Jesus says in the gospel, “Come after me.” Another translation of that would be “Come follow me.” What if Jesus is saying that not only to the Apostles, but to you. What would it mean?
To follow Jesus is to enter into the unknown (as the disciples did) and to give ourselves over to something beyond ourselves. Frederick Buechner says, “The place God calls you is the place where you deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
National Vocation Awareness Week is usually around this time of year. But it was during the elections of last November, so instead of talking about vocations then, I am choosing to share about it now. Actually vocation awareness is NOT just something that we look at only during one week, but it is something that we should be aware of all year.
Vocation to the priesthood and religious life convent . . . is usually what we think of as a “vocation.” but actually we each have a vocation, for some it’s the married life, for some it’s the parenthood life (and hopefully those two go together) for some it’s the single life and for some it’s to the priesthood, or religious life (such as becoming a sister or a brother).
During FIRE earlier this month, I had teachers in grades 4-6 write down questions from the students about vocations. Here are some of their questions:
How long have you been a priest?
Is this your full-time job?
Why do you live in a church?
Do you ever get tired of being a priest?
When did you become and a priest and when do you plan to stop?
Do you ever get “stage fright” during a homily?
Do you have any kids or a wife? Did you ever have a girlfriend before becoming a priest?
Do you go to Church when you aren’t preaching?
Why did you decide to have the job as a priest?
Do you always think about Jesus?
Is it fun being a priest?
There is famous quote, attributed to many people . . . from Chief Seattle to Winston Churchill. I think it is really from the prolific author “Anonymous.” Here’s the quote
A task without a vision is just a job
A vision without a task is just a dream.
A vision with a task can change the world.
Scrolled on a bench on a pathway behind the Retreat in Wayzata:
And did you get what you want from this life, even so? I did.
And what did you want? To call myself beloved. And to feel myself beloved on the earth