Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 3:1-10.19-20; Mark 1:29-39)

Today’s first reading presents a classic Old Testament text.  It will again be heard in Sunday’s Eucharist.  The story provides a template for how the Lord calls people to work in His service.

Two features stand out in this reading.  First, the child Samuel is made aware that he is being called.  He hears a voice. Whether the voice comes in a dream or is external to Samuel the reading does not say.  Anyway, Samuel is made conscious that someone wants something from him.  Second, Samuel consults his master, the priest Eli, about what he hears.  Indeed, at first he thinks that Eli might have called him.  Eli knows the ways of God so that he could help Samuel discern what the voice is asking from Samuel.

We should understand the story as the way God may be calling us.  In our time, as it was in Eli’s and Samuel’s, a revelation of the Lord seems uncommon.  Nevertheless, God may use a dream or an intuitive sense that He wants us to do something for Him.  We might, like Samuel, confer with a person known for holiness to help us discern what we are being called to do.  When we figure out what God wants, again with the assistance of a wise person, we should readily embrace the mission.  We need not worry.  God is like a father who always wants what is best for his children.

Monday, August 20, 2018

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary time

(Ezekiel 1:2-5.24-28c; Matthew 17:22-27)

Every other summer the Church presents a healthy selection of readings from the prophets of Israel in weekday masses.  Some may wonder why the Church bothers with these ancient authors.  For centuries the answer was because the prophets foretell the coming of Christ.  But since the Vatican renewal, the prophets and, indeed, the entire Old Testament are read with a wider scope.

In today’s reading the prophet Ezekiel tells of his call to proclaim the word of God.  He finds himself in Babylonia as an exile.  The heavens roar with thunder, and the lightning gives way to a vision of glory. God appears in human form.  The scene is reminiscent of a famous definition of God as mysterium tremendum et fascinans (fearful and fascinating mystery).

God calls us out of ourselves and our petty concerns to serve Him.  The experience can be frightening. It means letting go of at least a modicum of peace.  But following the Lord’s directive, we will find greater happiness.  He will lead us to a life transcending our dreams.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

(Acts 22:3-16; Mark 16:15-18)

The other day it was reported that a young baseball player with ample potential was giving up the sport to study for the priesthood. The article marveled that a person would forfeit the opportunity to earn millions of dollars for what it termed as “a calling.” The young man says that baseball is “only a game” implying that his calling holds much deeper meaning.

In a way this baseball player’s story resembles Paul’s in the first reading today. Both are called to change their respective courses in life. From ferreting out Christians, Paul is mandated by Jesus to carry on his mission. It would be hard to overestimate the sacrifices that Paul will make as Jesus’ preacher. In one of his letters he lists the brushes with death that he has undergone. More than that, perhaps, are the discomforts and the rejection he endured daily to carry the gospel to far off lands.

We should ask “why?” What moves people to make such sacrifices. The motive seems to be more than ambition or an ideal that they want to see realized. Most probably it is a love relationship with the Lord who takes over not only the mind but the heart. The baseball player wants to shift his whole attention to Jesus so that he might know him completely and then offer him his whole self. Paul does just that, and Jesus returns the affection by making himself Paul’s consolation in every trial.