Saying "yes" When God Calls

[DeoOptimoMaximo]

"Saying "Yes" When God Calls

Why is it so difficult for some people to say "Yes" to Jesus in responding to a call to
priesthood or religious life? I had been contemplating that question for quite some time when
a young man, who had just two weeks prior expressed strong interest in the priesthood, emailed
me to say he could not go on the planned trip to visit the college seminary because he
got a job watching a dog that weekend.

I had to laugh a little because I imagined Jesus calling forth a prospective disciple to come
and follow him only to have the person say, "Not now. I have a dog to watch!" While that
may seem a little funny today, I am sure that Jesus had to face the rejection of many
invitations in his day, and he faces many rejections of his invitations to priesthood and
religious life today.

The Scriptures tell of many stories of those who willingly said "Yes" to the call of
discipleship despite their doubts and unworthiness. The fishermen, Andrew and Peter, James
and John, reportedly left their nets, let go of their family relationships, and immediately
became Jesus' disciples to be fishers for the kingdom. Matthew too immediately left his post
at the tax-collecting stand to follow Jesus. Mary, in the midst of her uncertainty in hearing
the call through the words of the angel Gabriel, eventually trusted in the fulfillment of God's
promises and said, "Let it be done unto me as God says." The pages of Scripture and church
history are filled with example after example of saints who said "Yes," even in spite of some
great hardships.

There are only a few stories, however, of would-be-disciples who just could not say "Yes." It
is not surprising that we do not know their names. Perhaps the most famous is the rich young
man (Matthew 19) who desired to be a disciple and had lived a righteous life following all
the commandments. When Jesus instructed him to sell what he had, give to the poor and then
come and follow him, the Gospel reports the young man went away sad because he had many
possessions. Indeed money, possessions, and worldly things do get in the way of saying
"Yes." Whether it is the temptation to have lots of expensive things or the fact that debts to
pay for possessions have weighed a person's life down, materialism remains a big reason why
people reject the call today.

There are a series of stories in Luke 9 that tell of another prevalent reason for not saying
"Yes". One man is invited to follow Jesus and he responds, "Let me go first and bury my
father." A second man invited to discipleship says, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me
say farewell to my family at home." Jesus sternly responds, "Let the dead bury the dead. . . .
No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom
of God."

Perhaps Jesus seems overly harsh with these would-be-disciples. After all, they didn't say
"No," they merely said, "Not now." Yet Jesus was not pleased with their "Not now." Why?
Well, he was indicating that in each life there is a critical moment when we either respond
positively to Jesus' call or we don't. There is no incident in the Gospels where Jesus says
"Come away next year to follow me," or "Follow me when you think you're ready." There is
immediacy to the call that demands a response now, because there is no guarantee that Jesus
will be knocking on one's door or calling one's name tomorrow or next week or next year.
One needs to say "Yes" whenever and wherever Jesus calls.

There are large numbers of men and women, younger and not so young, who have been
called to religious vocations, and yet they have responded with the excuses of today that led
them to say, "Not now. Maybe later, Jesus." To some extent good Catholics have encouraged
these delay strategies. They say things like, "Test the call. If it is authentic it will be there
after college or after a few years of work. There's plenty of time; you're still young. What's
the rush?"

While these might be well-meaning bits of advice, they can mislead a young man or woman
into thinking that he or she should put aside a religious call and pursue other paths because
the religious call, if authentic, will always be there. I have spoken with more than a few men
who believed this way when they were younger. They felt called to priesthood as young men,
but instead they pursued other paths at the time. Some have married and then tragically
divorced, and now they feel a desire for priesthood. They realized too late that the call really
never left them, but they chose to say, "Not now." Many of them have gotten themselves into
situations where they can no longer say "Yes" in a priestly way.

After eight years of vocation work and helping men consider the path of priestly service, I
am convinced that, if we are to make a mistake in interpreting the call, it is better to err on
God's side. It is far better to say "Yes" now, perhaps discover that seminary life and
priesthood or religious life are not good fits, and move on to something different, than to say
"Not yet" now and then discover too late that priesthood or religious life was the right thing
to pursue.

Their lives would have been so different had someone instead said to these men, "Don't be
afraid. Go now to serve Jesus. Give God the First Chance with your life. The Lord will never
disappoint or abandon anyone who steps out in faith to serve Him." These are the kinds of
words with which we must encourage young people. These are words that inspire them to
dream big dreams, to live with courageous spirits, and to love with generous hearts.
In the past month I have interviewed over 120 high school junior boys about their faith and
their futures, and I have spoken with 31 of them who are interested in looking more carefully
at priesthood. I know that there are many more young men like these in our schools and
parishes. I have spoken the words of the call, "Follow after Jesus. Christ has important work
for you to do. Consider being a priest. Answer the Call." What reinforcement will they
receive from family, friends, parish priests, and fellow Catholics? I am hopeful someone will
say, "Do not be afraid," and another, "Give God the first chance," and another, "Dream those
big dreams." How different their lives will be and how different our Church will be if these
young men can say "Yes" now!

