RESPONDING
When we think of God calling, many of us are predisposed to correlate that to a vocation to the priesthood and religious life. We might think that God calls only the prophets and apostles as in our readings today. All of us are called, in our own way, to use our unique gifts for the service of others and to build this Kingdom of God. The Second reading from two Sundays ago stress this point, where St Paul uses the easily understood analogy of the human body, stating each of us are a different part of the same body. We cannot all be eyes, ears, feet, and that all parts of the same body are important and needed. So too are our unique gifts to support each other on this earthly pilgrimage.
Pope St. John Paul II, at the turn of the new millennium, urged all Catholics “Duc in altum!”, to “put out into the deep (for a catch)!” He continues “These words ring out to us today, and invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: ‘Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever’ (Heb 13:8)”[i] This call continues to resonate today! Sure it sounds daunting, and some of us may be tempted to withdraw and doubt ourselves as the Prophet Isaiah did. But when we do this, the question comes to mind – what are we avoiding, even running away from? Is it the invitation to do something? We may not realise that rejecting the invitation may also be rejecting the one who invites, to reject that opportunity to let God walk me through the process. We may not realise that the self-deprecation we express with “I am not good enough” is also a form of Pride, because we are tacitly acknowledging that “I do not need God. I can do this by myself. I can trust my own strength.” If we trust in our own strength, or lack thereof, we’re playing God. Our confidence always must be in Him. If He calls, we just must obey. We must remember that God does not call the “qualified”, but he qualifies those he called.
I once read a reflection on the prophet Jonah, where God could easily have called any other person, but God chose to continue to rescue that relationship he had with Jonah until Jonah was moved to respond first to God’s love. God can be very persistent in showing us his love, and that “Aha!” moment that we see in today’s readings, with Isaiah in the first, and with Simon Peter in the Gospel when both come to the realisation and become overcome with the proof of God’s enduring and persistent love for them. Our psalm today resonates with this theme of gratitude which overflows from remembering all that God has done for us in our lives. The word remembering here carries twofold meanings, the first of “recalling” from our memory, but the second re-membering also suggests reconciliation and reunification. We are reminded that we are a member of the Body of Christ. Have we spent time to just think about what God has done for us in our lives, in ways like being present by our side in times of difficulty, pain, and loss? Have we realised that God has given us strength, wisdom, and grace during these times of trial to weather the storms? In times where we are blessed with an unexpected windfall where our nets stretched to breaking point, have we realised that it is God’s largesse?
The right response to love is to return love, and to share that love with others. In responding to God’s invitation, we are saying that we trust him with our lives, with our gifts and talents, with our resources. We are affirming that God gave us our lives, gifts, talents, and resources, and that we are placing these at the service of others as our response to His love. We’re saying yes to the plans he has for us, these “plans for (my) welfare and not for harm, to give (me) a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV-CE). We’re saying, “Speak Lord. Your servant is listening.” because we want to listen to God, to have this relationship with him, to fall in love all over again, to be convinced that God truly wants what is best for us. We can make our own personal journeys of remembering God’s faithfulness, celebrating God’s goodness, and believing God completely.
Only then can we respond with conviction, “Here I am, Lord, send me.”
Our song for reflection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH1Wn4fTiBs
————————————————————————————————————-
[i] John Paul II. “Novo Millenio Ineunte.” The Holy See, January 6, 2001, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte.html.
Article by Daniel Tham, HFC Blog Contributor