This past weekend’s first reading shows you where the “Sanctus” part of the Eucharistic Prayer comes from—“Holy, Holy, Holy” is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And then these verses from Isaiah speak for each of us—theoretically—when it has the person (intended to be you and I) say: “Here I am, Lord. Send me.” That’s what each of us is supposed to feel and think and say after each Mass we attend—which is a good reason why these verses are in the middle of Mass. They define why we gather—to draw strength—and be sent as an apostle of the Gospel.
When reading about the culture of the first century where Jesus lived, I noticed that the average male stood 5’5” tall. Modern American males are–average 5’10”. I think of today’s movies making “super heroes” of characters and then think of people at the time of Jesus not being tall hunks chiseled at 6’. And this led to thinking about how God speaks to us people of the 21st century (or at any time in history). Do angels appear, or must we have visions?
The short answer is “no.” Rather, God speaks to you and me in the ordinary events of our lives and the interests that catch our attention. I’ll give 2 examples from my life to show how God speaks to us. After seeing these examples, look at your life-experience, and see where God has “spoken” to you—in the past—and now.
When teaching the president of the University asked me to moderate the honor society. I was he 3rd one he appointed since the other 2 left the school for other assignments. I had no interest in moderating the group but added the job to my other responsibilities.
A person who worked at the school was a member of years standing and suggested one day that I get the students to do a project. Okay, I thought. But what, exactly, might I get them to do?
I had a student in class who was CEO of 15 grocery stores in Ohio and West Virginia. I asked him if he had “day old” bread that my people could pick up and deliver to the “Catholic Neighborhood Center” that fed sreet people and provided food to the needy. He said he’d look into the matter, and a couple of days later told me to begin the pick-up the next week. Thus started what became known as the “bread run” to Riesbeck’s Market in St. Clairsville, OH.
Long story short is that this blossomed into students and faculty and workers picking up 3 Riesbeck stores, 2 Panera bread stores, and 1 Kroger six days a week. Panera, by the way, has a policy of giving away its baked goods to charities every day of the year. This “ministry” that included so many people got Internet attention in nn article that said “Finally, an honor society is actually doing something important.”
A second example started one day when I stopped to save a turtle crossing the highway. Naturally, people honked at me for taking 30 seconds to get the turtle. Some in WV liked to run over the turtles–human nature having the capacity to save life and take life. Arriving back at campus, I learned that it was a box turtle–a species that was disappearing from the region (partly due to people thinking it funny to run them over). I put the little fellow in my campus garden, and word spread that there was a campus turtle. Others brought box turtles they had at home–one delivery especially memorable.
A man stood at the fence with a little boy. I asked if he needed directions and he said no, but that he had heard there was a box turtle in the fenced-in garden. Signaling me that what he was saying was for the benefit of his son, he said: “We were thinking that our turtle would appreciate being with other box turtles. Might I be interested in taking him? Sure, I said, and so “Big Red” came to live at the garden (having a beautiful red color to his shell).
My goal was to breed box turtles and re-introduce them into the environment. Over time, I watched eggs being laid and baby turtles born there in the garden. When the Jesuits left the University, I had to find a home for my colony of beloved box turtles (I fed them each day year-round and they were my friends). Through the grace of God, I found that the nearby State university had a zoo program and would be happy to take the box turtles for its training of students to care for such local fauna.
I give these examples from my life in order to illustrate what occurs in YOUR life. Namely, God speaks to us in our everyday experiences, activities, encounters, inspirations, and visions of what “might be” if someone only did it. You crochet? Maybe you should crochet blankets for elders who’d appreciate covering their knees when watching TV. We have parishioners delivering food to people, helping at the food bank, singing in the choir, and many other involvements that are unique to their life. THAT’S how God speaks to you and me.
The “bread run” and “turtle sanctuary” arose out of the clear blue–one unexpected happening leading to me being inspired by God to bungle my way through setting up 2 “ministries” that included and helped many others. YOU are offered the same sorts of opportunities to “bloom,” to create, to make your mark in the world.
Thinking of these things brought to mind the Jesuit saint, Paul Miki. He worked in Nagasaki, Japan until the emperor rounded him up and martyred him and 26 others. He had established a vibrant Catholic community in a very non-Christian Japan, but the emperor wanted no foreigners in his country (sound familiar). On the one hand, Miki went to his death by crucifixion–feeling as if all his good work had accomplished nothing. In 1600, all Europeans were forced out of the country and werne’t permitted entry until 1860. When the Jesuits returned, they were approached by a community of Japanese who told them that they had hidden their Catholic practice FOR 200 YEARS–and were overjoyed that they now had priests and a connection with the Church.
Miki never saw what he had accomplished–but Nagasaki remains the most Catholic city in Japan (where few Christians exist). I asked a Japanese woman if Japan’s primary religion was Shintoism. She said, in her broken English, “No religion in Japan. Only religion of money.” Money was the god of the 21st century Japan, according to her.
What is God saying to you about your vocation?