refore, I have no vocation"? Such a person, of course,
is free to say, "I will not enter religion," because there is no
obligation incumbent upon him to this state, but he cannot justly say
that God withholds from him the opportunity or invitation to do so. He
has already what is called a remote vocation, as was explained in the
fifth chapter, and what he needs is a clearer vision and alacrity of
will, which he may have good hope of obtaining by earnest prayer and a
generous and insistent offering of self to the disposal of the Divine
good pleasure. For Our Lord Himself tells us: "All things whatsoever
you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall
come unto you." (Mark xi: 24.)

Remove then, my dear young friend, from your mind that false and
pernicious notion, which has been destructive of so many incipient
vocations, that because you feel no supernatural inclination or
sensible attraction, you are not called of God.

In general, it is sufficient that the aspirant to religious life be
free from impediments, and be desirous of entering it. For eligibility
to a particular religious congregation the applicant must be fit, that
is, he must have the gifts or endowments of mind, heart and body which
that institute demands; his desire to enter must be based on good and
solid motives drawn from reason and faith, and he must have the firm
resolve to persevere in the observance of the rule. When to this
subjective capacity is added the acceptance of the candidate by a
lawful superior, his vocation becomes complete.

The requisites, then, are three, two on the part of the applicant,
namely, fitness and an upright intention, and one on the part of the
superior, the acceptance or call. Nothing more, nothing less is
required. If any one of these three essentials is wanting, there is no
vocation to that particular institute.

It is worthy of observation, however, that these qualifications of the
applicant need be fully evident only towards the end of the novitiate,
when the time comes for taking the vows and assuming the obligations.
To enter the noviceship, as a rule, much less is required, though even
for this preparatory step a person must have the serious intention of
trying the life and discovering whether it is suitable to him, and
there should be a reasonable prospect of his developing the needful
qualifications.

For spiritual directors, then, to regard a vocation as something
exceeding rare and i