As we enter into the brief period of Ordinary Time between the Christmas and Lenten Seasons, our readings this weekend focus on responding to the call of God. As we as a Diocese continue our Year of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood, these readings give us an excellent opportunity to reflect on the ways in which God calls His people to be of service. However, these lessons are not just applicable to those discerning a vocation to Priesthood- they apply to all of us!
In our Church, the word “vocation” has become so synonymous with Priesthood and Religious Life, that we forget that there are many other forms of vocations in the Church and in the world. Marriage is a vocation. A committed single life is a vocation. Even a person’s career can be a vocation, if the person truly feels that God is calling them to enter into that field of work.
These readings invite us to ponder the ways that God calls to us, and to open our ears and our hearts to listen to that call. Our first reading today reminds us that God’s call isn’t always clear to us- at least not at first. In the reading, Samuel needed Eli’s guidance to realize that it was the Lord who was speaking to him, and not Eli calling for assistance in the middle of the night. The Gospel reminds us that often, when we begin to follow the path of the Lord, we do not have a clear picture where that path will lead. We are not given clear directions or instructions: we are simply invited to “come and see,” and to follow Christ in Faith. This is not always easy to do, but if we place our trust in God, we can have faith that he will not lead us astray.
I leave you with a powerful prayer by the Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, that speaks perfectly to the path that we walk in discerning God’s call. I encourage you to pray this prayer during the coming week.
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB