The Nature of the Call

I was in eighth grade when God called me to be a priest. That day changed my life completely, causing me to leave my old life behind and try to follow God. However, this isn't about me; this is about you and your calling and the nature of a calling from God. Here's what I've cone to know about the call from God. 

It's Supernatural!

When God called me, I wasn't active in my Catholic faith, I had never considered the priesthood as a career option, and it certainly had never been suggested or even mentioned to me. In fact, before hearing the words flow through my heart, "I want you to be a priest," I had never even fathomed the possibility of a relationship with God, let alone a life devoted to Him! So I can say with complete confidence that my calling came from God alone. Indeed, even today, four years later, after learning how to recognize God's voice in my life, I still find myself stumped when I ponder His reasoning for asking me to serve Him in this way. 

Therefore, when God calls us, it tends to exist outside the normal limitations of human logic and reasoning, and more often than not, we never expect the outcome. Yet, it is important to remember that despite our own reluctance to throw down our nets and leave our whole lives behind, following God's plan will bring us more joy than any plan we could imagine for ourselves. See Jeremiah 29:11

It means Sacrifice!

Whether you're called to married life, single life, or religious life, there is always some form of sacrifice needed for you to fully live out your vocation. These sacrifices are to be embraced and will eventually bring you peace if you allow yourself to trust God. Sometimes the nature of the call means for us to step away from our current friend group, or let go of something that gives us comfort or pleasure, or to ditch our own plans for our lives, either way, these sacrifices are designed by God not to burden us but to allow us to be more at peace living out our vocation. 

It can be surprising! 

Nobody ever suggested to me that I should become a Priest. Like I mentioned earlier, I had never imagined a world where the priesthood was even a possibility! So when God planted that beautiful seed in my heart, it was as if a whole new reality was revealed to me, the world increased in dimension, a depth of understanding became clear, and God became a person, all in a moment. In one moment, I had total and complete faith in the fact that I was created for one thing and one thing only: to be God's priest. 

Who am I to receive such a mind-blowing, life-changing, world-stopping gift: the gift of faith?

I don't know how or when God will reveal His plan for you, but I can guess that it will knock you off your feet, maybe literally. Start preparing yourself to accept whatever He wants, denying yourself any say in the matter, because quite frankly, He knows better than us what will make us perfectly joyful and content in this life. 

My last bit of advice is never go 100%

God works in ways which we can not possibly comprehend or foresee. Let Him guide you day by day, and wake up each morning open to His Will. So ladies, if you were wondering, I haven't completely closed the door to marriage... Just kidding, verging in innapropriate, but I'm a kid, what can I say? 

This week, I received conditional acceptance into Holy Trinity Seminary. It's been four years since God planted that seed; four years have led up to next Fall. 

To think I will be a seminarian in five months... I realize that there's nothing in the world that could make me happier. 

Brothers and sister, please pray for me and my vocation, and know that I will be doing the same for you. 

Father,

Draw your children in close,

Pull us into your loving embrace,

And whisper your plans for us.

Show us how to listen and follow.

We love you and we thank you for our lives and your providence. 

Never let us go, Lord.

Amen

Stranger Safety

So lately I've been thinking about the body and its significance in relation to our soul.

(That was a hint...this post is a theological/philosophical meditation on the dignity of the human body, so if you're pressed for time please come back and read it later. I'll be throwing a few Theology of the Body quotes at you, so you need time to stop and think those through for yourself.)

Anyway, lately I have been seeing some (mostly unintentional) disrespect for the human body. Now when I say something like that I'm sure most people will think "sexual assault" but that's not really what I'm talking about. I want to focus on more of the day-to-day "manhandling" that can take place between individuals of the same or opposite genders. If you're not sure what manhandling is, a specific example would be goosing (the person you're friends with is walking behind you without your knowledge, and to alert you to their presence, they make a grab at your kidney-region, causing you to erupt in a sound similar to that of a goose). I am certain that I am not the only person on the earth not overly-fond of manhandling, and in fact, after reflecting on TOB and the teachings of St. Paul, I can see why it (although seemingly innocent) is actually very disrespectful.

Before I begin, I would like to give you the link to the specific Wednesday audience I'm taking quotes from: http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tb55.htm It's not very long, and I strongly encourage you to go read the whole thing.

That being said, my initial argument for why the body must be treated with respect was twofold: first, because it was created "in the divine image" (Gn. 1:27) and because it is the dwelling place of the individual, unrepeatable human soul. Although these are good arguments, I am far outdone by St. Paul and JPII. Taken from his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19). Now I'm sure many of us have heard this verse from our parents when we asked them if we could get a tattoo/piercing/body modification, but JPII explains it for us (thank goodness):

"In Paul's eyes, it is not only the human spirit, thanks to which man is constituted as a personal subject, that decides the dignity of the human body. But even more so it is the supernatural reality constituted by the indwelling and the continual presence of the Holy Spirit in man—in his soul and in his body—as fruit of the redemption carried out by Christ."

