God’s call
Dear brothers and sisters,
Who would believe these days that at the age of 7 someone could feel called to the priesthood? Yet, that was my experience. Whether it was just an attraction rather than a formal call from the Lord remains a mystery to me. Certainly, what attracted me was my parish, my pastor, and the Mass, something that meant so much more to me due to just having received first Communion.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Who would believe these days that at the age of 7 someone could feel called to the priesthood? Yet, that was my experience. Whether it was just an attraction rather than a formal call from the Lord remains a mystery to me. Certainly, what attracted me was my parish, my pastor, and the Mass, something that meant so much more to me due to just having received first Communion.
Of course, one’s reasons for pursuing a calling will change over the years, some aspects deepening and others waning. Yet, through it all, the various stages of that calling kept summoning me deeper into this vocation of the priesthood, which was eventually poured out upon me at ordination. Even subsequent to that ordination, more callings came and my life took on a shape and duty that, in many ways, surprised me.
Oftentimes in my life, I would pray to the Lord and invite him to surprise me. The resulting invitations from God were never something I have previously sought, and sometimes they were not really appreciated. So, after a time that prayer seeking surprises ended, but the demands on my will to accept God’s will never ceased. This was especially the case with the Holy Father’s call to me to become a bishop, first as an auxiliary in Detroit (2002), then as the Ordinary of Lansing (2008). Believe me, not seeking to be surprised by God is no guarantee that God will not continue to surprise us into a more profound embrace of his original calling to us.
This is all presented to you merely to open your own hearts to examine the calls that God has given each of us, many of which we may not be entirely aware: called to life itself in the womb, called to birth, called to baptismal sonship or daughter ship, called to witness to the Lord, called to marriage or consecrated life or the priesthood, and then called to many diverse manifestations of such a life-call. We have all been called, and it is good for us to recall these events and give thanks for God’s working in our lives. Even the challenges that have been placed in our paths and the way that these have made our wills conform more completely to the Father’s will are deserving of our thanks.
God is always calling each one of us, every moment and every day. Most often we do not hear these calls, as they can be very subtle. Nonetheless, let us become more attentive. God loves us deeply and wants us in communion with him. That is the ultimate aim of any call we receive from him. In our most profound self, that is also what we most desire.
Bishop Earl Boyea is the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.
