God is calling you

St Athanisius talks to us about what we're called to do today in A Year with the Church Fathers.  His point is that some of us are called to marriage, and some are called to virginity. He doesn't specify if those called to virginity are called to religious life or to just live as a single person. He says that we will receive a better blessing if we live as virgins than if we get married. I'm sure that he's right in that both will be blessed. But I don't think there's a blanket "This is better than that" which we can force on everyone.

I say this because it has become increasingly clear to me that God calls us, not once in our lives to do so and so job or get married to so and so, but rather He calls us each moment to follow Him in different ways. If you are not married, you are called to live as a chaste single person. Perhaps tomorrow, you'll meet someone and God will call you to marry them. In that case, you're called to live as a chaste married person, and you will receive the greatest reward by following His calling and being a chaste married person.

But then follow this thinking a little farther down the road. After decades of being a chaste married person, your spouse passes away. Now God is calling you to be a chaste single person again. See how it's different for each of us depending on the season of life we're in?

When you're a child, you're called to be a good son or daughter, and you're called to apply yourself to school. Once you graduate, you're called to some kind of "vocation" (which just means "calling") in which you'll become a religious brother or sister, or you'll get a job, or you'll become a husband or wife and mother or father. Each of these is a calling.

I'm called to be a good son to my parents. I'm called to be a good brother to my sibling. I'm called to be a hard working, dependable, honest employee at my job. My calling is different depending on what area of my life we're talking about.

And in each of these areas, God blesses me as I do these things AS UNTO Him. When I clean dishes, I'm doing it like I'm cleaning His dishes. When I wish my friend a happy birthday, I'm cheering them as though I'm cheering Him. In every aspect of my life, I'm called to love people and in doing so, I'm loving Him.

Let's find that calling in every aspect of our lives, and apply ourselves to answering the call with all of our determination.

God, thank You for calling us. Help us answer the call.