 Whoa, what? Is JPII telling us that dignity is given to our bodies by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

"It follows that man's body is no longer just his own. It deserves that respect whose manifestation in the mutual conduct of man, male and female, constitutes the virtue of purity. This is not only because it is the body of the person. When the Apostle writes: 'Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God' (1 Cor 6:19), he intends to indicate yet another source of the dignity of the body, precisely the Holy Spirit, who is also the source of the moral duty deriving from this dignity."

Yes, yes he is. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! In the very next verse (v. 20) St. Paul says, "For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body." You might have heard once or twice that we were purchased by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who God sent "so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). But did you know Jesus Christ came not only to redeem our souls, but our bodies as well? Oh, yes. Blessed John Paul II writes:

"Through redemption, every man has received from God again, as it were, himself and his own body. Christ has imprinted on the human body—on the body of every man and every woman—new dignity, since, in himself, the human body has been admitted, together with the soul, to union with the Person of the Son-Word . . . The fruit of redemption is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in man and in his body as in a temple. In this Gift, which sanctifies every man, the Christian receives himself again as a gift from God. This new, double gift is binding. The Apostle refers to this binding dimension when he writes to believers, aware of the Gift, to convince them that one must not commit unchastity."

 So to sum it up: Christ bought you with his blood and sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in you. If those aren't good enough reasons to convince you to respect your body, I don't know what is. And by "respect your body" I mean to put a stop to anyone that tries to manhandle you. Treat yourself and others with the respect you deserve. And although it sounds like a cliché from some safety video, you really do have the right to ask someone to stop touching you in a certain way that makes you feel uncomfortable or disrespected.

Until next time, my friends.

My Catholic Friend

Recently, I was blessed to spend a part of my weekend with one of my good Catholic friends. I drove an hour and forty minutes to where he lives, and we hung out for approximately fifteen hours, just long enough for me to feel totally moved to write about this individual.
Friday night, I rode with him and a couple of his friends to a high school basketball game in a town about thirty minutes away, and during this car ride, and throughout the events following, I was completely surprised and humbled by the inspiring way in which my friend chooses to live his life. Allow me to paint a picture of my Catholic friend...

The first thing that caught my attention happened as we were leaving his house to head to the game. While getting into the car, I tuned into the conversation between the other two guys to hear my friend insist, "...yea, but we're listening to my music." So, as we made our way to the basketball game, discussing various topics ranging from soccer to college, The City Harmonic's "Mountain Top" and Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace" rang out in the background from the car stereo. What struck me from the whole experience was the casualness with which my friend inserted his faith into his world, never coming across as forceful or abrasive, but instead functioning as a gentle and quiet witness to what he knows to be truth. Sure, he could have put on 106.1 and we could have been jamming to "Wrecking Ball" and "Blurred Lines," but instead he allowed praise and worship to our God to flow through the car, navigating us towards the path of holiness.

The second situation in which I found myself in awe of my friend occurred after we arrived at the basketball gym. Upon entering the arena, I realized that I had left my wallet in my car back at his house. However, before I even had the chance to tell my friend that I didn't have any money, he turned to me and said he had me covered. Then later, he paid for my stack of pancakes and a glass of chocolate milk at IHOP. I suppose any nice person would have offered to do the same, especially after knowing that I had left my wallet, but my friend's natural tendency towards kindness and hospitality astounds me and leaves me wishing for the development of the same good habits in my own life.

The rest of the night proceeded ordinarily, and before we knew it, we were walking outside to my jeep, preparing for my drive back home. We exchanged words of goodbye, and then I got in my car and headed home, panged with the familiar sadness which often accompanies the departure of friends. About twenty minutes out, I mentally replayed the moment that I left and thought back on what my friend's last words to me had been before I got into my jeep and drove away. Instead of just saying "goodbye" or "see ya soon," my friend said this to me, "Hey, text me when you get home," to which I sarcastically replied, "Ok mom," and before I closed the door to the jeep he said, "yea, yea, I just want to make sure you get home safe."
Twenty minutes later, while pondering on what would happen if one of us were to die before we saw each other again, these were the words that came to my mind.
To me, these words epitomize exactly what it means to be a Catholic friend: to truly, unashamedly, love someone so much, that you take care to make sure they arrive home safely.
In this world, we spend most of our time either sleeping or interacting with other humans, loving, helping, playing, serving, praying, talking, but in the end, a friend is the one who desires that you make it home to heaven, and will do whatever it takes to get you there.

Dear friend, I know that you are not perfect and that sometimes you doubt your uniqueness and beautiful worth, but I write to let you know that God has put you in my life as a blessing, and I write so others may see the beauty of God in the same way it has been revealed to me this weekend. Tonight I pray that I may grow as witness in the ways I have seen you witness to your friends, that I may grow in hospitality and generosity as you have shown me in the simplest of gestures, and that I may grow as a friend and brother to those around me, that I may share the love of God, the very same love which you have shown me. Brother, I look forward with great excitement to the day I will be with you and all our brothers and sisters in Heaven, praising God for all eternity.

"For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you."
Philemon 1