Today at mass my parish welcomed a new member through
Baptism. I always loved baptisms because
I love babies. Today however, I wasn't
just thinking about how cute the baby was (although, he was adorable) I was
actually thinking about what was taking place.
A beautiful Sacrament was witnessed by so many people but my guess is
that not very many were changed or inspired by it. Well, I certainly was.
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| picture via rightfit |
The beauty I was reminded of today was that we are all
called to be priest, prophet, and king.
What I love about our baptismal callings is that I know what they are,
no guessing is involved. Usually when I
hear the word “calling” my mind goes to “Vocation”, and I start to stress about
my life’s purpose and the fact that it is still basically a mystery to me. Not so with my baptismal callings, I know
what they are and so I need to step up to the plate and fulfill them. If you have been baptized than you are also
called to be a priest, a prophet, and a king.
So what does that mean?
When we as Catholics hear the word priest we immediately think
of a man in a collar who celebrates mass.
We are not all called to be that type of priest (I mean I am a lady,
soooo definitely not my calling). We are
however, all called to minister. As
Catholics we are called care for the needy, lonely, and depressed. We are given the light of Christ and asked to
shine it forth to the world. God made
humans for relationship; we all crave acceptance and love. It is our calling and our responsibility to
share the love of Christ with all people, especially those who do not have a
healthy relationship with him or have no relationship with him at all.
Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, these men were prophets. They went up on mountains and into desserts
and heard God speaking to them. I generally try to
avoid the outdoors (unless it’s the beach) and I have yet to hear a loud
booming voice coming from the sky or a bush, but I am still called to be a prophet. What is it that made these men prophets? They listened, they obeyed, and they shared. In our lives we spend so much energy constantly
moving and changing that we have lost the art of being still in the LORD. We all need to take time and just listen for
God. This is something that I personally
have a lot of trouble with. Even
listening isn’t enough, we need to obey.
If you intently listened to your parents tell you to do your chores and
then watched TV all day instead, they would not be happy with you would
they? God wants us to not only listen
and hear what he has to say, he wants us to put his words into action! Finally, we need to share the Good News of
the Gospel with others. Be not afraid!
Our last baptismal calling is our calling to kingship. Our call to be kings is our call to be
leaders. So what makes a good king and a
good leader? A good king is
compassionate, fearless, strong, selfless, responsible, generous, and kind. A
good king is constantly looking for ways to help those he leads and elevate
them to their full potential. These are
the traits and qualities that God wants us to take on. He has called each of us to lead
non-Catholics to the faith and lead current Catholics closer to him (this
includes ourselves).
Personally, I think it is flattering that God has called me
to these things because he doesn’t call us to anything that we can’t accomplish
with his help. One of my favorite quotes
is, “God doesn’t call the equipped he equips the called.” The most important thing to consider when we
look at our baptismal callings is that we are never called to do anything alone. God is with us, rooting for us, and helping
us along the way. “I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.”- Phil 4:13
In what ways do you live out your callings? Do you see our callings in a different
light? Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
Drop me a line in the comments below!
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