The Call

What a beautiful season this is! A blessed Easter to all! Christ is risen, alleluia! As it is written in Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

In this most beautiful season we enter into the paschal mystery of Christ's resurrection. This season in which we are reminded that Christ is no longer among the dead but is living and seated at God's right hand. He is our just judge, our Lord and one in Divinity with the Father and Holy Spirit.

Yet also profound is the sacrifice which preceded the resurrection. Christ's supreme sacrifice was total. He gave His life that we may have life. Each of us is called to imitate what he did. This not in physical sense, but rather in a spiritual sense. We are each called to die to self, for if by Christ's resurrection we are raised to new life in Him, should we not live for Him? And thus comes the demand to suffer a death of sorts in order to live totally for Him.

Before the foundation of the World, God set forward a plan. The plan not only encompasses His creation of the World, but His plan for its salvation and that of each person He breathes life into. The individual is given a free choice. As Saint Francis de Sales puts it "God wills that we be able to disobey." Francis goes on to tell us that God "desires us to obey," and "allows us to choose not to." So to simplify is that we can chose to follow the Divine will or not.

So what is this will of God? The will of God is really the plan that God sets forward for an individual. It is what God wants that individual to do. God's will for an individual is always all good. For in the end, to follow God's will is to be united with His love and His grace. It is the best foretaste of the joys of heaven. To do God's will is the greatest intimacy with Christ while on earth, and Christ Himself will lead us. All one has to do is be still and trust in God.

In the simplest terms and definitions. God has a calling for each individual. In the one body of Christ, there are many parts (as Scripture tells us). The individual responding to the call contributes to the body being a cohesive cell. So let us in this Easter Season be meditate on the resurrection of Christ, and allow ourselves to humbly submit to the divine will which is always good and full of grace. To Him be the glory forever, alleluia!