Yes, He Can Be Calling You

I had the privilege last night, the honor, of once again praying in the front of the Blessed Sacrament in the adoration chapel.  God was in front of me, as I began my night prayers with the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, starting with the Annunciation of the Angel to Mary.  And suddenly I could not go on.  Thoughts rolled through my head, many of which I wrote below, as I thought of what had happened to Mary --- and why, and what is now happening to us.

The first two meditations I read summed up the problem of the world, and so I stopped and prayed there.  I prayed for myself, all the people God puts in my life, and I prayed for this country.  With that focus point --- people I believe He has chosen and loves, --- in His Mercy I prayed that He would change the world, as He began to when the Angel appeared to Mary. And so, I prayed for his mercy as I read and meditated on:

            This is what I’d have you do:  listen for My Will, resolve to do it.  No matter how hard.

I believe that first meditation sums up what God asks His children of the world right now: listen to Me!  I love you.  He showed us that in so many ways in the past: with great powerful miracles to get our attention and know He is God, with rivers split, nations’ armies defeated, and then in the most humble way as He came to us as a little baby, to be like us and show us the Way.  He came and showed us how to live, then He showed us how to die.  He showed us how to be who He created us to be.

And then we were born again in Baptism through Him, and never to be forgotten.  And so, He reminds us now, even as He sent the angel to Mary, He sends His very Son to us!  Today!  Listen to Him!

            This is what I’d have you do:  listen for My Will, resolve to do it.  No matter how hard.

We were each born with different circumstances, different abilities, at different times, in different places.  Jesus was “back then”.  It’s hard to think that He would come to us, to call us, uniquely, now, today.  I understand, for the next meditation I read was:

            Can God really be calling to me?

I am sure that was the thought in Mary’s heart too, when she heard the voice of an angel.  “Can God really be calling to me?” 

Yes, yes, He can be calling to you!  Have faith.  Believe.

These meditations are only the start of the Joyful Mysteries, but they are the start of a world-changing event.  It started with Mary’s yes to that angel’s announcement. “Be it done unto me according to Thy will.”  Did she think that God calling to her --- of all the people in the world --- strange?  Yes!  Did she wonder: “Why me?”  Yes.  Did she wonder if she could do what He was asking?  Yes.  And did she understand all that would ensue as a result of her yes?  No, she did not.

That is what faith is: believing, trusting, following, especially when the way seems dark and unclear.  Especially when the path will be painful.

The world is in pain right now.  Long ago God had sent an angel to Mary, telling her clearly: “This is what I’d have you do.”  Then His Son was born in this world and said: “This is what I’d have you do --- love one another, as I have loved you.”  Jesus Christ, true God, true man, said this to us.  But like the Jewish nation, which forgot all the great miracles God did for them to free them from slavery, the world now --- and even Christians who say they know Him --- forgets all He said and did for us.  And we are no different from the Jewish nation wandering in the desert.  He called us to wait for His Second Coming, but we couldn’t wait.  We forgot about the eternal life He promised, and looked about the world to see what we wanted now.  We stopped listening for His Will, and focused on ours.  He asked us then and now to resolve to do His Will, no matter how hard, but we choose the easy way.

He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians.  He rained manna from the sky and make water from rocks.  The walls of Jericho fell.  He gave us His Son, Who rose from the dead.  And still, again today, we stopped listening for His Will.

What will it take for us to stop and listen this time?  Look at all that is happening in the world, beyond all our control, despite of “what we want now.”

Are you listening yet?  Are you resolving to do His Will, no matter how hard?  If you even remotely wonder if this event is from God, are you asking: “Can God really be calling to me?”

Yes, He can be calling you.

And a little further along in my meditations I read these important words of the angel to Mary:  Do not be afraid.

It’s hard not to be afraid, but I prayed to hear His will for me, and then to trust.   I think He is asking that of all Christians right now.  All this is for some world-changing reason.  Can we stop focusing on this world and focus on the big picture --- the eternal world He died to give us.  Not this little world, this little time here, but that eternal world is now ours, if we can stop focusing on this world, doing our will, and instead choose His.

Samuel said: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”