When I was a child and even as a teenager, my family used to visit another family. One time, we were all sitting around the table – my parents, brothers and sisters, and the parents of this family with their children. We were in conversation or playing a game, I am not totally sure, all I remember is it was loud at the table. All of a sudden, the mother jumped up and went down stairs to the basement. She heard her child. I don’t know how she heard her child over the noise who was in the basement in a room. But she did and it was amazing to me.
Today is Vocations Sunday or Good Shepherd Sunday and it also happens to be Mother’s Day and the thirteenth anniversary of my priesthood. So, it seems to be a good Sunday to talk about vocations. A vocation is a calling from God. God has created each of us for a special purpose. Not only has He made us for a purpose, but He is calling us to that purpose. How each person is called is different, as the Gospel shows. But the truth that God is calling is a fact. It may be, like that little child in my first story, whose mother’s ears and heart were tuned into. It might be like St Paul through a humbling and epic encounter. It might also be through chance or through fallen means that God brings us to our vocation.
The best way to be able to hear from Him often in our lives is to stay in the state of grace. I remember that my call started after the first time I decided to be really honest in confession, even though it was not a well prepared confession because I did not know how to examine my conscience. It was the first time I tried to be honest and confess things I was too embarrassed to confess before. God used that and spoke to me like He had never before. Things were clearer than they had been before.
My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. It took off even further when I wanted to know what He wanted me to do. I remember the day I was open to hearing His desire for me. I decided that God had done so much for me and I had given Him nothing in return. I decided to give God one year of my life. That started the adventure. From there, He called me to a missionary team for a year. In that time I experienced God’s love in new ways. I witnessed miracles, God’s passion and desire for souls, if we would only open up to Him. During that year, I learned trust and was taught to tithe (give ten percent of my income even though it was small). And I found that the more I trusted, the more God came through. I remember one time in the middle of the month I was down to $20 (we only got $100 a month). I was worried and yet I felt called just to give it away, so I did. And there was peace. I got to do and experience things that I never would on my own by following my own desires and will.
The Call has been hard for sure. But the thing that has made it so hard is me and my lack of trust in God. My lack of tuning in as that mother was to her child. My lack of seeking the voice of God amidst the storms of life. The times when I isolated myself from God and His path often led through some pretty hard situations. If I listen for the voice, then I am amazed, even at the most horrible times. If I don’t then, even the simplest things become a great trial.
How do we listen? We start by wanting to listen. I think every one here knows it would be a good thing to listen to God. However, we are often scared because we have been deceived that God will make our lives hard and boring and drudgery. That is the devil and I wonder how much time we give to him by simply not making the choice to trust God. Following the Good Shepherd is never boring; following your own will is. And it sucks the life out of you. Are you willing to ask God to speak to you today? He is waiting for the invitation. You might think that you did not follow God’s call in life and need to change everything. But you need to speak to God about that because it may be that you have and you don’t know it and are not profiting by it. Lord, let me hear your voice. Speak, Lord, your servant in listening. I admit that it will not go your way when you follow Him. It is like hiring a trainer. You pay someone to help you be miserable and push you to achieve a goal that you couldn’t make on your own. This is God: He is here to help you achieve what you could not on your own, which is sainthood, which is the fullness of your purpose.
I invite you to spend time right now and ask the Lord to speak to you.