God is Calling!

While in Seminary I remember taking a post graduate course on “The History and Development of the Divine Office.”  A fellow New Yorker was teaching the class, Father Dominic Serra, an excellent teacher and very knowledgeable priest.  It was a tough course for me in and that it had all ordained priests in it, I was the only seminarian, a little intimidating in fact, especially how easily my fellow class mates could quote things in Latin, a couple of them even having a great command of koine Greek.  Anyway, without boring you to death out of the many things I learned in that class, much of which does not have a great practical use, the one thing I will never forget is that Fr. Serra told us, “You do not bring yourself to prayer, God ALWAYS calls us to prayer.”  That has always stuck with me since the day I heard him say it.  It has so for a number of reasons, one) Christians are called to prayer when they hear bells ring – this comes down to us from our Jewish heritage, ringing the bells at the temple calling all to prayer which then worked its way into our monasteries and cathedrals. Two) It reminds us that we cannot bring ourselves to God on our own, but that He must first call us, i.e. grace is a free gift and it is grace that helps me turn towards God.

The first reading today from Genesis when God visits Abraham by His tent we can clearly see that it was God who initiated the meeting and the subsequent conversation (prayer).  This story is quite fascinating on many levels.  First and foremost is that the God of the universe would bend down so-to-speak to converse with us.  What are we compared to God?  Especially so since we had already fallen into sin and yet He continues to meet us where we are, on a very human level.  The second thing of importance is that God listens to us.  Abraham asks God to stay for a meal, he asks God to wait while he and Sarah prepare it.  Think for a moment, God is willing to listen and wait on us.  It’s almost mind boggling that He would do such.

Abraham is obviously a special character in the history of salvation if not one of the most important characters in all of Scripture, the father of faith as he is called.  In the story we can see God’s gracious favors bestowed on him and it can make us almost jealous, but remember to whom much is given much is expected.  So no doubt, Abraham was a very holy man indeed, nevertheless it is not just Abraham and Sarah who was or is able to talk to God face to face, but we as well.

In the Gospel Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to Him, we do the same every time we pray; we sit and listen to our Lord as He speaks back to us.  This happens when we pray a rosary, the Divine Office, other set prayers, when we meditate, reflect, and most of all right now – at mass.

But, it was not us who imitated the conversation, it was God who called us here, that is why the bells ring before mass, not just so that you know that something holy is happening, but that God is calling.  We ring the bells at consecration not so that the illiterate will know what’s happening (that is a fallacy as some teach and believe, originally the bells ring because God calls us), but so that we always remember that God calls us to the Eucharist and not the other way around.

Abraham, Sarah, and Mary all knew this, that God called them to prayer, for Abraham and Sarah they asked God to stay a while and fellowship with them, for Mary it was simply enough just to listen.  What about us?  God has already called us and will continue to call, pray that He stays and has fellowship with us as we prepare the Eucharist to which He will also call us, but also remember God’s calling never ends, that is His great love for us.  Don’t ever think God is too big that He won’t visit you at your home; I mean he visited Abraham and Sarah by a tree near a tent!  If you look closely and listen tentatively you will hear the One who calls and the One who draws near, the LORD.

AMEN!

FJ