually telling you that you do not have a priestly or religious vocation.

*Prayer Request: My brother David is dying of cancer. He called today 11-18-21 and we talked about God. He is a person that has to see to believe, therefor he does not believe. I asked him for a favor as his brother and he agreed. I asked him to pray that God would give him a sign that he is real and that Jesus is his personal savior. God has no limitations, so I ask that you and all that read this will pray for my Brother David and that he will recieve a sign from God. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen praise God*

Start going to mass every day seven days a week and begin to do the office four times a day. Begin attending the holy Eucharist exposition. Do that as a start of discernment.

Engaged people should NEVER discern religious life without breaking the engagement first.

Lol, I went to adoration today and offered my vocation up to God. I asked Him for a sign because I am visiting a bunch of convents tomorrow. I thought this was a sign in the opposite direction XD Made me laugh rly hard. Keep me in your prayers!

I would love to be a nun. Just thinking of becoming one gives me peace and a goal to work towards. I need to visit a convent to further discern. How do people know the voice of God? I am shocked people think of God before they make choices like they live every day for God.I am impressed by how much people trust God. I need to be more selfless. I love the structure and self-discipline of religious life. I feel and fear that time is moving too rapidly. I am 31 already. I fear and feel I am too old to still be discerning religious life or marriage. Aging is so difficult for women. Feminine beauty is so valued and so fleeting.

Please make a video on your discernment and how you knew you were called to marriage!

As you said, we are not here for ourselves, but for others. This is so counter cultural. We are told that we are free to decide everything but it is not about me, it’s about God.

Thank you Stacey for such a wonderful video! Your lessons have reminded of the Serenity Prayer. "to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." I appreciate you!

I have been trying to discern my vocation for about a year now and I feel completely lost, I long to be a mother and wife but please pray for me to listen to the Lord’s voice.

This is excellent!! Wonderful! Thank you for sharing 🙏 agree 100% all young Catholics should discern religious life

Awesome video! And I'm a seminarian. God bless you Stacey and your family.

This video was PERFECT! So needed today.

I’m 25 and single, I love God and sharing my faith with others. Ive been pressured by many people in my life to become a priest just because I love God 😅🤣 but I don’t feel any calling or desire to become a priest. I’ve prayed about it often, even went on a 3 day vocational discernment retreat. But, I’ve always in my heart have wanted to have a wife and children, and if God wanted something else for me, I know he would have put a different desire in my heart as I have asked him.

This is an excellent video, and very well timed for me. Thank you

Amazing video, thank you! Needed it

I really enjoy the topics on this channel ^_^❤

Hi, Stacey!! I met you at the Schmiedicke's fourth of July get together! Hope you are well! And hope baby Honora is doing well too!!

Thanks for this! NEEDED IT 🤍🙌🏽

Really enjoyed this!

These comments are just so beautiful! Lol! You guys are all so supportive of each other. Will pray for you all. Please pray for me! I’m discerning religious life too. I click on videos like this to make sure I’m motivated by the right reasons. God bless!!

THANK YOU I NEEDED THIS!!

What a blessing this video is!

Grateful for this video Amen. PRAISE GOD

Great video!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Thank you!!!

In need of all your prayers for I am discerning🙏🏻

Thank you! Lovely video (:

Wonderful advice and video!

"I should never put you in a box of my own making" That hit me hard 😅

wow, I'm so touched

Thanks for sharing 🙏🏿

Excellent video 🎉❤

Wow 😯 This is beautiful

Haha that’s me, lighting a candle and listening to Gregorian chants and asking God if I should be a nun 😂😂😂

beautifully spoken.

#AskAscension. Can u make a video on discernment of consecrated single life.

I’ve been told no by both the Order of Friars Minor and the Diocese of Covington because I have bipolar disorder. I might be able to to be married if a potential wife agrees to be married. I’m on disability, but as of 2022, I can make up to $970 per month in addition to my disability check before taxes without entering one’s trial work period. It was $940 this year.

I should have done this a decade ago when I was 26. My life feels so bad right now that I don’t think I could give a year knowing that I’m wasting my fertility.

