Speak, Lord,
Your Servant is Listening
As
vocation director, I often find myself reflecting on the
stories of call in the Bible, both from the Old and New
Testaments. Most
of the call stories are excellent for meditation.
These stories of call, however, are not merely meant
to tell us of the events of a people long ago.
They are intended to come alive and inspire us in our
place and in our time.
One
of the more famous and interesting of call stories is that
of Samuel, in 1 Samuel 3:1-10.
It takes place in a time when people felt it was rare
for God to speak and Godly visions were uncommon.
Samuel was a youth ministering to God with the Jewish
priest Eli. One
night when Eli was an old man, Samuel was lying in the
sanctuary of the temple, and the Lord called Samuel by name.
The boy answered “Here I am” and ran to Eli,
because he thought the priest was the one who called.
Eli told Samuel to go back to bed, because he had not
been called. Again
Samuel hears his name called and again runs to Eli.
Eli tells the youth to go back to sleep again, as he
did not call. A
third time Samuel runs to the priest believing he was
called, and this time Eli realized that the boy was being
called by the Lord. Eli
then instructs the youth that the next time he hears his
name called, he should respond, “Speak, Lord, your servant
is listening.”
This
story is rich in the meaning of vocation.
It speaks of God’s call, a young person’s
response, and the role of others in supporting the process.
And it speaks not just to God’s call to a young man
centuries ago, it ought to inspire us today.
We live in a time when many believe that it is rare
for God to call the young.
Yet from my experience of ministering with young
people, I know that God is still calling, and dreams of
Godly proportion are abundant.
Many
young people hear the cries of the world still in need of
redemption and healing, and they feel called to use their
gifts and lives for a meaningful mission.
In a vivid way one young man recently described his
hopes to me, “I don’t want to die on the couch with the
remote control in my hand.”
Others do not want to give in to what the world
describes as successful and meaningful.
They are driven to bring Christ to the world today.
They are willing and ready to take steps to offer
their lives for something of true and ultimate importance.
When
these young people turn to older generations for support and
guidance in responding to the call, what are they told?
What reaction will parents, grandparents, teachers,
youth ministers, and even priests have to a young man or
woman on fire to answer the call?
Too many of us are like the early Eli.
“Go back to sleep!” some say.
Maybe because Eli had grown weary in his old age, he
did not want to be awakened by Samuel.
In a similar way, maybe some of us have grown weary
through life experiences and are not ready to be awakened
ourselves. If
we tell young people to go back to sleep, we do not have to
get up either.
Yet
the more plausible reason Eli told the young man to go back
to sleep was that he did not understand how or simply that
God was calling Samuel.
Unfortunately, many people who are natural mentors
for our young people do not believe or understand that God
would call a person in their youth today.
Some people believe that young people need “real
life” experiences before responding to the call.
This is interpreted to mean that they should give in
to worldly temptations so that they will understand others.
Yet one does not have to be of the world to
understand it.
Fortunately
for Samuel, Eli had a conversion of mind.
The priest came to realize the workings of God in
Samuel’s life and encouraged the young man to respond,
“Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
For the sake of our young people, and really for the
sake of Christ’s work within the world, many of us need
that same conversion of mind and heart today.
We need to believe in the power of young people being
led by the Spirit and called by Christ from their youth.
Our responsibility is to be the later Eli to young
people passionately telling them to respond, “Here I am.
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
In
the weeks since Pope John Paul’s death much has been
written on the impact John Paul II had on young people.
He understood them, and more importantly believed in
them and their power to witness to Christ today.
The title of one of his last books, the one that
looked at his early experiences of being a bishop, is
“Rise, Let us be on our Way.”
He
was loved by so many young people the world around precisely
because he didn’t tell them to go back to sleep, but in
word and action, he profoundly challenged them to live
boldly for the Gospel to “Rise, Let us be on our way.”
From
his place now in heaven may John Paul II pray for us that we
might be another “later Eli” to young people we know.
What a difference is made when a young man or woman
says, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Father John Regan
Joliet Diocese Vocation Director
May 18, 2005
|| Vocations
Online || Priesthood
|| Religious
Life || Discernment
||
|
