Calling – Daily Graces

In this week’s video I shared a bit about Vacation Bible School (VBS) and how it is both a great week and an exhausting week. This week’s Gospel passage reminded me of so many VBS’s in the past that have used the shorter parables Jesus shares in the long version of the Gospel reading. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like….” I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a number of mustard seeds make their way into our house only to be lost in couch cushions. The tiny seed that grows into a mighty tree is a simple, powerful image for how faith can grow.

As a VBS leader, this Gospel passage couldn’t be more perfect. Each element of VBS is intended to sow these little seeds of faith. The songs, the games, the stories, the lightsaber wielding Franciscan (yes, we have one of those here in Alabama!) – each interaction carries with it a hope that faith will deepen and grow in the hearts of the children in attendance. There is also the hope that the kids will bring their joy and enthusiasm home to inspire their parents. Just today, my kids were playing a board game and interspersed in the game they were singing a VBS song – “I am not forgotten, I am not forgotten, God knows my name.”

As it is the middle of July, many of you may not be aware that your parishes are beginning to gear up and think about ministry volunteers for the fall. Religious Education coordinators are starting to consider whom to ask to be a teacher this year. RCIA leaders are beginning to form teams to accompany individuals who wish to begin or complete their Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation). Lector, choir, and altar server schedules are being built for the fall months.

As the summer continues to unfold, and before you get too deep into the back to school craze, this is a great time to consider how you want to spend your fall. What activities will bring form and shape to your overall schedule? Where does God fit into your day to day, your week, your month? Do you have an ongoing ministry practice already? If yes, it is wise to discern if this is the ministry God is still calling you to. Perhaps the answer is yes, and what a joy to be able to continue serving your community in this way that you are familiar with. For some of you, the answer may be no. This is ok, though difficult. If God places it upon your heart that it is time to move on from a ministry, what could He be inviting you to explore in its place? If you don’t have a ministry, where do you see a need in your parish or community?

God is calling each one of us to be evangelists. An evangelist is someone who shares their faith with others. Participating in ministry is a great way to begin growing an evangelical spirit within you. So, before your schedule gets overwhelmed with activities, school events, fall festivals, and other events, think about how a ministry can play a role in your life.

God has given you specific and unique gifts. There is someone out there waiting to hear about the faith from you. Maybe it will be in a conversation, maybe it will be in a classroom, maybe it will be watching you serve on the altar. You get to help God plant seeds of faith, how incredible is that?!

To Be Who You are Called to Be: In honor of Mother Teresa's Canonization. Daily Graces at kktaliaferro.wordpress.com — © 1986 Túrelio (via Wikimedia-Commons), 1986 / , via Wikimedia Commons. Text added by Kate Taliaferro 2016

I was talking with my father-in-law the other night about tomorrow’s canonization of Mother Teresa. This is a huge event for so many people, Catholic or otherwise. Mother Teresa’s example of love, service solidarity, charity, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, faith, persistence, resolve, (need I go on?) will resound throughout the centuries as generations to come will continue to learn from her and her incredible witness. My father-in-law made a comment I’ve heard many times said by many people in similar words: “Look at her, how can we possibly hope to compare?”

At first I was inclined to agree. Indeed, Mother Teresa is a woman who stands out among women. She dedicated her life to God and actively sought His direction. She followed where God called her, even when it meant giving up comforts and familiar faces. She continued her obedience even when she walked through her dark night of the soul, her belief never wavering even in the midst of an arid spiritual desert.

It is true, Mother Teresa did things that few human beings have done. She was willing to sacrifice what the world holds dear so that she could fully embrace those the world has rejected. It is without question that she is someone to be admired, to be looked up to and to be challenged by.

But, I challenge the sentiment that we need to compare ourselves to her. She can challenge us to live better lives, she can encourage us to detach from the things that keep us from following God and she certainly can call us to improve in areas we fall short of compassion and generosity. However, I am not called to be Mother Teresa. You are not called to be Mother Teresa. I am called to be Kate Taliaferro. You are called to be [say name here]. We each have a unique mission given to us by God to fulfill for the betterment of one another.

What makes Mother Teresa so magnetic, what makes her smiling wrinkled face and worn hands so inspiring, is that she truly became who God had called her to be. When God called, she was listening. When God moved, she responded. When God challenged, she continued to empty herself into His hands so that He could work in and through them.

Mother was always encouraging those she encountered to continue growing in who they are as children of God. A simple Google search offers a plethora of quotes, all which can be applied not to becoming more like Mother, but to growing in holiness on our own paths that God has laid out for us.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

Peace begins with a smile..

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

We are not all called to Calcutta, but we are called to love each person we encounter in our day. We are not all called to work with the sick or dying, but we all know someone who is weak in spirit, harboring sadness or despair, or struggling through life who is in need of our kindness. We are not all called to walk through the streets feeding the hungry, but we all probably know of a corner where a person in need is waiting for someone to look them in the eyes, acknowledging our common humanity, and offer them a meal. We may not be called to give up everything, but we are all definitely called to sacrifice something that is keeping us from a deeper relationship with Christ.

So I challenge you, like I challenge myself, be who you are called to be. Be inspired by Mother Teresa’s holiness, her faith and her obedience, not intimidated. Be encouraged by her joy, her compassion and her generosity, not disheartened. May her smile be a pathway to the you you are called to be.