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The inner word

25 Oct 2015 - Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Running through the readings this week is a sense of call. We hear of the Israelites’ joy when God called them back from exile. The Letter to the Hebrews makes it clear that only God calls the high priest. In the gospel the blind Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus, and Jesus to him. Where and to what is God calling you? Back to God? To some new vocation? To receive healing?

Vocation call

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Homily themes

12 Jul 2015 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world. If this week’s readings have a theme, it might be: “Everything starts with God.” Despite the opposition of the priests who had gotten cozy with rulers—and despite his own reluctance—Amos answered the call of God’s “taking” of him to renew the prophetic office of Israel. For its part the Letter to the Ephesians said God’s plan of salvation for each person is so encompassing that it was made even from before creation. And in the gospel Jesus told the apostles to depend on nothing and no one but God and what God put in their paths.

Vocation call

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Homily themes

16 Nov 2014 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Religious obligations are often presumed to be pious things we do to please God. What if God wants us to be who we were created to be most of all? Vocation is not just a job, a role, or an activity. It is a fulfillment of our humanity characterized by spiritual fruitfulness. God gives us “talents” to bring to fruition, but the external fruits are empowered by spiritual ones. The final spiritual fruit, self-control, keeps us faithful to the rest and to our ultimate goal.

vocations talents

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Exploring the word

11 May 2014 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle A

Today we pray for vocations—and mothers. Not such a strange pairing because many vocations into this world come by way of mothers. Many learned to say their prayers from their mothers and were brought to Mass (later dragged to Mass) and sacraments and other parish involvements because it was important to their mothers. You learned her values and observed them in her example and maybe that left an impression on you. A lot of you are in church this morning because of the woman we honor society-wide today. But obviously some inherited their religious values from their fathers, or grandmothers, or a significant mentor or friend who made the faith seem so attractive and desirable that they came to the church later. It's probably extremely rare (if it ever happens at all) that someone wakes up one morning and independently has a thought to become a Catholic or to be baptized a Christian. Faith is a gift that comes by way of a giver. As the saying goes, it's caught more than taught. We use "call"-language of invitation or summons to describe the experience. People come to faith because of what they've heard, and their arrival is their response. "Call" is not a singular event. When you enter into relationships with people, you don't get one phone call, one invitation, and never hear from them again. Rather that voice becomes a familiar voice. You come to know everything about that voice because it's a sound you want to hear and to which you leap up in response. The call to Christ is the same way. It doesn't occur once, in baptism, and then fade away. Instead you seek to hear that voice again and again. So you come around to dinner. You share the old stories over and over. You listen for new information and affirm the fundamental intimacy with gestures: rituals of greeting and departure, asking for forgiveness as needed, surrendering forgiveness when asked, handshakes, careful attention, sharing resources, eating a meal of celebration together. Mostly you're present to relationships so that intimacy can deepen. You spend time talking and in silence. You share the events of your lives, the pain and triumph, the hopes and the needs. You build trust through the sheer force of time spent together. When the relationship is real, the sound of that person's voice is something you recognize anywhere: on the phone, in the street, in a shout from across a crowded auditorium or whispered into the darkest hour. Context doesn't matter: That's him, that's her. When you've learned the sound that grace makes in your lives, you'll recognize it anywhere and everywhere. You'll even be surprised how often you're being called by the voice that desires to lead you all the way home.

