It has always seemed to me that what lies at the basis of all preparation for the ministry is the sense of a Call from God. I do not, however, wish to narrow the sense of the word “vocation.” There are only two ways of looking at life for everybody. Either we are here in the world to carve out a career for ourselves, to push along as best we may, regardless of God and man; or else we have to respond to a Call from God, to listen for God’s voice—remembering how very complex are the ways in which God speaks to men—and then to obey, and to obey actively, energetically, and to the end.
Hence it often seems to me deplorable how late men are sometimes in deciding what they are to do in life. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” is the prayer that should be put into a child’s heart very early in life. It should be taught to listen and then to respond. But I may assume here and now that most of those to whom I am speaking have finally settled that God is calling them to the ministry, and the question that we want to consider is how a man can best prepare himself.