Reflection for 11/6/17

Have you ever been posed with a question that you just couldn’t figure out an answer to?  Have you ever been stumped by someone or something in life?  In our first reading, St. Paul is struggling with the question of “If Israel has rejected the very Son of God, then how are they the chosen people?”  Or another way of asking it is, “If Israel is God’s chosen people, then why did they reject the Son of God?”  It is a question worthwhile answering, if someone is beloved by another person and is thought to love that person, then why would the beloved ever hurt his or her lover?  Why would we ever turn our backs on God?

 

In the mind of St. Paul, “For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.”  The Israelites were given up to disobedience, they turned their backs on the Lord so that God might be able to bestow his mercy upon them.  According to St. Paul, no man, woman, or child is responsible for his or her own salvation but rather everyone is saved through the mercy and the love of God.  Thus, according to St. Paul, we all experience the possibility of sin in order that we do not fall into the temptation of thinking ourselves responsible for being saved.  It is by no means our own doing, but it is all according to the mercy of the Lord.

 

This week, we are celebrating National Vocation Awareness Week, a week in which we take a closer look at the religious vocations in our Church of priesthood, diaconate, and religious sisters and brothers.  St. Paul’s understanding of the mercy of God is also applicable to the very call of God in our lives.  It is always important to remember that “all is grace,” especially when it comes to a religious vocation.  I did not choose to become a priest, no one takes on this responsibility of his or her own desire, but rather, God has called every priest, sister, and brother to his high task.  In light of this, we should never be afraid of such a calling.  Certainly, if it were up to me to choose priesthood like any other career and to figure things out on my own, I would have reason to be afraid.  I’m not equipped for that.  But since God has called me, I can trust that he will also give me the grace I need to be a holy and virtuous priest.  I have nothing to fear because all is form the Lord—I only have to fear those things which come from my own mind and heart.

 

My brothers and sisters, this week, I encourage you to pray with th question, “Where is God calling me in my life?”  And for those of you who have already discerned your vocation from God, then pray for those around you.  If you notice someone in your life who exhibits the signs of a calling to religious life or priesthood, let them know that you see it in them.  Oftentimes God uses others to speak to us, and you never know how your words might be received by an open heart.

 

St. Paul goes on to exclaim in adoration, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid?  For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever.”  Indeed, the mind of God is beyond us to understand.  We do not know why he calls some to priesthood, others to religious life as a sister or brothers, and still others to married life, but at the end of the day, we do not have to understand why.  All we have to do is trust that it is God who chooses us, and if he chooses us, he will guide us and be with us for all ages.  “To him be glory forever.  Amen”