Callings and sore feet

"God doesn't call the qualified...He qualifies the called"
- Fr. Vin Ritchie SJ at this evening's Mass.

Did I need to hear that today! My family has been away for the weekend and only having 1 car at the time, I had to walk to Mass this evening (hence the sore feet...it's about 2-3 miles). Father Vin was preaching on today's Gospel, the commissioning of the Apostles to go out into the world and do the work of Jesus. I imagined, being the men they were, that they were taken quite aback at this request. Some fishermen, a tax collector, a notorious doubter...they must have been thinking "He's kidding, right? No money, no change of clothes, no food, no nothing? Master...did we HEAR you right? What if we get beaten up on the road? What if we can't find a place to stay? What if we get accused of blasphemy? Surely this is one of those parable-thingies?"

I always get questioning myself in what I've been called to to; "What qualified YOU to be a Dad? Who the heck are YOU to even be attending fraternity meeting to the Secular Franciscan Order (forget about becoming professed!!!)? How dare you even THINK you may have a calling to be ordained a deacon someday??" And yet, here it all is. I'm a husband and a father of 2 loving children. The fraternity I'm in formation with welcomed my discernment with open arms and encourages me that I'm right where I am supposed to be. And the diaconate? Who knows? God has been calling me to SOME greater service within the Church, and in my prayers the idea of serving as a deacon keeps coming up. There's a reason for that; I don't rightly know what it IS at present, but God rarely makes His reasoning known to me all at once.

Why me? Why NOT me? I am not qualified for any of these things, and will never be, of myself alone. If God wants me, God will qualify me. Period. Thank you for the pep talk, Fr. Vin!

Daily Mass Readings
Amos 7:12-15
Psalm 85:9-14
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:7-13