Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Called By God to Serve

Our vocation is the call that we receive from God that is intended to ultimately lead us towards salvation. Our vocation is, at the most basic level, who we are called to serve.

In our modern world this is hardly a popular idea. In a time when navel gazing has been raised to an art form the idea that the path towards salvation and a relationship with our creator might require service and the rejection of a self centered lifestyle is foreign. Ease and convenience and luxury are lifted up as modern day gods. Obedience and service are looked down upon and equated with weakness.

For those of us called to the vocation of marriage it is clear who we are called to serve and love. Through our vocation as husband and wife we draw closer to God as we turn from the selfish impulses that pop up daily and make tiny sacrifices day in and day out. We live as a family, helping each other grow in holiness.

It isn’t easy, but can we really expect that something of real, eternal value would be easy? Jesus’ description of the path we are to follow certainly doesn’t sound like a walk in the park. It doesn’t sound like mouthing empty words and getting a free pass. Yet it is what we’re made for, which is why the emptiness of things can never fill the longing for something more that is engrained in all of us.

We are all called to love. We are all called to serve. And it is through this service that God draws us to Him.

Often the path is difficult and tiring. Service is tiring. We cannot rely on our own human strength, which is bound to fail. Yet we know as we follow God’s plans for our lives that we can depend on his strength as we live out His calling in our lives.

Once we realize the importance of such a calling, it is, quite simply, insanity to put it aside.

At its base it’s really quite simple. How will we answer God’s call in our life? There are only two choices:

Serviam or Non Serviam.

2 comments:

  1. Quick heads up from a Latin geek:

    You mean "serviam" or "serviam." ("Servium" looks like some derivative of the noun "slave"...)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! That's what happens when I'm typing at midnight!

    ReplyDelete

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