Readings:
Reading I: Isaiah 8: 23 – 9:3
Psalm 27:2, 4, 13-14
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 1:10 -13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17
When God calls me, I will answer
When God calls me, I will answer
When God calls me, I will answer
I’ll be somewhere listening for my name
This adaption of a song from the Black religious tradition speaks to the journey of discernment and the response to a call from God.
My brother updated me on a recent trip to Oklahoma, where he attended two weeks of training seminars as well as experienced a little down time away from the busyness in his life. He shared that he now understands why I go on retreat, because taking the time to get away, to withdraw, has given him the opportunity to listen to his inner voice, the voice of the Spirit that is calling him.
When God calls me, I will answer
I’ll be somewhere listening for my name
I remember the stories of the saints and the holy men and women in the bible who were called by God and responded, sometimes with enthusiasm, but many times with anxiety and hesitation, a few even running away as fast as they could. Depending on who is calling, our response can lead us towards life, hope, and resurrection, or towards death and despair. In today’s readings, we see various depictions of call. These point to the power and the challenge of answering a call. God is constantly calling us today, as God called Isaiah and as Jesus called his disciples. These stories remind us that we are people on a journey and that God is continually calling us. These words and examples from four persons of faith may give insight and serve as guides in the spiritual life journey.
JOHN NEAFSEY
In the book, A Sacred Voice is Calling: Personal Vocation and Social Conscience.(Orbis, 2006), John Neafsey, a clinical psychologist, focuses on vocation, call, and social conscience. He describes that the Latin roots of the word vocation (vocare, “to call,” and vox, “voice”) both center around the experience of hearing the call. He further writes that Carl Jung said that the original meaning of “to have a vocation” is to be addressed by a voice. But who is calling? How do we discern? Neafsey gives various criteria we should use to tell the difference between the still, small voice of the Spirit and all the other distracting noises within ourselves and our world. He shares that listening to the voice of God calls us to be attentive to what gives us joy, to discover what are our talents and gifts, and finally, how the Spirit is leading us to respond to the common good.
THEA BOWMAN
Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA is another guide for us as we discern our call. Sr. Thea Bowman, in speaking at a Martin Luther King gathering in 1988, stated that “We’re all called. We’re called as members of the human race, to free ourselves and to free one another.” How can we journey in freedom, remembering we are called to be united with one another? For Sr. Thea Bowman, whose cause for canonization is in process in Rome, being called is always about our sense of community and love. We do not live in isolation, and we must continually reflect on how our call is related to the common good. As she reminds us, we are called to “walk together in a new way toward that land of promise, and to celebrate who we are and whose we are.” This means loving yourself, others, and God. The response to the call must be rooted in love, as well as our own authentic sense of self, which will lead us to freedom.
HOWARD THURMAN
I wish to suggest that one cannot authentically respond to a call without the discipline of listening. In the busyness of our lives, when do we take the time to stop, be still, and listen to the voice of God? When do we attentively and intentionally focus on the inner voice within that is calling us to be authentically ourselves and to live lives of service both in community and in relation to the natural world. The great theologian and mystic Howard Thurman writes of the givenness of God as expressed in the hunger of the heart. For Thurman it is “the movement of the heart of the human person toward God; a movement that is in a sense within God. God’s heart sharing its life with God.” (Disciplines of the Spirit, Friends United Press, 1963). It is through prayer in an atmosphere of trust that one can wait and be still. It is in the stillness, in a stance of silence and listening, that Thurman encountered the Presence of God.
POPE FRANCIS
As the prophet Isaiah proclaims, “the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.” The light that shone so brightly during the time of Isaiah, the light that called to the disciples in Matthew, is still burning brightly today, if only we take the time to stop and look for it. That light can be blurred because of the evil that also dwells in our society. It is helpful then to recall the recent words of Pope Francis that offer hope in these times. On a visit to Northern Canada in July, Pope Francis spoke to indigenous youth and elders from the Inuit community urging them to “come to the light each day, be a part of a team and do all this within your own culture.” (July 29, 2022). Pope Francis reminds us that we all live within a particular and specific context, and that that context shapes how we respond to the call. In November, Pope Francis, at St. Peter’s Basilica on the World Day of the Poor, reminded us to “Bear witness, and let us light candles of hope in the midst of darkness. Amid dramatic situations seize opportunities to bear witness to the Gospel of Joy and to build a more fraternal world. Let us commit ourselves to justice, peace and stand at the side of the weakest. “ In both reflections, Pope Francis urges us to move toward the light and dispel the darkness that can block our ability to be persons of hope and good news. What we focus on is what we give power to. As we journey towards focusing on the light, we open ourselves to allowing God’s spirit, which transforms us and gives us the power and ability to also transform our world.
When God calls me, I will answer
I’ll be somewhere listening for my name
All four of these guides call us to be holy listeners and to move toward the light. To be persons of light, we must take the time to listen to that inner voice of the Spirit calling us to be united with one another, to be our authentic selves, and to proclaim justice and peace in the world. It means taking the time to slow down, to be still, and to find a place where we can truly listen to the voice of God. As we journey during these next few weeks of Ordinary Time, let us reflect on how we might be holy listeners who respond in love to God’s voice in the world.