Reflections On Call
- A Christmas Meditation
- “Our Future is behind Us and Our Past ahead of Us”
- Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening
- Reflection on my First Year as a Pastoral Associate
- What is an Apostolically Oriented Spirituality?
- Words of Wisdom from the Young Adults Conference
- Discernment: What should I do with my one and only life?
- "Here I am!" Call in the Old Testament
- Taking Up the Cross: A Volunteer’s Reflection
- "Yes, Lord": A Young Adult's Response to God's Call
- What is Lay Ecclesial Ministry?
- Risking Commitment in the Age of Relativism: Let Us Wake Up
- Sister Laurie Brink, OP: Uncovering the hard, gritty yet beautiful Truth
- A Science Student's Musings on Young Adult Spirituality
- Rachel Hart: Getting Paid for Something She Loves
- Dorothy Day: Building a Dwelling Place for God's People
- A Reflection on the Vatican Statement about Homosexuality and the Priesthood
- God's Call in the Life of John Paul II
- Becoming A Person of Prayer: Part III
- Becoming A Person of Prayer: Part II
- Becoming A Person of Prayer: Part I
- Free -- For What?
Free -- For What?
Why in the world would I want to understand my life as a call from someone else? Wouldn't such an idea curtail my personal freedom? Wouldn't it get in the way of my career? Shouldn't I be able to decide from within what I want to do with my life? After all, I have only one life to live.
Well ... maybe the answer to those questions is not as simple as we might think. If that someone else is another human being, like a parent, teacher, coach, boss or even a good friend, then the answer is that we should never let anyone else make a critical decision about a life choice for us. Surprisingly, some people do. A parent wants his son or daughter to be a physician and so convinces him/her to apply to medical school. A friend has a connection with an up and coming business and informs us that this is definitely "the job for you." Family members pressure a young man or woman to marry that person they all like so much. When individuals give in to pressures like these, they lose their personal freedom and risk a life of unhappiness.
But what if that Someone Else is the One who created us and gave us the gift of our freedom? The God who created us with freedom and for freedom. The God who is closer to us than we are to ourselves, as Saint Augustine once put it. Then it may just be that we are most free when we are in touch with God's voice speaking deep within us. We are our best selves when we are in relationship with this living God who draws near to us. In the Christian life we discover that we become more free the more we come to depend on God and strive to carry out God's will in our lives. SO what goes here.
There is a great emphasis on personal freedom in our American society. And freedom is certainly a good thing. Our personal freedom is indeed a precious gift. But our use of freedom only becomes authentic when it is connected. We become truly free when we remain connected to the God who created us and redeemed us in Christ. In this relationship we discover that God speaks to us through our deepest desires. Our deepest yearnings, which lie beneath our more superficial cravings, link us to God's will in our lives. We need to listen within to those deepest desires in order to discover the voice of God. This God frees us by calling us to serve Him and His beloved people.
