Divine Calls

Before my birth Cardinal John Henry Newman published Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume VIII. I discovered this volume and began to look through it. I have always been fascinated by books. I like acquiring new ideas.

After reviewing the table of contents, my eyes were immediately drawn to the second sermon, Divine Calls. Although I know that the Bible was in existence long before my birth, it still surprised and pleased me to accept the reality that by chance, I had stumbled upon these sermons which referenced a Victorian Bible.

The sermon itself is very familiar to other sermons about hearing and responding to God's call.

I like being told that each one of us receives a divine call and that each one of us has a duty to respond to their divine call. Newman immediately connects the call with our obedience. When we hear the call we should stop everything that we are doing.

This type of obedience, prompt and unconditional, is what God wants. When God makes a request of us, there is always a dialogue, always his presence, always his assistance. Our egos and imaginations sometimes forget God's love as we weigh this situation against that situation.

The Divine Call does not just occur once in our lives. It begins with our Baptism and continues throughout our lives. Christ is there when we want him there, when we do not. He calls us when we act as he did, and when we do not act as he did. There is something very beautiful in the continuity of the Divine Call.

I like to think of the Divine Call as casual correspondence between Christ and us. When it arrives we have a multitude of choices. We can read it, not read it, destroy it, hide it. We can also respond to it, do the thing that God asks of us.

There is nothing more beautiful than allowing your life to be lived in God's service. Our work is never done, his work is never done. Our obedience is needed. Through our him we are sanctified and glorified.