Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - Wednesday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 3:1-10, 19-20 and Mark 1:29-39]So Eli said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the Lord came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening." [1 Samuel]
One of our parishioners at our university parish here at Texas Tech in Lubbock is on the faculty of the School of Law. Once a semester he invites me to come and address his classes on the subject of alternative careers that a law degree might help with. Since I am a priest, a religious and have a law degree, I become a kind of "Exhibit A" for my reflections. Many a law student will ask the question in law school, "Is this really what I want to do?" Some, of a more religious bent, will ask "Is this what God is calling me to be?" Note that I use the words, "to be" and not the words "to do." The difference is the one between a "vocation" and a "career." The first scripture for today is a classic example of someone being called to BE a prophet!
Every one of us has a vocation by virtue of our baptism. We may express this vocation in different ways: marriage, religious life/ministry, single life, but these serve as a foundation for discovering the talents which may qualify us to serve others as ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, athletes, secretaries, etc.. WHAT we DO is our career. WHO we ARE is our vocation. On retreats I have encountered persons who have spent years "doing" a particular profession or job and feel as if they never found any happiness in what they did. It was "a way of making a living."
When I was the director of novices for our Southern Dominican Province, the fundamental question that I challenged the novices to answer was, "Does becoming a Dominican tell the truth about you?" Samuel was dramatically challenged to the truth. Our process of "discernment" may be less direct. Since I live by a large state university and encounter students every day, I know that for some the discernment process is very difficult and arduous one. For others, they've "known" what they want to be since grade school. This discernment also overlaps with the discernment to marriage, religious life, single life. The best advice I can give is what Eli said to Samuel. If you think God is "calling" you, do try to listen. This call may be something someone else notices in you or in particular talents you have. Married life is a "natural" call, but often the discernment for this vocation is very superficial and based on infatuation. The voice of the call may indeed be in the other person, but requires a lot of mutual discernment. The same is true for religious life or even single life.
Samuel had the good fortune to have a wise "spiritual director" like Eli. Perhaps many of us could follow his example. AMEN
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