You should know that you can be called to marriage and never have biological children. A vocation to marriage is different to a vocation to biological motherhood. God's plan is different for all of us, and assuming all married people have, or will have, biological children can be deeply upsetting for those experiencing infertility, recurrent child loss or any disagreement between them and their spouse that prevents them from having biological children, whether they still long for them or not.

Please pray for me. I’m discerning my vocation in my midlife stage. I probably need a spiritual director to help guide me through the process of discernment.

Sangat bagus video anda, apa lagi dengan situsi dunia seperti ini. Sangat baik untuk anak muda untuk bisa memberikan mereka pengarahan ke jalan hidup yang baik dan tidak takut untuk menentukan suatu pilihan dalam hidup.mereka.

Please pray for me and that the LORD will reveal my vocation and give me the strength to be committed and faithful to it.

This video would be much more accurately titled "Why it was important for Stacey Sumerau to discern religious life". On one hand, I think there is a lot of truth to what she is saying. I went through a 3 month period of seriously thinking about religious life, and it gave me a much deeper appreciation for both marriage and consecrated life. But what I ultimately got from it was: Follow your heart. There is no magic formula to finding your vocation. Only God can put someone in a certain vocation. While it is enlightening to hear others' vocation stories, doing so must be tempered with the firm conviction that your path is a unique one. After watching a lot of these kinds of videos, I realized I was trying to knit my vocation together with bits and pieces of others' stories. The truth is, God's call for you is incredibly unique. And his call for you might involve discerning religious life, or it might not. It is very possible that God will lead you down the path of discerning religious life before you enter into another vocation. It is also possible that he does not. What I learned from my discernment is that, I just don't feel like going on monastery websites and e-mailing vocation directors. There are so many other ways that God is calling me to spend my time. He is infinitely more creative than you and me, and while religious life is a beautiful way to serve God, it isn't the only way. So, if the thought of actively discerning religious life kind of makes you go "Meh, I'd much rather do x", I don't think you should worry. Just make sure you're praying and frequenting the sacraments, and He will show you your mission.

My vocation director told me the convent wouldn't be a good fit for me because of my sensory differences but suggested secular institutes.

Sometimes your vocation may just be to be single and have to deal with the worst pain that is of being alone and feeling like you belong nowhere. There was St Gemma galgani, Ven Marthe Robin.

Good video

I'm genuinely losing my hope on finding a relationship with the right person after praying for more than 10 yrs. I just want to live my life as best as I can. I'm trying to live a good life accordingly for those past years and it feels like I'm just limiting myself on doing what I want because of waiting for this right person that I think will come. I've been trying to preserve myself for my future wife but it seems like I'm just living in an in an illusion. As a man sex and intimacy is important to me but I'm failing to hold myself. I'm tired of hoping for nothing.

i'm married but called... somehow. i'm having trouble with how i'm called... i just know its there... i think my inherited family needs some push back into the faith. maybe that's why i'm here, to help guide them back to the faith in a traditional way. that's terrifying. it's a lot of responsibility.

I would really love to discern religious life…but at this time I truly feel like I should be there for my parents and be their support which I feel like I can’t if I enter religious life. I pray for vocations!! We need priests and religious members 🙏🙏

omgosh! I am a musical theatre catholic actress and im like...do i marry? OR ACT? LOL lovely video

I am 36F, virgin, been single my whole life. I always wanted to get married but that dream is dying as the years pass. I’ve lived with bad social anxiety, so whether it’s meeting men or meeting with nuns, it’s hard.

I am a 63 yr old male finishing upmu career as a teacher in saudi arabia needless to say i havenot been able to practice my faith I would like to attend some sort of spiritual retreat to shake offthe smell of islam. anybodyhave any ideas? I am finished this next June GOD BLESS

Where can I go to be surrounded by a support group to help me start this progress?

