Vocations Newsletter

“Stay awake and be ready! For you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”(Matthew 24:42)“When you least expect it…” Isn’t that what we’re often told? Just relax. When you least expect it, some great fortune will come your way. I look at this everyday wisdom a little differently: Blessings are gifts from God. But they don’t come when God is ready. They come when we’re ready to being transformed in God’s grace. You see, the divine is always present. It’s just that sometimes we have a problem seeing God, especially when that unexpected thing is unsettling—and not what we want at all.Many years ago at 23 years of age I was just starting out my missionary life in Peru. I was thrilled to be among the people. But I was also learning what it meant to accept a grace when disguised by tragedy. One day I was alone at the rectory when the doorbell rang. A young couple had arrived, carrying their infant baby. They pleaded with me to baptize the infant but I couldn’t. The baby had already died. I felt completely helpless and could only comfort them in their grief. I didn’t have the answers…
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This book, written prior to the pandemic, reflects on the role of “earthquakes”—literal and metaphorical: times like the present when history trembles beneath our feet. Such times may overturn empires, structures of power, and the stability of our personal lives. Yet, as Rabbi Waskow writes in a special preface, “this specific ‘earthquake’ among all the earthquakes in our lives . . . is ever-present, even if invisible and inaudible.”
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If you think of yourself as one of “God’s children” as John tells it, then you can give yourself an important title, too, worthy of your devotion to the Gospel. That title is saint. Today on the feast of All Saints, we celebrate the union of lives well lived in the presence of Our Lord. We honor the giants from history who inspire us—I think of Elizabeth Ann Seton and Archbishop Oscar Romero as just two great saints of recent times. But I also remember the unsung saints who live among us in our families, our parishes, and beyond. Their lives are examples, too, of holiness and dedication to witnessing God’s saving grace. If you need a role model, there are many.What’s important to remember is that sainthood on earth is how we prepare ourselves for sainthood for all time. As with most things, the transformation we long for is in God’s hands. We can’t know exactly how we will be welcomed home by the saints of heaven. But we know that for God the last word is always life, not death. To quote a saint of some renown: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,and what…
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Jesus has a way of making it simple for us. In today’s Gospel, he provides the only two instructions we will ever need to enter the kingdom of heaven: love God completely; and love one another as much as you love yourself. Easy enough to say. But not always easy to do, especially when we’re confronted with anything but love. Is Jesus asking too much of us? I don’t think so. As faithful Catholics, we know our role is to witness God’s love and saving grace. That is our calling as missioners who have received the promise of salvation in Christ. To reach our reward, Jesus is asking us to literally practice our faith. The more we pray… the more we read scripture… the more we celebrate the sacraments—the closer we come to knowing and loving God. Then, when we have the strength of God’s love in our hearts, witnessing that love becomes second nature even when we are being challenged.Today, Jesus is asking us to be our best in the world of faith—to love God with all our heart—and to do our best in the world of human relationships—by treating others the way we wish to be treated. Fulfilling…
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