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Discernment Do's and Don'ts: A Practical Guide to Vocational Discernment
A practical guide to discerning any vocation, married or celibate!
Do you feel like God is calling you to . . . something, but you don’t know what? Don’t know where to start? Do you find it hard to clear away the noise of life, and apps, and phones and really listen to God?
You’re not alone! But, happily, now there is a book to help you cut through the clutter so as to prayerfully discern God’s will for your life . . . that life to which He calls you and for which He created you.
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts, a practical guide to vocational discernment for Catholic teens and young adults, combines the teachings of the Scriptures, Church documents, the Church Fathers, and the saints—and a healthy dose of good old common sense—into one handy “How to” guide on finding God’s will for you.
College chaplain, tech apostle, and parish priest Fr. George Elliott shows young people how to navigate seven different stages of the discernment process and provides one best practice (the Do’s) to employ and one pitfall to avoid (the Don’ts) at each stage.
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts is an invaluable guide offering a wealth of practical advice and resources including:
• Tips to help you hear God calling you by name
• Aids to identify obstacles in the discernment process and overcome them
• Stories of real teens and young adults finding (or not finding . . . yet) their vocations
• Scripture passages, teaching from the Church Fathers, and examples from the lives of the saints
It’s easy to “get stuck” when discerning your vocation. Fr. Elliott has gone through the process himself and helped countless young people find God’s plan for their lives . . . and now he’ll help you!
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts lays out a clear path and helps young people identify anything that may be interfering with the discernment process and suggests ways to overcome those obstacles. Though written for teens and young adults, every Catholic not yet settled in a definitive vocation and anyone who cares about such “seekers” (That’s you, parents!) should read this book.
Do you feel like God is calling you to . . . something, but you don’t know what? Don’t know where to start? Do you find it hard to clear away the noise of life, and apps, and phones and really listen to God?
You’re not alone! But, happily, now there is a book to help you cut through the clutter so as to prayerfully discern God’s will for your life . . . that life to which He calls you and for which He created you.
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts, a practical guide to vocational discernment for Catholic teens and young adults, combines the teachings of the Scriptures, Church documents, the Church Fathers, and the saints—and a healthy dose of good old common sense—into one handy “How to” guide on finding God’s will for you.
College chaplain, tech apostle, and parish priest Fr. George Elliott shows young people how to navigate seven different stages of the discernment process and provides one best practice (the Do’s) to employ and one pitfall to avoid (the Don’ts) at each stage.
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts is an invaluable guide offering a wealth of practical advice and resources including:
• Tips to help you hear God calling you by name
• Aids to identify obstacles in the discernment process and overcome them
• Stories of real teens and young adults finding (or not finding . . . yet) their vocations
• Scripture passages, teaching from the Church Fathers, and examples from the lives of the saints
It’s easy to “get stuck” when discerning your vocation. Fr. Elliott has gone through the process himself and helped countless young people find God’s plan for their lives . . . and now he’ll help you!
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts lays out a clear path and helps young people identify anything that may be interfering with the discernment process and suggests ways to overcome those obstacles. Though written for teens and young adults, every Catholic not yet settled in a definitive vocation and anyone who cares about such “seekers” (That’s you, parents!) should read this book.
109 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 14, 2018
14 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
George Elliott
48 books4 followersGeorge Matthew Elliott was born July 4, 1923 in London, Ontario. He attended University Of Toronto, where he edited the student newspaper, "The Varsity". When the Second World War broke out, his poor eyesight prevented military service and he became editor of "Strathroy Age-Dispatch", while acting as a Strathroy correspondent for the "London Free Press". He later became a reporter and city editor with the "Timmins Daily Press". His career in journalism preceded an even more successful career as an advertising executive.
In 1962, he published his first work of fiction, "The Kissing Man". He uses the southwestern Ontario world of his childhood as the setting of eleven conneted short stories that examine the continuing communal traditions among three generations of characters. Other works are: "God's Big Acre: Life In 401 Country", 1986, "The Bittersweet Man", 1994, and "Crazy Water Boys", 1995.
Goderich-born Thomas Rose Elliott ('T.R. Elliott') is George's father. He was an editor at ”The London Free Press” in 1919. George was born when the family lived on Bruce Street. By 1926, Thomas was a city editor at the old ”London Advertiser”. His career took him to General Motors and the Oshawa area. He was a fiction author of note too. He retired in Île d'Orléans, Québec and passed away there May 18, 1996.