Please pray that our young Catholics will have the courage and generosity to say "Yes" now.
More importantly, help some young person you know say "Yes." May we help young people
follow after the heart of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, as priests, brothers, and sisters."
(By Fr. John Regan, Joliet, IL)

[franciscanheart]

Thank you for posting this. I saw a day or two or three ago from a poster here (maybe it was you!) a similar sentiment, about giving yourself to God first. That has been on my heart since I read it and has literally removed every doubt and fear I previously allowed to wander in and through my heart. I tried to be faithful but doubted often. Now? Now I feel confident in what I am doing, in following Christ in this way, regardless of the outcome. My desire to be a sister in a certain community is very huge, but often my fears can lead me astray. No more.

[BigJon16]

This is amazing! I posted earlier this afternoon about having a dilemma, and then I prayed a rosary and asked God to "kick out" these doubts i have been having. I came back on PM and saw all the helpful responded to that topic, and i saw this topic!

Thanks this is a really neat insight.

God is Good!

[Carolyn]

This is very interesting to me because I feel that for the longest time, I was saying, "Not now, God. How about later when I'm done with (insert anything here- college, grad school, this turkey sandwhich)?" when I felt Him knocking on my heart. However, now that I am seriously pursuing a deeper relationship with Him, learning to desire HIS will, and seeing the beauty of the religious life, it seems that [i]He's[/i] the one who's saying "Not yet." God really must have a sense of humor!

Edited February 15, 2011 by Carolyn

[Catherine Therese]

I love it how, when we can't quite bring ourselves to say YES to Him, He doesn't force the issue.

I LOVE that God is such a gentleman. He's the King of the Universe, that Omipotent, Ominiscient, Omnipresent, amesome Wonder that has every right to command and enforce, yet He invites and allows us in freedom to respond in love.

When we're not ready to love Him in a big way yet, it seems He invites us to love in little ways, things that are within our capability, and very gradually draws us outside of ourselves. It might start by a little inspiration to pick up the rosary beads and pray a rosary for the first time in many months since you last tried and failed to make a daily practice of it. When you're faithful to that little inspiration things go along merrily for a little while and then you get this idea into your head that its been a while since your last confession and it might be a good idea to clear the air with the Lord, so that weekend you make your way to the church and receive the Sacrament. Soon enough you've started going back to daily Mass, a practice you'd discarded after too many late nights and a lack of preparedness to get up an hour earlier each day. Before you know it, He's inviting you to a retreat. Its just an innocent retreat, right? Its not a vocations retreat, its not a big deal... then all of a sudden you're meeting with the vocations director of your diocese or a religious order that interests you and you're thinking 'how did that happen!?!?!'

By this time, you've been saying 'yes' in little ways for so long that you've become a little more conformed to God's will than last time He knocked at the door with 'the big question' and you're a whole lot more attuned to His Voice. You KNOW that you can't explain this one away, you KNOW that it is He who is calling, that its not in your head, and that the only response that will satisfy YOU, let alone Him, is as pure and unassuming a YES as possible, with no strings attached.

His gentleness can be so irresistible! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/notworthy.gif[/img]


[i][size=2](BTW, in case you're wondering... thats NOT my vocation story. But there is a pattern, a modus operandi, if you will, in my little comment above that is consistent with how the Lord drew me closer to Him.)[/size][/i]

[LaPetiteSoeur]

I'd LOVE to answer the call completely NOW, but I can't.

But it's all in God's time. Once I complete university, I can enter the convent. Until then, I'll help others discern their vocations!

[Catherine Therese]

[quote name='Carolyn' timestamp='1297733984' post='2212465']
"Not now, God. How about later when I'm done with (insert anything here- college, grad school, this turkey sandwhich)?"
[/quote]


Without wanting to hijack this thread completely, I wanted to point out that in Australia, a turkey sandwich was precisely that. The sandwich consisted of sliced turkey between two pieces of bread and was filled with some lettuce and maybe some tomato, cucumber and coagulated milk.

My observation, on my recent visit to the USA (my first and only venture to date outside the land of my birth) is that a turkey sandwich has on it at least 4 different varieties of processed meat, more salad items than a person could poke a stick at, not to mention absolute saturation of some sort of dressing or mayonnaise.

You people live in an entirely different world.

</END HIJACK>

[BigJon16]

[quote name='Catherine Therese' timestamp='1297769758' post='2212533']
Without wanting to hijack this thread completely, I wanted to point out that in Australia, a turkey sandwich was precisely that. The sandwich consisted of sliced turkey between two pieces of bread and was filled with some lettuce and maybe some tomato, cucumber and coagulated milk.

My observation, on my recent visit to the USA (my first and only venture to date outside the land of my birth) is that a turkey sandwich has on it at least 4 different varieties of processed meat, more salad items than a person could poke a stick at, not to mention absolute saturation of some sort of dressing or mayonnaise.

You people live in an entirely different world.

</END HIJACK>


[/quote]


That's america for you. hahahaha. If it's edible, we have combined it in some weird way with other edibles. It's our MO. hahaha

[Catherine Therese]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1297768558' post='2212529']
I'd LOVE to answer the call completely NOW, but I can't.

But it's all in God's time. Once I complete university, I can enter the convent. Until then, I'll help others discern their vocations!
[/quote]

Sounds a little like Carolyn's situation, maybe? Like, at the moment it sounds like God's saying to you "Not now!" and not the other way around!! I love that you want to use this time of waiting and prayer in an apostolic way, helping others! God bless you!