May 2008 : Reflection
God the Father…chose us in Christ before the world was made
to be holy and faultless before him in love… (Ephesians 1.4)It is quite common these days in the context of evangelization
for people to ‘share their faith story’,
to talk about their life, about God’s goodness to them,
and about how they have grown in awareness of God’s love.
But where does my story begin?
At a moment of conversion perhaps?
Or when someone first spoke God’s Word to me and I heard it for what it is?
Or my baptism? Or my birth?
Saint Paul traces my story back much further than that,
much further than the history of my consciousness
or even the history of time itself.
He traces my story back to eternity,
to a moment when the Father gazed lovingly into the face of the Son
and saw …me!
And chose me to be holy,
that is, to take on the characteristics of His Son
as He gazed back lovingly into the Father’s eyes.
So the vocation to be holy is not just for priests and religious,
nor is it just for those introverted and pious souls who are so inclined.
It is the starting point and the very theme of my story.
And when I accept that call to holiness
and devote myself, without embarrassment or compromise, to achieving it
then my story can become one of joy and peace.