In 1962, he published his first work of fiction, "The Kissing Man". He uses the southwestern Ontario world of his childhood as the setting of eleven conneted short stories that examine the continuing communal traditions among three generations of characters. Other works are: "God's Big Acre: Life In 401 Country", 1986, "The Bittersweet Man", 1994, and "Crazy Water Boys", 1995.
Goderich-born Thomas Rose Elliott ('T.R. Elliott') is George's father. He was an editor at ”The London Free Press” in 1919. George was born when the family lived on Bruce Street. By 1926, Thomas was a city editor at the old ”London Advertiser”. His career took him to General Motors and the Oshawa area. He was a fiction author of note too. He retired in Île d'Orléans, Québec and passed away there May 18, 1996.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 28, 2019
Great resource for discernment. We'll be using this in our ministries!
November 1, 2018
Discernment Do’s and Don’ts is a helpful guide for people trying to figure out to what state in life God is calling them—be it marriage, the priesthood, or the religious life. Fr. Elliott admits there are still other vocations, but focuses his short book on these three. He tells those discerning their vocation the atmosphere they need to cultivate if they are to have greater success in discerning it such as striving for holiness, praying, talking, investigating, and finally acting.
The book has two shortcomings. One is the failure to mention baptism as the first call. Fr. Elliott implies it is the first call with the universal call to holiness, but never explicitly mentions it. Still, baptism is the commitment people make to God with all subsequent vocations being a deepening of that first call. Another failure is to indicate the uncommitted, single life as a bona fide vocation. To be sure, Fr. Elliott recognizes the consecrated single life as a vocation, but not the uncommitted, single life. Still, many people have this vocation too. They feel overlooked by the Church while the Church praises marriage, the priesthood, and the religious life. Treatment of the uncommitted, single life could have alleviated this sore need. Apart from these shortcomings, Discernment Do’s and Don’ts is a reliable guide people can use for discerning God’s call.
The book has two shortcomings. One is the failure to mention baptism as the first call. Fr. Elliott implies it is the first call with the universal call to holiness, but never explicitly mentions it. Still, baptism is the commitment people make to God with all subsequent vocations being a deepening of that first call. Another failure is to indicate the uncommitted, single life as a bona fide vocation. To be sure, Fr. Elliott recognizes the consecrated single life as a vocation, but not the uncommitted, single life. Still, many people have this vocation too. They feel overlooked by the Church while the Church praises marriage, the priesthood, and the religious life. Treatment of the uncommitted, single life could have alleviated this sore need. Apart from these shortcomings, Discernment Do’s and Don’ts is a reliable guide people can use for discerning God’s call.
July 8, 2020
An interesting and helpful book for teens through young adults (20s-30s) who are trying to discern their vocations. The author started each chapter with a real story of a person discerning vocations, which I think really helps to put things into perspective.
My only complaint (and the reason for 4 stars) was that there was no focus on the single life. Many Catholics tend to forget that there is married life, vowed religious life (priesthood, religious), AND single life. The only real mention of single life was in one of the anecdotes, where the person (I believe it was Tom), was sort of floundering in bachelorhood because he couldn't commit to being a priest or getting married. I think this is a bit confusing to some people, who forget that being single (but not in a religious order) is a very valid vocation and not just a limbo in the middle. I think the book would have benefited from that inclusion.
My only complaint (and the reason for 4 stars) was that there was no focus on the single life. Many Catholics tend to forget that there is married life, vowed religious life (priesthood, religious), AND single life. The only real mention of single life was in one of the anecdotes, where the person (I believe it was Tom), was sort of floundering in bachelorhood because he couldn't commit to being a priest or getting married. I think this is a bit confusing to some people, who forget that being single (but not in a religious order) is a very valid vocation and not just a limbo in the middle. I think the book would have benefited from that inclusion.
June 3, 2022
It hardly feels like a book. More like a very well presented pamphlet of instructions of how to make a vocational decision. Don't get me wrong, it was very useful to gain some clarity on how to proceed, but I feel this books lacks the deeper meaning or transcendence of a discernment, especially if it's for a religious vocation. Still a good first approach and concise organization of chapters.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews