



Produced by Michael Gray








[Illustration: Christ and the rich young man]

If thou wilt be perfect go sell what thou hast and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come follow Me.
                           --Matt. xix: 21.



  WHAT SHALL I BE?
  A CHAT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

  BY THE
  REVEREND FRANCIS CASSILLY, S.J.


  "And every one that hath left house, or brothers, or sisters, or
  father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name, shall
  receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." (Matt.
  xix: 29)



  NEW YORK
  THE AMERICA PRESS
  1914



  IMPRIMI POTEST
           A. J. BURROWES, S.J.
                   _Provincial Missouri Province_

  NIHIL OBSTAT
           REMEGIUS LAFORT
                   _Censor_

  IMPRIMATUR
            JOHN CARDINAL FARLEY
                   _Archbishop of New York_



  COPYRIGHT 1914
  BY
  THE AMERICA PRESS



LETTER TO THE AUTHOR
FROM REVEREND A. VERMEERSCH, S.J.

            Louvain, le 23 fevrier, 1914.

Mon Reverend Pere: P. C.

Votre petit livre me plait extremement. Il expose une doctrine tres
solide avec une merveilleuse clarte. D' une lecture agreable, il
interessera la jeunesse des ecoles, et l'encouragera a faire un choix
genereux d' etat de vie. J' estime que, traduit en flamand et en
francais, il ferait egalement du bien a nos collegiens de Belgique.

                   Votre devoue en N. S. et M. I.
                           A. Vermeersch.

TRANSLATION

My Reverend Father:

Your little book pleases me exceedingly. Its doctrine is very sound
and set forth with wonderful clearness. It makes pleasant reading, and
will interest the young of school age, and encourage them to make a
generous choice of a state of life. In my opinion, a Flemish and
French translation would also be profitable to our college students in
Belgium.

Devotedly yours in Our Lord and Mary Immaculate,
                 A. Vermeersch.



  TO THE THOUSANDS
  OF TRUE-HEARTED BOYS AND GIRLS
  HE HAS BEEN BLESSED TO KNOW
  OF WHOM
  SOME ARE GONE TO HEAVEN
  AND MANY ARE BATTLING FOR THE RIGHT
  IN THE SANCTUARY
  THE CLOISTER OR THE WORLD
  AND WITH ALL OF WHOM
  HE HOPES ONE DAY TO BE REUNITED
  FOREVERMORE
  IN GOD'S OWN COURTS
  THIS LITTLE BOOK
  IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
  BY THE AUTHOR



PREFACE

In this little book the writer has aimed to present, in brief and
simple form, sound principles which may assist the young in deciding
their future course of life. The subject of vocation, as it is called,
has suffered much, during the last two or three centuries, at the
hands of rigorist authors, who so hedged the approach to religious
life with difficulties and restrictions, as to frighten or repel many
aspiring hearts from it.

Great stress was laid by these writers on the special interior
attraction, by which God was supposed always to manifest His call, so
that no one might legitimately enter the state of perfection, unless
he felt this unmistakable impulse from within. And on the other hand,
given this evidence of the Divine predilection, to disregard it was a
sinful preferring of one's own will to God's, which, in all
likelihood, would be attended with grave consequences for this world
and the next.

Spiritual writers of the last decade have been rereading the Fathers
and great Theologians upon this subject, and as a result the cobwebs
of misconception are being swept away. The Reverend A. Vermeersch,
S.J., of Louvain, deserves the gratitude of all for his lucid and
convincing treatment of religious vocation, in his "De Religiosis
Institutis et Personis" (Vol. II, Supplement III; also