I’m an opera singer. I knew from your speaking voice you were a stage performer

sadly totally attached. I mean I am attached to heaven just like a married woman or a child who is underage. Or even like a super elder. I have had to take care of my mom since the death of my grandparents, so I still have am an emergency contact to my mother. So my dream is kind of like a no go. I'm very happy not living with my mom because I could not have my mother attached to me, but I have her when worse comes to worse for her. I had a wedding date in the past, the wedding is getting re-planned, and we've been together for almost 10 years. Apparently my mother and my mental illness that is sort of recently diagnosed but have had these mental illnesses since my grandparents died and since I have had to take care of myself and make sure my mother is safe as well. So no religious life for me unless my boyfriend, myself and my mom do it together, all 3 of us. And not go separate ways. If we are living in the end times as the other half of our Catholic Faith tells us, we will all be entering religious life very soon. And it would be much larger than we think it is. Religious life as I have been able to go to day retreats on religious life and healing retreats. I love hanging out with religious life people and clergy, so no matter what I still get to spend time with them. I still think we will all have eternity together, even if we don't make vows just through the clergy here on earth, because Jesus Christ is the sole clergy when He comes on His second coming. :-) So this is good. When I discerned religious life and even clergy life as I do believe there have been female deacons in the past before the Renaissance, I was about 7 years old, my mom lived in a convent but was being taken care of by sisters yet was still asked to become a missionary nun. It would have been easier for her if she did choose that but when I was 8 years old I didn't like that idea for her. I had already been in foster care, but I was able to stay the weekend and holy days at the convent and stay over :-) It was fun and very religious to me. I still enjoy visiting the convent and helping them out. Love watering their plants etc. I have more friends in religious life and clergy than I do in society which is weird. So I hope more people choose religious life and clergy life. God bless.

0:48 What did you mean by "Single and Unattatched"? Does that mean Single and not believing you're called to marriage?

👍

I can give all my life to God being a not married lay. I can discern the will of God each day speaking to him. I don't understand that I should think that I have failed the Lord because I'm not a nun or married. And I'm not going to visit all the different kinds of religious life because I don't see that the Lord asks me this. I understand it was good for you. I'm a not married lay, not a single.

Stacey ! I somewhat disagree with your extremely classical view, it's rather standard and goodie goodie. Good but doesn't go deep enough. I believe nowadays in a paradoxical view of discernment, and I discerned and got stuck in it for an exhausting 5 or so years and found it ponderous and also the guidance was ok but not great, since I think our Church is in unusual times, extremely liberal unlike others, second, I think the classic view is a consequence of clericalism, the idea that implicitly or not priesthood or religious life is hint hint superior to marriage (w a damning w faint praise, "marriage is a sacrament! etc.), that it's more the real deal, place of real holiness. And your strong push towards it reveals this attitude. We need to transform this view of vocation radically, switching the emphasis from religious vocation to lay vocation, not excluding the former, but when we teach the laity that their marriage or single life is a high vocation to holiness, blast this from every pulpit, then in today's world a refreshing wind will charge through the Church and paradoxically religious and priest vocations will at least stay the same but likely leap up... laity are everything in this sense, that they will be forever the pool to get religious (that's simple logic), yet if treated that way, as merely that pool, they will stay passive and shallow. The worst of Catholicism is a laity staring at the priests and nuns at Mass on Sunday like they're watching television trying to decide how holy they are, as if they're the only real catholics in the Church. SO: young people, discern your life!!!! You have a high vocation whatever you do, God IS calling you, and living life as vocation honestly will be so hard either way, that that should be enough to get you over that fear that religious life is too hard (since married life is probably tougher), a fear that is understandable in an overly liberal culture that encourages the easy road and that married intimacy is 'nicer'. VOCATION is hard anyway you go !!!! Preach this, i say... Stacey's view has wisdom, it's right so far as it goes, but there's more insight needed today i think... we need to get a larger fired up laity, not just ascension presents freaks (kidding!!!!;) but ordinary joes all over serving the Church with zeal, then this obsession with religious orders will heal itself, but only then. Also, last point, religious vocation ought be preached as HARD, TOUGH, HEROIC, not nice, beneficial, then you'll get more numbers coming in, it's a big bloody painful but noble sacrifice!!!!! Not a way of life 'with great benefits', nobody today will get that, since they'll just calculate its benefits as they do other products in the market and find more in marriage... you wont get youth to give up intimacy today easily just by saying the other way is 'really great'... tell them the truth, make them want a tough adventure, then they'll listen and get the real inspiration.

