So Much, that He Gave His Only Son. The decision to offer oneself as a candidate for priesthood is, in the final analysis, a personal one.
Any authentic commitment is rooted in human freedom.
Human nature being what it is, however, most of our important decisions are made against the background of our key relationships. Other people, through their values and attitudes, through their encouragement or lack of it, inevitably have a significant influence on the decisions we make. By the very fact of our creation, God invites each one of us into relationship with him. Where priesthood is concerned, although it is God who calls us, in the depth of our hearts, the first hint of that call frequently comes in the day to day life of the family and the local community. If you think of priests in terms of what they do, rather than who their are, it is easy to forget that we weren t always priests.