Called and Sent, Day Five
Online Retreat
“Called and Sent”
Day Five
This is the fifth and final installment of the Catholics on Call summer online retreat. We conclude our reflections on vocation by turning to another biblical story of call.
Please read Galatians 1: 11-24
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Pope Benedict XVI recently proclaimed the year running from June 29, 2008 to June 29, 2009 a Pauline Jubilee Year. The Church is celebrating the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Paul the apostle. We do not really know the exact date of Paul’s birth, but he was born sometime early in the first century and the year 8 has been considered the traditional date. The pope presided over a special ceremony at the church of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome to inaugurate the year of remembrance of the life and work of this great apostle.
The passage from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians contains his own account of his call. We are accustomed to hearing Luke’s story in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9: 1-22) of the “conversion” of Saul (Paul’s Jewish name). In his own reflection on this life-altering experience in Galatians, Paul speaks in terms of “vocation” rather than “conversion.” Paul was already a very religious man before his encounter with the risen Christ. He was so committed to his Jewish faith that he can say, “I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.”
Paul speaks of God revealing his Son to him in order that he might proclaim Christ to the Gentiles. Through his unexpected encounter with the risen Christ, Paul became convinced that the one God who had called and liberated the people of Israel had acted in a new and definitive way through Jesus. As Scripture scholar Joseph Fitzmyer puts it, “The Father who had revealed his Son to Paul was the same God that Paul the Pharisee had always served” (New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1385). Paul was moved by this experience to reconsider the story of Jesus and to recognize in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection the powerful, saving grace of God.
Paul, like Jeremiah, speaks of being set apart by God from his mother’s womb for a special task. As he reflected on his life he came to believe that God had chosen him for a specific purpose, one that he never would have dreamed of before his encounter with the Lord. He became convinced that he had been given a mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. And he clung tenaciously to that self-understanding even in the face of formidable opposition. Indeed, in this very Letter to the Galatians, Paul has to defend his apostolic mission and authority to a community of Christians who were questioning what he had previously taught them and were shifting their allegiance to other teachers who claimed that they needed to follow the prescriptions of the Jewish law in order to be true Christians. Faced with such a challenge, Paul tells this community his own vocation story, which he believes forms the foundation of his authority to preach the gospel to the nations.
Paul was tireless in his activity of evangelization. And he was dauntless in the midst of hardships that included floggings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and countless other difficulties. In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul catalogues these hardships, claiming that they are his sole reason to “boast” (2 Cor. 11: 21-33). Amidst his indefatigable activity, however, Paul developed an intimate bond with Christ. We catch glimpses of his closeness to Christ in his letters. In this same Letter to the Galatians, we find one of the most compelling expressions of this bond, as Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (2: 19-20). Paul feels that Christ has taken over his life, and he thinks of Christ as the one who loved him so much that he surrendered his own life for him. In his Letter to the Philippians, Paul eloquently expresses his conviction that living for Christ is the only thing that really matters to him: “More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him …” (Phil. 3:8-9). Paul was zealous, creative and diligent in his activity on behalf of the gospel; but this activity was rooted in a profound personal relationship with the risen Christ – a relationship that Paul cultivated throughout his life.
Paul’s sense of mission gave purpose to his life. His relationship with Christ gave direction to his mission. Every baptized Christian has been given a share in the life-giving mission of Jesus Christ. The shape and texture of that mission differ depending upon our particular vocation and circumstances in life. But each one of us is sent forth to proclaim and to live the good news of Jesus Christ. Coming to a greater appreciation of our own participation in the mission that Christ bequeathed to the entire Church gives our lives a new sense of purpose. We realize that we were not born simply to wander through life on our own. The purpose of our lives is something much more profound than acquiring wealth and status. It is not true that “the one who dies with the most toys wins” in the “game” of life. Life is not a game; it is, rather, a journey from God and toward God. Each of us is invited, like Paul, to allow Christ to live in us and guide our lives and to remember that Christ has loved us and given himself up for us.
For men and women who are considering a life of service in the Church as a priest, lay ecclesial minister, or member of a religious community (consecrated life), envisioning life as a share in the mission of Christ forms the overarching framework within which to consider such a vocation. Such a vision lends an enduring sense of purpose to our lives. As evident in the life of Paul, it enables us to face challenges and even endure hardships, because we become convinced of the closeness of Christ and the fidelity of Christ in leading us along the way.
On this final day of retreat, I invite you to reflect on your participation in the mission of Christ as a baptized Christian. In what ways have Christ chosen you to share in the work of proclaiming the gospel? How have you experienced Christ present and at work in you and through you in the past to touch the lives of others? If you are discerning a particular vocation at this time, ask the Lord to help you see which pathway in life will enable you to flourish in the mission of announcing the love of God in Christ. Pray with trust and confidence because the One to whom you pray is the One who has loved you and given himself up for you.
