Friday, June 24, 2016

Isaiah 49:1-6

Hear me, O coastlands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.
He made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me.
You are my servant, he said to me,
Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

I have said that I have been called by God to serve him in the role of Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. I say this as if it were something special. The word ordain means to consecrate, to set aside. I am reserved for the Lord. But this by no means makes me special. God calls every single one of us to a special purpose. There is not one person God does not have a plan for. The difference for someone who is ordained is that they have recognized this calling and have said yes to God’s invitation.

I have been called to many things by our Lord. I consider the diaconate my third official calling. My first vocation will always be my marriage to my wife. This is the greatest vocation a person can receive. It is also probably the most misunderstood vocation there is. A vocation is an invitation from God to a specific purpose. Marriage is not viewed as an invitation from God but as a rite of passage. It is something we expect our children to do. Graduate high school, go to college, get a good job, get married, and have children. This invitation is not extended to all people but we live at a time where it is viewed as a fundamental human right. An invitation is not a right, it is a privilege. The sin of Eve is to demand something God was not willing to give. Eve wanted the knowledge of good and evil. Eve wanted to be like God. People who marry without God’s invitation to do so commit the same sin. It is no wonder why so many marriages fail these days. When people decide to take what God is not obliged to give bad things happen.

My second vocation is that of father. For most this is rolled into their first vocation, to be husband AND father. For me, I am a man of a failed marriage that bore fruit. God may have united me with another woman and I am a husband AND father to our children (and step children) but I will always be an independent father to my oldest son. I have a responsibility to him that differs from my responsibility to my other children. It does not mean that I love him more or differently. It means I have additional gaps to fill that are naturally filled by the union of parents. This union cannot be filled by the marriage I have with my wife and it cannot be filled by any union his mother is in. This is the great mystery of our age where most children are products of split homes. When the unity between husband and wife fails it leaves a gap in the lives of the children that cannot be filled through other relationships.

My third vocation then becomes the diaconate. God provides for everyone. For some he gives them exactly what they need to survive. To others he gives an abundance. To the ones he provides an abundance he then provides them to others without. I have been provided an abundance of spirit to serve my fellow man. He has provided me with this abundance of spirit so that he may use me as a servant to the servant church – a deacon. Not all vocations have the same weight and this one comes third in my list. It does not come before the other two.

God knew us all before we were formed in our mother’s wombs. He had a plan for all of us before time began. He calls us all to a special vocation and gives us the gifts we need to achieve that calling. Can you hear the voice of the Lord calling you to a vocation? Do you respond to him with love in your heart or do you turn a deaf ear to his invitation?

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.