ANSWERING THE CALL

November 13, 2009

Can you answer the call? That's a question about readiness and competency, about courage and the willingness to commit, about the kind of dedication and intensity of purpose that are required to overcome obstacles and achieve a worthy goal.

The fact is, each of us does have a calling, or vocation, in life. It is God himself who calls, although it is often the case that we do not understand to what we are being called. We all want more than a job, a paycheck, a comfortable home, and good entertainment. We want life to be an adventure. We want our metal tested. We want to find out for ourselves what we're made of, and to see if we have what it takes to be heroes and champions. We want a call to greatness and glory.

God wants the same things for us. He wants us to achieve greatness in our lives, because in so doing, we give glory to him. It is no different than the case of any parent wanting to feel the wholesome pride at seeing a son or daughter achieve anything worthwhile in life.

The big question, then, is: what will make God really proud of us. What will really give him glory? In what does authentic human greatness consist?

The answer is simple: God is best glorified the way Jesus Christ glorified him, by doing his will.

If we do our own will, the likely result will be worshiping ourselves for doing what we thought was important. If we seek to do God's will, we more and more appreciate the greatness of his wisdom and ways, and the likely result will be worshiping him.

The great question, then, is: what is God's will for me? What would he have me do? What mission has he entrusted to me?

God's normal way is to entrust small things to us at first, and if we are faithful, to later trust great works to us. Jesus reminds us that he who is faithful in small matters will be faithful in great, and vice versa.

The first thing, then, is to prove to God we are trustworthy, and that he can count on us. And the simplest and most important way to do that is to lead sinless lives. This shows God that we are faithful to his commandments. This calls for a basic change in our lives from sinfulness to sinlessness.

It is like the case of a tribe of primitive people in an underdeveloped region of the world who began to die in great numbers from the disease known as typhus. A health officer from the central government of the territory came to visit them. She shortly suspected the trouble, ran some tests with her field equipment, and then began to take the normal precautions.

Calling the leaders of the people together, she gave them instructions that from now on all the drinking water was to be boiled. She even gave a demonstration in the village square of how this was to be done. Then she told the leaders to spread the word to all the heads of families and the women-folk. That night she rested well for the first time in weeks.

The next day, however, seven more tribesmen were reported dead, the day after that, four, the third day, nine. The reason: no one was boiling their drinking water according to instructions. The doctor agonized over this. She pleaded, and even threatened to bring the governor, but to no avail. No one would boil water.

You see, neither their parents nor their parents' parents before them had ever boiled water. Their way, therefore, had to be right, and the health officer's way wrong. It was as simple as that.

That is a tale of simple people, we may say. With us, things are otherwise, for we are educated and prudent and rational. The sad fact is, however, that God issues a call which at first requires a change in our daily routine that seems no more complicated than changing a simple habit or routine which no one around us seems to think important.

But because the daily life we drink, so to speak, is contaminated with the effects of sin, we can never experience the spiritual health we were created for without somehow purifying ourselves.

Purifying ourselves from sin clears our vision, purifies our hearts, and sets our minds right, and that is what prepares us and makes us poised to do yet greater works for God's glory.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 09-Jun-2010 10:44 sitemap