Word to the Wise
Sunday, February 9, 2025 - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Isa 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8, 11; Luke 5:1-11]Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am," I said; "send me!" [Isaiah] "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." [Luke]
At ordination time, it is common for the one to be ordained to include small memorial cards of the event with the invitation. I was no exception. I had a Jesuit friend of mine, (Yes, we Dominicans do have Jesuit friends!) who is an artist, design three cards for me. One of those cards had the quote from Isaiah in the first scripture for today. No, I did not experience a call in a temple full of incense [Isaiah] or in a boat full of fish [Peter and the sons of Zebedee]. There was nothing dramatic about it other than dropping a letter to a Dominican vocation director in a mailbox at Tulane University. Later on I would compare my dialogue with God like that of Moses with the voice in the burning bush, but minus the burning bush! "I want you to do this!" "No way!" "Shut up and do what I tell you!"
A law school faculty member at one of the campus ministries I served asked me to come and talk to his students about the vocation to law. (I guess because I have a law degree!). I told the students that a vocation is who you are; a career is what you do. Sometimes these match and sometimes they don't. A vocation can be to married life and parenthood as well as to celibate ministry. When I was Novice Master for my Dominican province, I challenged each novice to ask if becoming a Dominican told the truth about him! I think Isaiah and Peter learned that God knows us better than we know ourselves. Discernment about this is not a neat process. A good spiritual director can help, but ultimately we make a decision. A lot of it can be summed up in St. Francis' famous line: "Who are you, O God? And who am I?" AMEN