Vocation to life

From the beginning of time, God has called us to life. The vocation that we all received is to life, and that life in fullness. From the dust, from the earth, man was called by God, like a plant that sprouts out of the earth to bear fruit. This vocation reminds us of how humble, gentle and patient we ought to be. Our vocation is for a life-time commitment and a life-time responsibility.

The whole of the Eucharistic celebration brings out the various elements of our God-given vocation. Our vocation to life calls us for humble living. What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us; it creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with God (Monica Baldwin). In our Eucharistic celebration we show our humility by acknowledging our faults and failures and asking God to forgive us. We listen to the Word of God and meditate on it: this shows our humility in accepting God’s word against our insufficient words. Thomas Merton says, “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real”.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that the serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint and the purity of mind are called the austerity of thought. When we witness that God transforms our selfish hearts and our worthless offerings of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, it compels us to be gentle. The road less travelled in the mass is our road to receive the communion. That walk, that impulse within us in fixing our hearts on the heart of God makes us gentle.

All human wisdom is summed up in two words: wait and hope. Patience is the virtue that is predominant in our vocation to mission. ‘Bearing with one another through love’ and ‘striving to preserve the unity of the spirit’ need patience. Another meaningful walk to remember every day is our walk out of the Church: what am I walking into? What am I walking out of? Do I feel that my vocation calls me to walk humbly, talk gently and live with hope? Amen.