, they never think about the counsels, or pray for guidance. If
all our young people only realized that Christ's invitation is general
and meant for them, provided no impediment exist, and they wish to
embrace it; if at the same time they kept their hearts free from
worldly amusements, and applied themselves to prayer and self-control,
volunteers in greater number would rally to Christ's standard.

CHAPTER VI

"I FEEL NO ATTRACTION"

Some boys and girls, with hearts of gold, have often said: "I feel no
attraction for the higher life. I appreciate it, admire it, and yet I
fear it is not for me, as I have no inclination to it. If God wanted
me, He would so perceptibly draw me to Him that there could be no
mistaking His designs."

Almighty God is wonderful in His ways, and He "draws all things to
Himself," but by methods varying as the temperaments and
characteristics of the human soul. Sometimes He speaks to His chosen
ones in thunder tones, as when He struck down St. Paul from his horse,
on the road to Damascus, saying from heaven, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? . . . It is hard for thee to kick against the
goad." (Acts ix: 4.) Again He speaks in gentle accents, as to St.
Matthew, the publican, when he sat at his door taking customs, saying
to him, "Follow me!" At other times He seems silent and indifferent,
standing quietly by, letting reason and conscience argue within us,
and point out our line of action.

There is what is called vocation by attraction, and also such a thing
as vocation by conviction. Some of the great saints from earliest
childhood felt a strong, irresistible charm in the higher life; they
were drawn by the golden chain of love to the cloister. "I have never
in my life," said a boy, "thought of being anything but a religious."
Some young people have no difficulty in making up their minds to
follow Christ, their whole bent of thought and character being for the
nobler life. Like Stanislaus, they ever say, "I was born for higher
things." It was such a precocious disposition of heart that led St.
Teresa to foreshadow her saintly career when, as a little girl, she
ran away from home to become a hermit.

But feeling is not always a trustworthy guide, either in temporal or
spiritual matters; reason, slow but sure, is generally much safer. You
feel the fascination of worldly things, of company and society, fine
clothes, luxuries and comforts, the dazzling stage of life with its
applause o