Deacon Larry

Dc. Larry Brockman

 

St. Ignatius of Loyola once said:  “Pray as if everything is up to God; and work as if everything is up to us”.  Today, we celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  These are two men who did precisely that, men who lived ordinary lives, even following their own agendas for a while.  But they were also men who heard the Lord’s call.  They were able to reconcile that call to put God first by praying constantly; but at the same time, these men were able to live life to the fullest by doing, by working courageously to accomplish God’s will for them. 

  

Most of us have a tendency to think that God has only a few favorites that he taps for service;  that God chooses a few special people to do great things for him, like Saints Peter and Paul in Apostolic times; like Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II in today’s times.  I don’t think that’s the case.  You see, I think God calls all of us to do his work.  Let’s examine Peter and Paul closely, because they are good examples of how God hopes all of us will respond to His call. 

The first, Peter, was of no special lineage, just a poor fisherman by trade.  And then, one day, He was asked by Jesus to follow him.  He was a man who denied his best friend, Jesus, at the most critical time in his life, not once, but three times, because he was afraid the Jews would do the same to him- arrest him and try him for treason.  And yet, Peter repented, believed in the Lord, and resolved to do the Lord’s will.  He then followed wherever the Lord led him.  Peter lived life fully with enthusiasm through much adversity as this morning’s Gospel story of his jail break demonstrates.  As the veiled threat at the end of the Gospel indicated, Peter was martyred for Christ, the very thing he feared that caused his three denials. 

  

Paul, a tentmaker, by trade, was a zealous Jew who was very learned in the Pharisaic tradition.  He persecuted the Lord relentlessly by leading the Jews in the early persecution of the Church.  But Paul heard the Lord’s call on the road to Damascus.  He went off for 3 years to pray and understand the Lord’s Gospel which was revealed privately to him; and then he became the great Missionary to the Gentiles.  Did you know that Paul was small in stature, skinny, and had a weak whining speaking voice?  And yet Paul’s weak and whiney voice has lasted over 2 millenia. 

Yes, both men were sinners.  Both men had limitations.  But God called them to just trust him, and let Him take over in their lives.  And so, despite their weaknesses and fears, these men did great things; not because of their own capabilities; but in spite of them.  Rather, they did great things because of God’s grace in them. 

  

All of you can do the same.  You can dedicate your lives to God by praying constantly, without becoming a monk; and yet, doing the work God intends for you by living life to the fullest.  It means that you let God’s grace work in your lives, and you trust in him.

St. Theresa of Avila expressed the effect of grace this way:  She thought of the soul as a garden, and the plants in the garden as virtues like humility, patience, faith, hope, and courage.  These virtues are seeds planted by God in each of our souls.  Our job is to water them with prayer, and to fertilize them with obedience, even if it means self sacrifice.  But it is God himself, who gives life to the seeds as He sees fit.  We can work without praying- in which case our souls become dry deserts with no grace flowing in them, no virtues blooming, and no satisfactory direction emerging.  Or, we can pray without working, and our souls become like a stagnant pond-  no outlet for the grace we receive.  But we can do both- both pray and live life fully.  God will activate the virtues we need to do the job he intends for us.  God will show us the way.  And generally, but not always, our work will be right where we are- our families, our jobs, our community. 

  

In this year of evangelization, and especially now as we enter the Jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, I challenge all of you to pray as if everything is up to God; and work as if everything is up to you.