In order to save ALL MEN, God is calling on me to use whatever the talent He has given me.
It is a very easy thing for me to become overwhelmed by the task at hand. If I stop to think about things too much it becomes very easy indeed to look at all the wonderful things that others can do and think to myself, well, I am simply not like them – not good enough, not clever enough, not organised enough, not pretty enough, not agreeable enough – or not enough of any other number of things…
And there is such a temptation in that sort of thinking to despair…
And yet, as I have been reflecting on this, I have called to mind the words of the Gospel when Christ called the Apostles to Him…
“And He called to Him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts… ‘And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.’ So they went out and preached...” (Mark 6:7-13).
And Christ could have gone out instead. Obviously – being God – He was more than capable of preaching His own message and inspiring the congregation to follow Him. In fact – being literally FILLED with the Holy Spirit – He was able to preach in a way that only the Holy Spirit can do and this preaching would have drawn souls to Him like bees to honey.
And even though He could do it Himself and He could do it better – He called the Apostles to Him so that they could do it for Him.
And I have been thinking about why…
He did it because when He created Saint Simon Peter, God created a man who was able to lead others. When God created Saint Andrew, He created a man who could influence others. When God created Saint John, He created a man who could be loved and loveable as a devoted follower of God. And later – when God created Saint Paul, He created a great orator. When Saint Luke, He created a writer. When Saint Francis of Assisi – hundreds of years later – a man of principle who could live by his principles no matter what.
In other words, with each responsibility, God created a matching talent. And that talent is really the whole point. For God wants “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
And in order to save ALL MEN, God is calling on me to use whatever the talent He has given me. And He is calling on you to do the same. And it does not matter if I cannot speak well, or perform well or write well. If my only talent is being able to sit quietly in a corner to support another soul, and I do that job well, then I have fulfilled my purpose as an instrument of God.
And today – when I stop looking around me at what everyone else is doing – I can finally see how important that really is!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.