VOCATION, A CALL TO BE.
February 6, 2022
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – C.
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I
said; “send me!” (Is 6:8)
More than a call to do something, a vocation is a call to
be. I’m not called to do the priest, but to be a priest. You are not called to
do the husbands and wives, but to be husband and wife. Besides and above all,
we are all consecrated and called by God to be Saints. Here is what the Church
calls the universal vocation, the vocation to holiness. The Lord wants us to be
with him. And through being with him, we will learn about him, be like him and so
share him with others.
The Catechism well summarizes the mission of every Christian
and the Church saying: “Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the
Church's whole apostolate”; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained
ministers as well as for laypeople clearly depends on their vital union with
Christ.378 In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times, and the
various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms.
But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always "as it were,
the soul of the whole apostolate.” CCC. 864
Today's readings are all speaking of the call or vocation.
By definition, the word vocation derives from the Latin VOCARE "to
call." Universally, it can be about any kind of call. But specifically,
vocation is a call either for a profession or a particular form of life. We can
say for example that one has the vocation or a strong impulse or inclination to
follow a particular activity or career. Usually, hearing the word vocation, we
automatically think of priesthood or religious life. Therefore, the word
vocation has commonly been associated and has become a property for religious
and consecrated life.
From today's readings, vocation gets more its meaning of a
calling to be more than a calling to do. Isaiah is called to be a prophet;
someone the Lord will send. Simon Peter and his companions are called, from
fishermen, to become fishers of men. And Paul is called to be a preacher.
In the first reading, we hear about the vocation of Isaiah.
In this special and great vision, the Lord transformed him. He took away from
him his wickedness, purged all his sins, and made him clean and ready for his
mission. Thus, when the Lord asked, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for
us?" Isaiah did not hesitate to answer: "Here I am, send me!"
In our lives also, we do have moments of particular
encounters with the Lord. And these moments of being with him change our whole
existence and open us to be his instruments, his messengers. Vocation, as we
said is a transformative encounter that opens to a particular calling.
In the Gospel, we have another example of that
transformative encounter. The life of Simon, Andrew, James, and John will
completely change when their way will cross that of Jesus. A huge crowd, Luke
says, was pressing to listen to the Lord. To avoid being crushed by them, he
asked to use the boat of the fishermen washing their nets. And the story, we
know it. After preaching to the crowd, he gave the order to the fishermen to
cast the net. Few words of discussion or explanation, obedience, and then come
the miraculous catch. And from there, will flow a calling: "Do not be
afraid; from now on you will be catching men." And Luke adds that they
left everything and followed him, to be with him. The story of their life will
completely change. They definitely will no longer be the same guys. The boat
will no longer be their working place, but a means of transportation to move
from one place to another one bringing the good news to people and winning them
to Christ.
One nice similitude in the vocation of Isaiah and the
fishermen is that none of those who were called found themselves worthy. Isaiah
was crying his fate: "Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean
lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts!" Peter, on behalf of his companions, will say,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." That tells us a
beautiful truth about the calling of God. The Lord does not call the sinless,
the immaculate, the righteous. Vocation is not a call for angels. God calls the
sinners to be with him, to purify them. And it is only after that he can make
of them instruments to catch other sinners to him. Even Paul can say something
similar about his own vocation saying: “Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” But from being born abnormal
and sinner, God will make of him the greatest evangelist, bearer of the Good
News of Christ Resurrection to the whole world.
Our personal experience, what we have lived with the Lord, and the way it has transformed us is what will bring other people to him through our testimony. We preach to others what we ourselves received and believed. That is what Paul says in his exhortation to the Corinthians. "I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received." What we ourselves believed has changed our lives, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior, is what we preach to others in order to change their lives too. Our vocation or mission becomes the fruit of our personal being with the Lord. No one can rightly preach what he has not himself experienced. Here is a beautiful challenge to the self-proclaimed men and women of God. Has the Lord called you? Have you taken the time to be with him? What have you learned from your being with him? That is what you must teach to his people. Stop preaching worldliness and money. Share Jesus, share his love. Share your experience of being with him. You will thus make more disciples.
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