The Scriptures invite us to reflect on the call of God in our lives. Our response to the call from God is our vocation to live as a disciple of Jesus. We sometimes think of a vocation as only applied to a vocation to the priesthood or to the religious life. The call to be a priest is indeed a vocation to live according to God’s plan for one’s life. We indeed need to pray that vocations emerge from our parish community. But I also would emphasize at this moment is that all of us have a vocation in life -- our response to God’s call. Those of you who are married and have children have a most sacred vocation as a spouse and as a parent.
More than that, all of us who are baptized have a vocation to witness to the love of God in all we say and do.
I suggest that today’s Scripture readings alert us to the ways we can recognize the call of God in our lives. The first Scripture reading describes the call of God in the life of Samuel. Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.” Samuel ran to Eli and said: “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.” This happened three times. Then Eli understood the Lord was calling the young Samuel. He then told Samuel to go to sleep and the next time he was to reply: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
We too need people to help us
recognize the call of God in our lives.
Who for you is the prophet Eli who helps you to recognize the call of
God in your life? I would love for us to
have a dialogue on identifying the soul friends in our lives who have raised
our awareness of the presence of God in our lives. Who has been your soul friend that has helped
you discover and to encounter the Lord?
Make no mistake about it. We need others to help us recognize God’s call. We belong to each other. We are better together. As we know from the first pages of the Bible: It is not good for man to be alone. Our discipleship of the Lord Jesus calls us to be soul friends to each other.
Then in the Gospel, I invite you to listen again to the dialogue of Jesus with the first disciples. Jesus, sensing that two people were following him, asked: “What are you looking for?” They responded: “Rabbi, where do you live?” Jesus simply responds: “Come and See.”
The conversation Jesus had with the first disciples is the conversation Jesus wishes to have with you today. Can you imagine the Lord asking you: “What are you looking for?” I would invite you in a prayerful way to look into your own heart and hear the Lord asking you: What are you looking for?
Would we too respond: “Master, where do you live?” What are you all about? Then we receive the invitation to COME AND SEE. Jesus is saying if you want to know me, you need to live with me. To know is to love me.
Where is Jesus to be found? Up in the sky? The mystery of the Incarnation is that God has become enfleshed in our human nature. Jesus is to be found among the poor, among the suffering, among those who have no hope. Jesus is inviting us to Come and See where the Lord lives -- in the hearts of people in need.
When the disciples asked Jesus: “Where do you live?” They were not so much looking for a street address in which they could put into their GPS system. The disciples were asking a spiritual question. What gives meaning and purpose to your life?
I would like to ask you rhetorically this question for your prayerful reflection: “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior?” This, typically, is a question evangelicals ask of each other. Catholics, on the other hand, are called to live a life of morality, of responsibility, of a Gospel way of living. To do the right thing. For us older Catholics, it’s almost a foreign language to ask us if we have a personal relationship with Jesus. That wasn’t one of the questions found in the Baltimore Catechism.
What does a personal relationship with Jesus look like for us old timers used to the Baltimore catechism?
The invitation given to the first disciples is to COME AND SEE. Come and See what life will be like when lived in relationship with Jesus and in relationship with the all the disciples of Jesus. Come and See if the Gospel stories connect with your spirit and your way of looking at life.
Come and See if your relationships in the Church – the disciples of Jesus – allow you to love and be loved in life-giving ways. Come and See if in the faith community of the Church of the Holy Spirit gratitude, discipleship and hospitality come alive in our parish life. We seek to witness to the love of Jesus Christ in the world.
Having a personal
relationship with Jesus effects the way we pray. Yes, our traditional memorized prayers are a
sacred part of our prayer life. Our
ritual sacramental prayer is a privileged way of communicating with the Lord
Jesus. Can you imagine your prayer with
Jesus to be similar to a phone conversation with a best friend describing the
ups and downs of your day? Jesus wishes
to be present to you in the joys and the challenges of each and every day. When we speak to Jesus from our heart, this
too is a most sacred prayer, and it is indicative of our personal relationship
with Jesus.
Although God calls, not
everyone is listening all the time. So
many voices call for our attention; so many activities distract us. We need to make a serious effort if we are to
become sensitive to the divine presence in our lives.
We may learn from what Eli spoke to the young Samuel. A significant part of our prayer life is listening. May we speak the words of Samuel: “Speak, Lord your servant is listening.”
May we also learn embrace the conversation that Jesus had with the first disciples and know it is the same conversation Jesus wishes to have with you. Jesus asks us: What are you looking for? As we respond: Master, where do you live? Jesus invites us: “Come and See,” Come and See and live with a relationship with Jesus in which we can allow Jesus into the inn of our hearts and that we can trust Jesus goes with us in the challenges of our life.
Have a Blessed Day.
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