Authors Alice Camille

Vocation call Mother

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Exploring the word

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

HOW OFTEN DO you pray for the president? It doesn’t matter if you didn’t vote for him—maybe you should pray harder for those you didn’t want to elect! Have you ever prayed for the leaders of Europe, or Russia, or China, or the Middle East? Would you lift up a prayer for a poor leader or one you deemed outright evil? Leadership might be one of the world’s most neglected vocations. There will always be folks who grab power, but leadership is something else again. When we look to the gospel for direction, we see that a leader must first of all be a servant. To serve at the top, one must be familiar with the bottom. To know how and where to lead, you have to know where your followers are to begin with and where they need to go. The church teaches something called the "common good.” If leaders want to serve their people best, they should determine what’s best for all, not only for the strongest, smartest, or loudest. “Survival of the fittest” is not a principle that serves the common good. “The last will be first” is more like it. This is why, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, we might consider the example of Saint Peter, the church’s rock. Even if Jesus hadn’t appointed him as head over all, perhaps he might have been voted in by popular acclaim. It’s hard not to like Peter: bold, passionate, articulate, impetuous. Above all, he’s very human. Peter makes sense to us. He also wakes up our inner hero and makes us aspire to be like him. Consider his speech today, delivered after a night spent in jail under custody of the religious authorities. These are the same authorities who mere weeks ago dragged Jesus before Pilate and demanded his crucifixion. Peter has every reason to be afraid. If ever there was a time to soft-pedal your dogma, this is it. But Peter’s learned some things from his time at the bottom—about the true cost of compromise and the grief of denying your friends and yourself. He’s not going to take the safe way out and refuse to acknowledge the one he denied before. So he declares that he comes in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the crucified one, the Risen One, the stone rejected, the cornerstone, the name that saves. Clear enough? Such courage garners a collective gasp from the Sanhedrin. They instinctively know they can’t contain this determination. So they let their captives go. If we want to see this kind of courage in the world again, all we have to do is pray for it. Today’s a good day for that. Every day is. Related scripture links Jesus is the same: Heb. 13:8 Trusting in God: Ps. 32:10; 37:3; 40:4; 131:1-3; Prov. 3:5; 20:22; Isa. 26:4 The paradox of the Resurrection: 1 Cor. 15:42-44 The strength of the kingdom: 2 Cor. 10:3-5 In weakness, power reaches perfection: 2 Cor. 12:7b-10 Catechism links The good shepherd: CCC 551-553; 606; 609; 649; 753-754

Authors Alice Camille

leaders Leadership common good World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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Sign & sacrament

29 Apr 2012 - Fourth Sunday of Easter; Good Shepherd Sunday, Cycle B

Today the church invites us to pray for vocations. Consider starting with a prayer about your own religious vocation. Have you considered religious life, holy orders, or lay ministry? Living a life of Christian witness carries with it much responsibility, but when practiced with humility and compassion it engenders a life of great joy. The church needs you and your commitment to serve. Be open to unexpected options, and in the words of Pope John Paul II, “Trust Christ, because he trusts you.”

