Contingent beings called to serve

January 20, 2008 -- Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What do you understand in Merton's assertion that we are contingent beings? 2. Does a life of holiness seem realistic? 3. How would you describe a saint?

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) wrote: "Our vocation is to glorify God by our contingency." Knowing that we are contingent is not necessarily consoling. But to be clear, our vocation is to glorify our God and we do that by being agents of his light, love and life. Another way of describing our calling is that our vocation is one of holiness. Our Catholic tradition tells us that this holiness is the perfection of love.

St. Paul is clear and direct in writing to the Corinthians. He tells this faith community that they are "called to be holy." This vocation is universal and fundamental. Universal in that everyone, without exception, has received this call by the very gift of creation. Fundamental, in that this vocation underlies all other vocations, be it to married life, single life, priesthood or consecrated life.

Isaiah the prophet offers various aspects or qualities of the holy life. All people seeking the perfection of love (that is, holiness) are to be instruments of God's glory. Through them, light must shine, bringing to others warmth and beauty. For people pursuing holiness, God must be their strength and salvation. Trust is not to be placed in chariots and horses, in money or fame, in possessions or pleasures. And, according to Isaiah, holy people are servants of the Lord.

In the Gospel we read about John the Baptist. This prophet and servant of God called people to repentance and baptism. John was aware of the power of the Holy Spirit, the source of holiness and life. He also realized that holiness is not something that people do, but something that God does through them in their service to others. At the heart of baptism is the call to holiness, to a perfect love of God and one's neighbor.

The Anglican theologian John Macquarrie comments on the relationship between holiness and obedience. He maintains that holiness is essentially "obedience in a particular situation." When God asks us to love the nasty, to forgive those who hurt us, to reach out to the needy here and now, and we respond with an unreserved "yes," we are on the road to holiness. When sufferings and trials come out of the blue, when we wrestle with our guilt and shame because of personal sin, when we are given the cross of a broken relationship, and we say "yes," we are on the borders of holiness.

One of the most readable and stimulating documents of the Church is Pope Paul VI's apostolic exhortation, "Evangelization in the Modern World" (December, 1975). Pope Paul tells us that we can measure the "success" of evangelization in terms of "lives of holiness." Then he gives these qualities of a holy person: simplicity of life, a spirit of prayer, charity toward all, obedience, humility, detachments and self-sacrifice (#76). In calling all of us to this way of life, God also gives us the necessary graces.

"Our vocation is to glorify God in our contingency." Though we are contingent beings, in a sense we become "necessary" in the fulfillment of God's plan. Such is our dignity.

(Bishop Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)