Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - Wednesday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 3:1-10, 19-20 and Mark 1:29-39]"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." [1 Samuel]
One of the most important and common tasks of the campus minister is the role of helping students discern their "calling" in life. Today's first scripture from the First Book of Samuel is a wonderful illustration of that process! Samuel thinks his mentor/boss is calling him, but Eli is trying to take a nap, which Samuel interrupts three times before Eli figures out that it is God who is calling and counsels young Samuel that the next time he hears that "voice" he should say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."
Each semester here at Texas Tech, I am invited by a parishioner who teaches at the law school to come and address his students on the subject of vocation and career. Without going into detail, I try to share with them the fundamental idea that a career is what you do. A vocation is who you are! When I served as Director of Novices for my Dominican province (1988-92), I challenged the novices (men in their first probationary year - "spiritual boot camp") to ask themselves, "Does becoming a Dominican tell the truth about you." The same would be true for anyone entering a demanding profession. In the case of the law students, "Does becoming a lawyer tell the truth about you?" Or is it only a career - i.e. a way to make money to afford what you REALLY want to be (artist, musician, teacher).
The challenge, as Eli learns, is that the voice of the guide should not get in the way of the voice of the Lord, the voice of the truth. The challenge for the student is to be honest about their abilities and character so that their decisions will be realistic and more likely to be happy ones. This would apply to the two most common decisions: vocation (marriage, single life, consecrated celibacy in religious life/priesthood) and career as an expression of vocation (health care, law, ministry, engineering, education, etc.)
It is common to think that God has a secret "plan" that the student has to discern so he or she can be certain they are following "God's will" for him or her) But the "plan" as such is the reality of the student who must then find the best and healthiest way to tell the truth about him or herself. Making choices based on the truth about oneself is the best way to hear the voice of the Lord. AMEN
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