Quo Vadis?

Scripture for meditation: Acts 9:1-6

Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus which would empower him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he might find, man or woman, living according to the new way. As he traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed about him. He fell to the ground and at the same time heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, sir?" he asked. The voice answered, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Get up and go into the city, where you will be told what to do."

Christ tells us: Matthew 5:18-20

As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee He watched two brothers, Simon now known as Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately abandoned their nets and became His followers.

Pope Benedict XVI teaches us: We are Christians only if we encounter Christ. Of course He does not show Himself to us in that irresistible, luminous way, as He did with Paul to make him Apostle of the Gentiles. However, we can also encounter Christ in the reading of scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the Church. We can touch Christ's heart and feel Him touch ours. Only in this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the Risen One do we really become Christians. And in this way, our reason opens, the whole of Christ's wisdom opens and all the richness of the truth. Therefore, let us pray to the Lord to enlighten us, so that, in our world, He will grant us the encounter with His presence, and thus give us a lively faith, an open heart, and great charity for all, capable of renewing the world." Sept.3, 2008

My thoughts:  Isaiah 55:8 tells us that God's ways are not our ways.  That is extremely clear by the different ways He called Peter and Andrew, and Saul. The lesson to us is clear. We can never predict how God will call us into His service, to ask us to be His witnesses to all people. Whether we are knocked off our figurative horses, or called softly in the recesses of our hearts, Pope Benedict XVI makes one thing very clear: once enlightened, we will partake of the richness of God's truth, and be capable of renewing the world, or at least the part we live in. The question, then, is this: will we immediately drop our nets and follow Christ?

Prayer: Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

and You shall renew the face of the earth.  Let us pray:

Oh God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

Grant that by that same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise

and ever rejoice in His consolations.

Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Your prayer to God: Fear is what usually stops us from a total commitment to God and His will for our lives, yet once we dismiss the fear, we are free to love God and share that love with others simply by being who we are.  Take the step today to offer your heart to God. Let him know of your fears, and ask Him to replace them with a strong and convicted heart.