that we should be holy and blameless before him.
He destined us in love to be his sons through
Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace
which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
(Eph. 1:4 - 6)
All of us, every single person, has a vocation. Before the foundation of
the world, before we were formed in the womb, God chose us and created us with a particular, unique plan in mind. All of us have our own
personal place in God’s purpose for the world, our unique voice in the
great symphony of praise. Nobody is superfluous. No one can be exchanged
for another.
God chose Mary and
created her in a way excatly fitting to the task he had in mind for her in the
plan of salvation. God prepared her and made her capable of freely responding to the
call that was to be sent to her. Not because she had done anything to merit it - she didn’t even exist at the time
- but as a gracious gift, according to the purpose
of his free will, out of love for her and for all people who, through the child she
bore, themselves became children of God and had love and glory bestowed
upon them.
God’s call to us is a call
to become the person we are created to be, to live where we are meant to live and do what
we are meant to do. It is the way we are meant to walk on our journey towards the
moment where we can at last stand before God holy and blameless. It is also the gift we
are meant to give the community of our brothers and sisters. When one is called and
chosen, it is always with others in mind. By accepting and living out our vocation, we give our unique
contribution to the whole, that which we are created to give.
Our vocation is truly an
expression of God’s love for us, God’s mercy. God does not ask us to go against our nature or
our deepest identity. He calls us to that which he created us for. He wants our joy to be
complete and that we have life in abundance. God wants us to answer his call freely and in
love, as it is given freely and in love.
Grace from the same merciful, loving God raises one person up
time and again after frequent falls and failures, and preserves another from any stain of sin from
the moment of conception. Maybe we can dare to say, then, that all of us, in the company of the
Virgin Mary, Matthew the tax collector and Pope Francis, can enter into this
Jubilee of Mercy gathered around the motto of the latter:
Miserando atque eligendo.