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You Did Not Choose Me, I Chose You This month i would like to share with you some thoughts about vocation written by a Miles Jesu member. Our Lord is calling Miles Jesu members to be outstanding in promoting vocations. As our constitutions say: “To save one soul is worth more than the whole of creation. To inspire the vocation of an apostle is to save many souls. The Church in Miles Jesu needs leaders, captains at the orders of Christ the King to counteract the summons that Satan makes so efficiently throughout the world to the leaders of evil in the culture of temporal and eternal death.” The vocation therefore is something most precious, and to awaken it in others is one of the most important works we can do. But what exactly is a vocation? The most important point about a vocation is that it is from God, not from our personal “choice.” Jesus clearly said, “You did not choose me; no, I chose you.” It is God Himself who initiates the vocation, and who freely offers it for the greatest good of the person and the good of countless souls. It is therefore pure folly, a sure plan for disaster, to understand a vocation as something “i choose for myself.” The vocation is not something i figure out that is to my best advantage. It is not what i choose according to my calculations, or preferences, or feelings. No. The vocation has to do with what God wants for me and invites me to receive. Sometimes i may like it, other times i may not like it. All this is not really important. What is important is what God wants for my life. This is my vocation. Following one’s vocation therefore hinges upon really listening to God according to the concrete circumstances of one’s life. God truly shows the prayerful and recollected person his vocation. Jesus taught about the importance of listening in His parable of the sower. Some hear the word of God, “but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.” In fact, many more people have vocations than actually follow them. These individuals simply do not follow their vocation because they are immersed in a world of activities and so do not hear the call of God. His calling is drowned out because of too much noise. Without prayer and recollection, the vocation can’t be discovered. Based on the fundamental truth that the vocation is a personal call from God, another truth necessarily follows. Once the vocation is discovered it must be acted upon immediately. The reason for this is simply that man must promptly do what God asks. This truth is underlined by Jesus, in the warnings he gave to the two men who wanted to delay in following him. One wanted to first go home and bury his father, the other wanted to return home to say good-bye to his family. Jesus’ reply to the first was to “leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.” To the other Jesus said, “Once the hand is laid to the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” The vocation is from God, once it is heard, the person should imitate the fishermen who immediately dropped their nets and followed the Lord We can take the words of our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as our example for encouraging the vocations of the young men and women we meet: “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the the doors for Christ - and you will find true life." May the Lord grant us all the grace to inspire vocations with determination and much enthusiasm. |