28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

FOLLOWING CHRIST’S CALL
From a commentary by St John Henry Newman 1
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All through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in Baptism, but
afterwards also; whether we obey his voice or not, he graciously calls us still. If
we fall from our Baptism, he calls us to repent; if we are striving to fulfill our
calling, he calls us on from grace to grace, and from holiness to holiness, while
life is given us. Abraham was called from his home. Elisha from his farm,
Nathanael from his retreat; we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one
thing to another, having no resting place, but mounting towards our eternal
rest, and obeying one command only to have another put upon us. He calls us
again and again, in order to justify us… and more and more, to sanctify and
glorify us.

It were well if we understood this…that Christ is, as it were, walking
among us, and by his hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow him. We do not
understand that his call is a thing which takes place now. We think it took place
in the Apostles’ day; but we do not believe in it, we do not look out for it in our
own case. We have not eyes to see the Lord; far distant from the beloved Apostle,
who knew Christ even when the rest of the apostles knew him not. When he
stood on the shore after his resurrection, and bade them cast the net into the
sea, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord.

Now what I mean is this: that they who are living religiously, have from
time to time truths they did not know before, or had no need to consider,
brought before them forcibly; truths which involve duties, which are in fact
precepts, and claim obedience. In this and such-like ways Christ calls us now.
There is nothing miraculous or extraordinary in his dealings with us. He works
through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. Still what happens to us
in providence is in all essential respects what his voice was to those whom he
addressed when on earth; whether he commands by a visible presence, or by a
voice, or by our consciences, it matters not, so that we feel it to be a command. If
it is a command, it may be obeyed or disobeyed; it may be accepted as Samuel or
St. Paul accepted it, or put aside after the manner of the young man who had
great possessions.

We need not fear spiritual pride in following Christ’s call, if we follow it as
people in earnest. Earnestness has no time to compare itself with the state of
others; earnestness is simply set in doing God’s will. It simply says: Speak,
Lord, for thy servant heareth; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Oh that we
had more of this spirit! Oh that we could take that simple view of things, as to
feel that the one thing which lies before us is to please God!

Let us beg and pray Him day by day to reveal Himself to our souls more
fully; to quicken our senses; to give us sight and hearing, taste and touch of the
world to come; so to work within us that we may sincerely say: Thou shalt guide
me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me to glory.

1
Journey with the Fathers – Year B – New City Press – 1993 – pg 124.