So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.
Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.
(With thanks to the Henri Nouwen Society)
This seems to have a lot to do with this sense of prayer and the Cross that I've been groping around after for the last couple of days. I have spent far too much of my life feeling guilty about not doing more practically, not having the resources to give more, not having much in the way of the gifts of an evangelist, instead of getting on with what I have been called to do, which is to pray, and to do what I can to share any insights I may have regarding the business of praying.
Very gradually, I am coming to understand this calling, not least in terms of my Franciscan vocation. The Principles of the Third Order of St. Francis list Three Ways of Service (The Principles TSSF,13), the first of which is prayer. The introduction to the three ways reads:
We as Tertiaries desire to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, whom we serve in the three ways of Prayer, Study, and Work. In the life of the Order as a whole, these three ways must each find full and balanced expression, but it is not to be expected that all members devote themselves equally to each of them. Each individual’s service varies according to their abilities and circumstances, yet as individual member’s our Personal Rule of Life must include each of the three ways.
Working out that call in my own life is the most important thing I can do myself at the moment. What God is doing is another matter altogether - but he can safely be left to get on with it, so long as I am doing my bit!
6 comments:
I can so relate to this. In fact, I can so relate to almost everything I read on this blog :)
Good stuff. I have been pondering the same thing over the weekend, seeing I have been so happy and wondering, when I come across friends who are suffering, what place my happiness has after I've mourned with them and gone away back to my own life. Our human wisdom says there must be something wrong with that but I have been pondering Jesus talking about "the poor you will always have with you" and how he took the weight of saving the world off of our shoulders.
Good stuff, Mike.
Thanks, Mike. You continue to show yourself and to challenge me.
Mike, the way you live out your faith in your blog and writing is so powerful. I am not sure you know that.
That is your vocation I think, or at least a part of it. How you heal, how you love, how you inspire.
I often feel as if we are all puzzle pieces on a table, unable to be fit into our spot. God sits, wise and loving, gazing upon the pieces and working us all in with such a tender hand.
As puzzle pieces, we may never really know where we go or how we fit in.
However, we just do.
Peace to you brother.
Thank you, both - Sue, what you say is very wise - there is such a difference between joy and plain happiness. Joy is what is pouring through your blog just at the moment!
Thanks, Mike! Unfortunately, ennui and angst is pouring through my blog today (it's like a new land at the top of the Faraway Tree, sometimes they're lovely fluffy lands, sometimes it's the Land of Slaps :)
But still, even when you're feeling angst-ridden, there can still be joy deep down. Paradoxical, ain't it?
MIke, you bring up an important aspect of our spiritual life, no matter what our vocation, and one which may be difficult for us to remember in the everyday - we want so much to see 'effects' of our work, be it labour or prayers. We have not failed if things we pray for for other people don't happen right away, or if a problem we set out to better isn't solved immediately.
I had an instance of this recently with a friend who asked me to pray for a family member who was at a distance. He asked me if I had got any 'answer' about it from God, because he hadn't heard from the family. I was shocked, frankly. God is on the job, I told him, and I needn't worry about it. From a worrier (me) this was surprising, even to me.
But it made me stop and think: do I really trust in God, and in God's good time?
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