30 May 2017
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
I will read over the 1st Reading in today’s mass reflecting how Paul slowly came to realize his vocation. It will aid me to encourage the young people I deal with each day to be hopeful, and to pray more fervently for them to discern where God is calling them to serve Him in the Church: in the married, single or religious state, or the priesthood.
But Paul’s experience shows me that vocation is a call that progresses each day. It is not a single step affair. Paul’s vocation is repeated in the vocation of St. Joan of Arc, whose feast it is today. For each the ‘yes’ of every day called for a more profound ‘yes’ for the next day until both Paul and Joan of Arc faced the ‘yes’ each said to martyrdom, their ultimate vocation.
In the Gospel Jesus tells the Father that he has been glorified in those who follow him, those who respond to the daily vocation they are given. Each one, Paul, Joan, all who are “in the world” giving witness by the ‘yes’ each gives to the infinite goodness of the Father, who calls, individually, each one of by name to do what he wills.