Today’s readings are about vocation and calling. Vocation is not a word just for a select few. Everyone is called by God in their lives. We are all called by God to reach out to others. We are all called by God to use our gifts and talents in life.
At first, Samuel failed to recognize the way God was calling him. He first thought it was his mentor Eli who was calling him. It was Eli who first recognized that God was calling him. Then, on the fourth call, Samuel was prepared to listen to God. After that call, Samuel continued to listen carefully to the way God continued to communicate with him in his life. Samuel became an important prophet in the history of Ancient Israel, having been entrusted by God to anoint both Saul and David as kings of Israel. That is where God’s call led him.
“What are you looking for?” This is how Jesus responds to the disciples of John the Baptist who search him out. Perhaps they first look to Jesus out of curiosity. What are we looking for? Do we hear Jesus asking us that question? And how exactly would we answer that question? We may think we are following Jesus in our life of discipleship, but can we answer that question in the context of our journey of faith? Jesus indeed wants to know our answer to that question. Often, we probably think that it should be the other way around, that we should be asking God what he wants from us. Our answers could be very trivial, they could be self-centered, or they could be well altruistic. How we answer that question tells us a lot about where we stand with God, where we stand with other people, and where we stand with ourselves.
The two disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus a question, asking Jesus where he stays. They want to know where they can find him, where they can be with him and encounter him. Jesus responds by issuing them an invitation: Come and see. I love that word, “invitation,” because Jesus invites each one of us to an encounter with him. Knowing Jesus and knowing where he stays are not primarily a matter of intellectual knowledge. No, It is not a matter of information. It is not a question of knowing all the theology there is to know. It is not a question of being an expert in all the teaching and the rules of the Church. Knowing Jesus is a matter of experience. Jesus calls us to seek him, to find him and respond to his presence in our lives. We are called to continuously respond to the invitation we receive from Jesus, with the ups and downs we have our our journey of faith. Sometimes it is making some tweaks to our journey of faith or getting back on track. However, other times, it means a major conversion or transformation. Right now, in our society, accepting this invitation from Jesus may seem very counter-cultural.
So we hear about the call of Samuel in the first reading and the call of Andrew and the other disciple of John the Baptist in the Gospel. What strikes us is that from both these calling grows a personal relationship with God. That is essential. And Andrew and Samuel not only come to faith in God, they not only grow in the faith, but they both bring that faith to others: Andrew as a disciple of Christ and Samuel as God’s chosen prophet. We see Andrew going out in great excitement sharing his faith with his brother, telling him: “We have found the Messiah!” His brother later becomes Peter, first a follower of Christ, then an apostle and then the leader of the new community. It is important for us to note that Simon Peter was not called directly by Jesus, but he was brought to Jesus through his brother. That happens again and again in the history of our Church. Even our great saints were brought to the faith by others. Each one was led to Christ by another person. You know, I tell people the story that I came into the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil in 1992. A few months later, I was serving full time as a lay missionary in a soup kitchen and a food bank in Winnipeg, Canada. I so strongly felt that calling to serve God in that way, to share my faith and the Gospel with others through that service. And it is not just the vocation of missionaries, priests, deacons, consecrated religious, and lay leaders to be evangelizers and to share the faith with others - that is the vocation of all of us. Let us hear that call. Let us share our faith with others. During the pandemic, there may seem to be a lot of challenges to evangelize or to see our faith with others. But there are also more opportunities as well. We have half or a little less than half the people attending weekend Mass at St Jude than we had right before the pandemic. We can reach out to them, encourage them back, and reach out to them in our faith. Remember, sharing our faith with others is what we are called to do as disciples of Christ. We respond to our call. We live out our vocation. We share our faith with others.
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