The 1st reading today introduces us to Jeremiah. We learn that God singled him out to preach to the nations. Later on God will do the same with John the Baptist and Paul.
But unlike John and Paul Jeremiah was timid, inclined to dodge the spotlight. He pleaded with God: “I do not know how to speak. I am too young”. “Have no fear… I am with you,” answered the Lord. This event invites me to reflect on the notion of vocation.
God’s design for each person is unique. It may be given gradually, in the calm, or Jeremiah-like, it might come with a shattering bombshell. In either way weakness is of no account. My weakness and God’s presence are magnified in the calling and his presence dissipates my fear.
Like Jeremiah’s calling my vocation is not a one-shot deal. Each day God says: “to whomever I send you, you shall go.”
My prayer this day will be to Mary, whose constant prayer was, “Thy will be done” and to Jeremiah, John the Baptist and Paul. May they intercede for me in discerning God’s will, so that someday I’ll be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith. Thanks for being with me.”