Vocation, the courage to risk the promise of God

(AsiaNewsThe courage to risk the promise of God is the title of the message that Pope Francis made known on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, celebrated this year on May 12.

Sincerely on the treasure of the experience that he had for him to be in touch with the young people of Panama, during the World Youth Day celebrated in January, Francisco says that he wants to think about how the Lord's call promises us and, at the same time, he asks us the courage to take risks with him and him.

First of all, referring to the call of the first disciples (Mark 1, 16-20), he explains, the vocation arises from the surprise of an encounter that breaks the paralysis of normality by showing us on the horizon a wider sea.

The Lord's call is not an intrusion of God into our freedom; This is not a cage or weight that is loaded on us. On the contrary, it is the loving initiative with which God comes to us and invites us to enter into a great project to which he wishes us to participate.

It is an unknown challenge that requires courage to take the risk of deciding. Francisco lists the different calls. First of all, what happens with baptism, with incorporation into the Christian community, in which we are initiated from childhood to the art of prayer and fraternal sharing.

Then come other elections, such as the decision to marry in Christ and to found a family, as well as other vocations related to the world of work and professions, commitment to the field of charity and solidarity, social and political responsibilities. , etc …

Finally, in the encounter with the Lord, one can feel the fascination of the call to the consecrated life or the ordained priesthood. It is an exciting and frightening discovery, when one feels called to become a fisherman of men in the boat of the Church by the total gift of himself and to confide in a service faithful to the Gospel and to the brothers. This choice implies the risk of leaving everything to follow the Lord and to devote himself entirely to him, to become collaborators of his work.

Francis's advice is not to be infected with fear, which paralyzes us in the face of the high summits that the Lord offers us and Mara looks at: even in the story of this young woman, vocation was both a promise and a risk. His mission was not easy, but he did not allow the fear to take over. It is he who wants to engage and who wants to risk, who wants to bet everything, without more security than the certainty of knowing that he was carrying a promise.