Discernment: Call, Vocation, Response

Today, let us reflect upon Isaiah 42: 6, in which God says to us:  "I, Yahweh, have called you in saving justice, I have grasped you by the hand and shaped you; I have made you a covenant of the people and light to the nations..."

God is the Caller, the one who calls us "in saving justice."  We are called in righteousness!  This is not our own doing. It is God's action, God's doing.   God does not call us and then walk away. No! He "grasps us by the hand," like parents take the hand of a little child and walk with that child to the task they want him/her to do, or like a husband/wife who take each other;s hand in love.

 

The Caller also "shape[s] us. We are the clay in the Potter's hand, being shaped to hold that which needs to be held, to take on the shape needed to carry out the purpose for which the Potter created it!

An agreement, a covenant is created by YAHWEH--God agrees to be our God, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, our Strength so that we carry out God's purposes for which we have been sent, namely, to be YAHWEH'S light in the darkness of the world! We are also called to remain true to God's way of relating to humankind: in love, in mercy, in compassion, in forgiveness!

This vocation is for all of us--no exceptions to this call to be a light in a world of darkness, to carry out God's covenant to create a just world, a world in which God's love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness become a reality for all of God's children.

How will you respond?

The Call, the Vocation and the Response

Discernment: Call, Vocation, Response

We will devote several blogs to what we learn from Old and New Testament passages.

 Let us begin with Baruch: 5: 2-4.  “Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. Up Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God.”

The Call, Vocation and Response:

·         To reflect the glory of God’s name

·         To show all the earth your splendor

·         To stand up on the heights (you are “wrapped in the cloak of justice from God”;  “you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship”)

·         To look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God”

This is everyone’s call—those who are married, those who are in religious life (men or women’s community), those who are single or those who are priests and deacons.

In what ways are you reflecting the glory of God's name? In what ways, by your life, do you show the world God's splendor? Do you stand tall, knowing that you are "wrapped in the cloak of justice from God" and that you will be "named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship" for all eternity?  Do you believe and trust that God is gathering all of His children (and yours) from east and west? Are you rejoicing that God remembers all His children (and yours)?