vocations

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Exploring the word

11 Dec 2011 - Third Sunday of Advent, Cycle B

EVEN ON MY best days I humbly admit, “I am not the Christ.” Even on that occasion in third grade when I proudly won the Religion Bee at our Catholic school (I knew what the Immaculate Conception was), I was not quite on the verge of saving the world—although I felt capable of it at the time. In the most powerful moments of my life, I was not powerful enough to salvage human history. In my wisest hour I couldn’t solve the problem of sin or explain why people suffer. In my kindest hour I couldn’t mend a broken heart, much less a shattered leg. So don’t look to me for miracles, healings, sermons on mountaintops, or the reconciliation of heaven and earth. I may forgive the occasional trespass, but I can hardly take credit for the forgiveness of sin on any grander scale. Only God can do these things. Only through the life, ministry, and teaching of the divine Son can they be revealed to us. I can dearly wish for miracles, for the healing of a friend or the happiness of a family member or peace on earth. I can pray for these outcomes, and should, and do. But I can’t bring so much as a gnat into being on my own. I know who I am, which includes knowing who I’m not. Yet it’s easy for any of us to get confused on this score. John the Baptist wasn’t. Whether he claimed to be the Christ or the local dogcatcher probably didn’t matter at this point in his career: He was toast either way. Still he refused to aggrandize his position in the scheme of things. He wouldn’t describe himself as so much as a prophet. He simply designated himself as a voice. He cried out. That was the most he was willing to claim. And being a voice isn’t bad. All of us who call ourselves Christian share this fundamental vocation. We cry out. We speak against injustice, stand with those who suffer, tell the truth in a season of easy lies. Most of all we bring glad tidings to the poor, as the final generation of Isaiah writers puts it. We also pledge to make sure the poor have a reason to rejoice always, in the words of Paul. Most of us won’t lose our heads for embracing this vocation, but it may cost us a fraction of our income, a bit of social influence, the backslapping approval of some neighbors, or a few hours of our time. Occasionally someone loses a job or a lifestyle for crying out—but reaps everlasting benefits, which you have to admit is a pretty good retirement package. Without being the Christ, we remain “in Christ”—a state in which all things are possible. Related scripture links Humility of John: John 1:15, 29-34, 3:27-30 No other authority but the divine name: 1 Cor. 3:5-23; Phil. 2:9-11 Truth sets us free: John 8:31-36 Baptized into death: Rom. 6:3-11 No longer I who live: Gal. 2:20 Joy to the world: Neh. 8:10; Matt. 5:12; John 15:11; Rom. 12:12; Gal. 5:22; Phil. 4:4-7; 1 Pet. 1:6-9 Catechism links John's identity: CCC 696; 717-720 Grateful hearts: CCC 2638 The Christ: CCC 436; 695; 714; 716; 1286-1289 Joy: CCC 301; 523; 1829

Authors Alice Camille

john the baptist Vocation Imitation

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Exploring the word

09 Jan 2011 - Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A

HOW DO YOU know when a call is from God? someone asked recently on the VISION Vocation Network website. When I repeated the question (which I found very valid) to a friend in ministry, he snorted, “How do you know it’s God—and not something else?” Clearly, some of us may feel shanghaied by God’s will now and then. In such instances that will may seem to have struck again, blindsiding us and making havoc of our plans. I suspect when we experience that sort of visitation, it’s more a matter of our attitude than God’s intentions. One person’s menacing intruder is another person’s surprise guest! The “how do we know?” question is one of discernment, the art form we Christians cultivate to guide us through life. Granted, some of us are better artists than others, which is why professional spiritual directors exist. But even if you never progressed past the crayon stage in your art education, you, too, can figure out where God is prodding you by following the scriptural whorls and patterns of the divine fingerprints. Prophecy gives us the first pattern: The faithful servant of God stands for justice. If justice itself confuses, that’s because we live in a world where human justice rarely intersects with the divine variety. Isaiah describes justice as the light that exposes oppression and lifts the unfortunate from its grip. When we see wrongdoing and feel motivated to speak out against it, we can reliably consider that a poke from God. The second “holy fingerprint” is noted in Saint Peter’s speech in the home of Cornelius: When we’re attracted to do as Jesus did, we know it’s from God. What sort of activity imitates Jesus? “Doing good”—which may be old-fashioned but never out of style. Bringing “healing”—to those who are in bodily distress or gripped by the darkness of mental trauma, poverty, discouragement, addiction, isolation, and other “devils” that bind human freedom. If the first fingerprint is found in prophetic speech and the second in Christ-like action, the third is more mystical: direct revelation. That is the familiar divine finger pointing from a cloud in comic strips. In my personal discernment I’d frankly prefer this kind of unambiguous affirmation: “That’s it, Alice, you’re my kind of woman!” That would both encourage me and let any adversaries know that God’s with me on this one. But because I can’t always count on the revelatory, I grasp the other end of Jesus’ experience here, his advice to John: “Allow it now.” It may not make sense, it may come wrapped in question marks, but do it anyway. Let wheat and tares grow up together and trust God to sort it out at the harvest. Related scripture links Flesh is grass: Isa. 40:6-8 Seventy years or eighty: Ps. 90:10 Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof: Matt. 6:34 (KJV) Catechism links Baptism: CCC 535-537; 1213-1274

Authors Alice Camille

Vocation call life calling Discernment

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