Some of us are not called to be married or to be a religious.

What do you mean by 'single'? Do you mean single as in not married or single as in not in a dating relationship?

St. Alphonsus: "It is evident that our eternal salvation depends principally upon the choice of our state of life. Father Granada calls this choice, the main wheel of our whole existence. If the principal wheel of a clock is deranged the whole clock is out of order. So it is with the business of our salvation; a mistake with regard to our state of life, says St. Gregory of Naziansen, will disturb our whole career. If then, we wish to secure our eternal salvation, we must embrace that state of life to which God calls us, and in which alone, God prepares the efficacious means, necessary for salvation. St. Cyprian says: “The grace of the Holy Spirit is given according to the order of God, and not in accordance with our own will” (1) Therefore St Paul writes: “Everyone hath his proper gift from God” (2) This means as Cornelius a Lapide explains, that God gives to every one his vocation, and chooses the state in which He wills him to be saved. “Whom He predestinated, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified and them He also glorified.” (3) There are many in the world today who give this doctrine of vocation little thought or consideration. They think it a matter of indifference whether they live in the state to which God calls them, or in that which they choose themselves. As a result we find so many leading wicked lives, and hurrying along the road to destruction."

❤❤❤

You amazing👌

One very critical thing that doesn’t seem to have been addressed here is that it’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

Thanks, please say a prayer 4 me

I started watching this, but I have already discerned to be a lay Carmelite. You can be married and be a lay religious.

When? 😯😥

Sometimes I want to discern religious life; I get stressed and tired of my life 🧐

What if you live in a country where there are no opportunities to meet convents and sisters?

I'm think about the priesthood and have gone through the process, but I feel like God wants me in the single life.

I recently reverted to the Catholic Church. I just turned 37. Am I too late for discernment for religious vocation?

I actually laughed out loud at God sounding like Morgan Freeman hahaha :)

could you pls tag your medal brecelet?

Been there, done that but too old. Lol

I don’t have a boyfriend yet. 🤣 And nobody ever ask me out lol.

I heard something calling my name . What that mean???

Vocación director... that's hard to come by even in catholic schools and environments

I struggle with SSA, can I join religious life?

Honestly I want to get married but I want to serve God at the same time.

Dang it. I really thought she would tell me I don't need to 😒

The only reason why I am not discerning religious life anymore is because I've been rejected by the nuns I had approached for advice, one of them is literally my aunt lol. If neither of them thinks I can do it, maybe God doesn't either.

If I've been married, am I allowed to become a priest later after divorce?

Married men can discern a vocation to the permanent diaconate.

I feel so lonely, I need a human female wife who is alive and kind and honest

Can one discern a religious life at 45?

I think a great way to discern marriage or religious life is to experience that life yourself via a family with kids or a convent/monestary......... sitting in your room is not as helpful xD

I’d rather live as a lay person, as someone who has a learning disability, it would be too much of a responsibility on my shoulders... I also want to live my life and go places, i don’t want to be on my own in a house writing sermons...

I've only been Catholic for a year, but when I was a Protestant, I thought about being a pastor. I came to the firm conviction that God wants me out in the world making a difference in the world around me, not closing myself off in the purely spiritual life.

Who is this lady? And what qualifies her to have such authority ?

I am sure there is someone who will love me

Biggest click bait of the history of click baits

Why do these people on Ascension Presents always veer off topic and blabber, usually about themselves personally? It's not just this woman, but a problem throughout the channel. They either make their point in the first 2.5 minutes and then blabber for the next 9 minutes, or else they blabber so long before making their point that I click out.

I will become a devout catholic after I get married to a human female who is faithful and kind and honest and trustworthy and loving and caring