~ Bread for the Journey ~
In our second reading St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.” If we were to take this passage out of context from the rest of Paul’s writings, we could possibly get the impression he did not really find joy in the missionary life that He had been called to by God. Thanks be to God that was not the case. St. Paul found great spiritual joy in his vocation in life. He was really good at it in the sense that he put himself out there for Christ and was willing to be an instrument of the Lord, in spite all of his personal limitations, weaknesses and imperfections.
Even though St. Paul loved his calling in life, it was not always an easy or rewarding life. Over the years he had to endure loneliness, inconvenience, hostility, misunderstandings, rejection, betrayal, deprivations, beatings, and eventually death, for the sake of Christ and the message of the Gospel. I am sure there were days or moments where he wrestled with questions such as, “What am I doing? Is it all worth it? Am I getting anything out of this? Can I keep on doing this? Why should I do it? There’s got to be more to life than this?” Our second reading reveals that as he struggled with questions such as these, he came to discover and re-discover that Someone bigger and wiser than himself had called, and continued to call, him to this life of service. Yes, I am talking about God. This growing spiritual awareness give him the ongoing strength to persevere during the tough times and rejoice that he was part of God’s plan to share the healing and saving message of Jesus Christ.
In our own unique way, all of us can relate to both the joy and the struggle of Paul’s ministry, as we live out our own vocation. The vocation of St. Paul reminds us that living out God’s call for our lives will have joys and successes as well as sufferings and struggles. The moments of suffering and struggle does not mean we are not called and that God does not continue to call us. When the moments of stress, discouragement, conflict, or failure as a spouse, parent, single person, religious, clergyman, or servant within our particular career field, seem to be getting the best of us, like St. Paul, may we remember and celebrate we have been called and chosen for this life by God. As we get in touch with our vocation in a new and deeper way, may we renew our commitment to God’s call and go forward with the faith that “where God calls, God equips,” especially if we humbly turn to Him to seek His guidance, strength, encouragement and healing power.
You see, our God given vocation is NOT about us ALWAYS enjoying our lives and what we are doing in our lives. It is about opening ourselves to loving and serving God and others in the way that God calls and equips. The more we embrace this reality with all of our hearts, in both the good times and bad, the more we will be filled with a spiritual joy that pervades every aspect of our lives. Embracing our God given vocation allows us to live a life that goes beyond ourselves and that becomes God’s blessing to those for whom we have been called to serve. Are we willing to be God’s blessing? Are we willing to serve others as God intended us? Do others experience us as God’s blessing? Just a few light hearted things to think about as we live into next week. (LOL-laugh out loud)
May God bless you!
~ Fr. Karl
