Vocation is a gift from God and all of us who are loved by God are called by Him. However, to understand our vocation, it is also important to learn from so many people called by God, who listened to Him and tried to follow Him.
In the following few issues of World Mission, we’ll be remembering various biblical characters, starting with Abraham, our father in faith.
In Abraham’s vocation, the initiative came from God. It is God who calls and invites us to take part in the challenge He proposes. The initiative belongs to God “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). When speaking of Abraham’s call, the author of the sacred text writes: “The Lord said to Abraham, Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great people, I will bless you, I will make your name great; be a blessing! I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. Through you, all the peoples of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).
The response to God’s call is free. Abraham could freely decide whether to accept God’s invitation to leave or to remain in his land, ignoring God’s invitation. However, Abraham decides to leave. Moreover, Abraham was already 75 years old (Genesis 12:4), and Sarah, his wife, was considered barren (Genesis 11:30). Abraham’s departure, more than a positive response to God’s call, demonstrates his total trust in God. Leaving one’s land implies leaving the known to embrace the mysterious, leaving one’s family and friends, a region and a country to which one belongs, a culture in which one is inserted, the bonds created in the meantime to follow the path proposed by God!
ABRAHAM INSPIRES US
Returning to Abraham’s life, we can say that he was a just man who sought peace. In fact, despite being very rich in flocks, silver and gold (Genesis 13:2), in order to avoid conflicts between brothers, he decided to separate from Lot, allowing him to choose the best land: “The valley was a wonderful garden” (Genesis 13:10). Like Abraham, let us also be just men and women, living our lives in search of peace, avoiding conflicts between brothers and sisters.
As mentioned earlier, Sarah was barren and already of a certain age. God, faithful to his promises, gave her a son: Isaac! God kept his promises (Genesis 17:15-19; 21:1-3).
Then, the Lord decided to put Abraham to the test, asking him to have his son Isaac sacrificed. God was well aware of Abraham’s great love for his son Isaac. Yet, obedient to God’s will, Abraham intends to fulfill God’s request. Seeing that Abraham was obeying him, the Lord asked him not to sacrifice his son Isaac. With this act, the Lord confirmed the trust and obedience of Abraham, the friend of God.
Abraham’s “yes,” trusting in God’s word to him, should be a source of inspiration for all those who set out. In fact, when God speaks to our hearts (Hosea 2:16) and invites us to leave, His call is not innocent, since He created us, knows us deeply and knows what we are capable of. It’s not an easy invitation, but a demanding one, and it involves sacrifice, leaving family, friends, a country and culture that we love, to embrace, in faith, a destiny that God has indicated to us.
Likewise, in the life of any one of us, God invites us to leave, to leave our comfort zone and open our hearts, trusting in God. Leaving is demanding. It can involve accidents, but as Pope Francis tells us, “I prefer a Church that is bumpy, wounded and muddy from going out on the roads, to a Church that is sick from closure and the comfort of clinging to its own security” (Evangelii Gaudium, n. 49).
In our lives, we don’t always understand God’s plans, His will! Therefore, our love for Him, our trust that He loves us and wants us very much, will enable us to fulfill His will, which is often difficult to accept. Inspired by Abraham, we can be faithful to the Lord and His call.
SETTING OUT LIKE ABRAHAM
The vocation of Abraham, our father in faith, touches many hearts that, animated by the Spirit, set out trusting in God. This is the case of Father Margarito Garrido, a Comboni missionary from Sorsogon, Philippines. Like Abraham, he felt God called him to leave his homeland to witness the Gospel of Jesus. He is currently in Taiwan, serving in a small Christian community of local and aborigine faithful. In the following pages, you can read why and how he became a Comboni missionary.
