All right. Let's say a prayer.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Grant us grace, a merciful God, to desire ardently all that is pleasing to thee,

to examine it prudently, to acknowledge it truthfully, and to accomplish it perfectly,

for the praise and glory of thy name, who live in reign forever and ever.

Amen.

And then in the Father and of the Son and of forever and ever. Amen. And the name of the Father, to the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Okay.

As you find your seat, we begin with our second of two conferences.

The vocation of a student.

Vocation, or the notion of vocation is for us very much bound up with discernment.

Often in settings like this, when we hear vocation, we of like, priesthood, religious life, marriage, right?

And almost instantaneously, it becomes an occasion of great anxiety.

So whether one is thinking about state of life or job search or where one is to live,

or even just in a more basic sense of what one is about,

vocation can be terrible, right? It can be a source of sorrow, a source of suffering, right?

But we recognize that it is necessary. For a failure to launch would be a greater tragedy yet. I in some way must endeavor a conscious entry into God's plan for my life, for my happiness, and for my flourishing.

And part of that is the recognition that it can go strangely.

Not necessarily well or ill, not necessarily right or wrong, but dramatically.

Such we have come to find.

And I think for some, there's a kind of temptation to think about vocational discernment

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