~ A bishop was visiting a community of Carmelite nuns in Italy. After celebrating Mass with them, he asked Mother Superior if he could see how they lived. Now Carmelite nuns are enclosed. They don’t leave the cloister. And visitors talk to them through a grille. The bishop’s request violated their rule. But when the bishop asks, you don’t say No. So the Prioress asked one of the nuns to show him round.
They visited the refectory, where the nuns sit on wooden benches without backs to eat their simple meals off bare wooden tables. The bishop saw one of the cells where they sleep: a small room furnished with a narrow bed, a table to serve as a desk, and a hard wooden chair; a single light bulb overhead. Instead of a basin with running water there was a large washbowl on a stand, and on the floor next to it a large crockery jug. The nun explained that water was brought from the bathroom down the hall.
At the end of the short tour the nun led the bishop up a narrow stairway to the flat terraced roof above, furnished with hard benches and a railing all round. On feast days, she explained, we can come up here, if the weather is fine, for our recreation period. The view was beautiful. Across a valley they could see a magnificent villa surrounded by formal gardens and several fountains. It was summer. A gardener was cutting one of the hedges. Children were frolicking in the swimming pool. A couple were playing tennis on one of courts.
The bishop turned to the nun who was showing him around.
“How long have you been here in Carmel, Sister?” he asked her.
“I entered forty years ago next Fall,” she responded.
“Sister,” he asked, “if the young man of that house had asked you forty-one years ago to come and live there with him there as his wife, do you think you would be here today?”
“Your Excellency,” she replied, “That was my house. But I wanted to be with Jesus.”
Our gospel reading today tells of a similar sacrifice by two pairs of brothers: Simon and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John. They were fishermen. Yet at Jesus’ call, the Gospel tells us, they immediately leave their nets and boat and follow him. Their nets and boat were their livelihood, their security, so by leaving them behind, they were burning their bridges behind them. Why? If we could have asked them, I think they might have said something like that sister, “I wanted to be with Jesus.” It always makes me wonder what Jesus was like, how dynamic was this man, how much he drew others to himself. It seems as if there was something about him that made it impossible to say No.
How fortunate our Church has been that so many men and women have chosen to follow God’s call as a priest, brother, or sister. How many of us, myself included, were formed by the example and witness of religious women; thank you to all of them. And to any young man or woman who is considering the religious life, all of us who have answered the Lord’s call to the priesthood or religious life would tell you that it is a life that is blessed beyond measure, often times difficult, as life is, but filled with meaning and purpose and joy.
Is God’s call just for religious professionals, priests and sisters and monks and nuns? Absolutely not! God’s call is for everyone, and everyone has a call. While you were still in your mother’s womb, God already had a plan for your life, and it is one of our life’s tasks to know and follow God’s call. Yes, part of our life is to discover our vocation to be a priest or religious, spouse or parent or generous single person. But we are also tasked to discover our gifts and talents, the abilities that God has given to us to use for his glory, as an artist, an athlete, a thinker, an organizer, a leader, a worker. We must discover again and again our baptismal call to radical hospitality, to servant leadership, and to missionary discipleship. God calls each of us, all our life long. He calls us to walk with him, to be so full of his love that others will see the joy on our faces and want what we have.
I could never do that, you may be thinking. Fr. John, you don’t know me or how I struggle with the faith, how terrible I am, how tough my life is, how weak I am. Well, join the club! I’ve never met a sincere Christian who believed that he or she had all this figured out, myself included. We are flawed, yes, but we are called!
Here’s a list of some folks you may have heard of in the Bible. Every one of them had a reason for thinking God could not use them. So the next time you feel like God can’t use you, remember:
Noah was a drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Joseph was abused by his brothers. Moses had a stuttering problem and was a murderer. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair and was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy thought they were too young. David had an affair and was a murderer, too. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah thought himself unworthy. Jonah ran away from God’s call. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. Martha was a perpetual worrier. The Samaritan woman whom Jesus met at the well was five times divorced. Zaccheus was too short. Peter denied Christ. Peter, James, and John fell asleep while praying. Paul was a religious fanatic. Timothy had an ulcer. And Lazarus was dead! So what’s your excuse?
Whatever it may be, God can still use you to your full potential. You have something unique to offer the world. You have a vocation, a call, a purpose that only you can fulfill. And that is a gift from God. Today, give thanks for that gift, that call and resolve follow Christ more closely, strengthened by this Eucharist.
