Fr Jack SJ MD

You Called? Homily for the 5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 6:1-8

Ps 138:1-8

1 Cor 15:1-11

Lk 5:1-11

Ideally there is a common thread that joins the readings proclaimed at Mass. Sometimes it is fairly easy to spot while at others one may have to look carefully. And yes, there are times that only two of the three readings seem to work together while the other appears to have been dropped in from outer space. The common thread holding together today’s first and second reading along with the gospel is that of being called and sent. The readings and the gospel are, in fact, vocation stories not unlike vocations discerned today.

For many Catholics, particularly those who went to parochial schools, vocation had only one meaning: a call to the priesthood or vowed religious life as a nun, sister, or brother. Indeed, much was transmitted in the statement, “He has a vocation.” But a vocation is much more than simply a call to priesthood or vowed religious life. Recently a neurologist who was examining me noted that he is a practicing Catholic who discerned that his vocation is to marriage. Many feel called to vocations that are quite different from what they or their family expected. Some are shocked to find that the work and life in which they are engaged must change dramatically upon discerning and accepting a vocation.

Dolores Hart, now Mother Dolores, has been a cloistered Benedictine nun at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT since 1963. She entered after she had made ten successful feature films, including “Where the Boys Are” and “Come Fly With Me.” She is still at Regina Laudis today now age 86. She gave the perfect description of a vocation when she wrote “Most people don’t understand the difference between a vocation and your own idea about something. A vocation is a call—one you don’t necessarily want.” She went on to explain that all she ever wanted to be was an actress but she was called by God to an entirely different life. It was a call that sent shock waves through all of Hollywood and the movie industry.

A call from God explains Isaiah in the first reading. That same kind of call defines Paul in the second reading and the responses of Peter, James, and John in the Gospel. Each received a call. It was neither easy nor smooth. Isaiah was particularly clear that it was a call he did not want. But each of them accepted it and agreed, at least tacitly, to be sent.

Reading or hearing vocation stories is endlessly fascinating. Some can tell the exact moment when, like Peter, James, and John, they heard the call and responded immediately. Others, like Paul, took much longer to realize they were being called to a specific way of life, a specific profession, to a vocation.

Recognizing a vocation is not necessarily easy. Oftentimes the realization of one’s vocation is accompanied by fear, anxiety, and disbelief. Both Isaiah and Paul are specific about the fear and trepidation they experienced upon realizing their call to serve God. Things haven’t changed.

One of the more terrifying moments of entering religious life is the first few days after the door has closed. Mother Dolores wrote about her first night in cell, “I lay awake on the cot for a long time. I reached out my arm . . . I could touch the opposite wall . . . I lay there, terrified by the enormity of the step I had taken. I cried myself to sleep that night. I cried myself to sleep every night for the next three years” Peter, for his part, said “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” It is as if all of Peter’s faults were magnified in that one instant, granting him an insight he might not otherwise have had.

Such is the power of receiving one’s vocation and suddenly realizing one’s unworthiness. And then realizing God’s care for us which allows us to sing with the psalmist:

“Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.

Forsake not the work of your hands.”

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Photos are from St Joseph Trappist Abbey from the fall of 2014. I was making my final vow retreat there. Just spent all of today there but without camera. Depending on the route it is an easy 75 minute drive. Beautiful place.