How many times in a day does our phone ring and when we look to see who is calling, we see the message “Possible SPAM?” Just think how quickly we cancel the call and look for a way to block that annoying person from ever calling again. After all, we have important lives to live, people to see, places to go and endless things to do, so we cannot be bothered by a meaningless call from someone we don’t know.
SPAM callers are not the only ones who are reaching out, endlessly trying to engage us in conversation. You can add another to that list – God the Father. When God reaches out to us, is our response the same as when we receive a SPAM call? Unfortunately for most of us, the answer might be “yes,” because when God calls, he doesn’t show up on caller ID, so his call is easy to disregard. If he did, we would eagerly answer, to hear what he has to tell us.
But maybe, just maybe, if we make a conscious effort to slow down our all too busy lives, filled with hectic but often unimportant interruptions, we will hear God’s silent ring, his constant call to us, not on our phones, but in our hearts.
Maybe that call comes while we are in prayer, and we just need to stop talking and listen more. Maybe that call comes when our neighbor needs help or our friend needs the proverbial shoulder to cry on. Or maybe that call comes when we least expect it, when we are frustrated or angry because things have not gone as we so carefully planned them to go.
For those of us wise enough to not only hear God’s call but take action, great things are in store. No longer will we be tormented by our misdeeds from yesterday or a decade ago, for God forgives us. And with his unending mercy and forgiveness, how we choose to interact in his world changes, and love and kindness now take center stage. Accepting God’s call now makes each of us a child of God.
So, as we go about our Daily Examen of Conscience and place ourselves in God’s presence, let us give thanks for God’s great and endless love for us. For God is calling us to be one of his chosen, to love and serve with all of our being.
Steve Scholer
I came to Creighton to attend law school in 1976 and following 5 years of private practice I started what I thought would be a 4 year job to help Fr. James Hoff, S.J. raise funds for the Campaign for Creighton. Little did I know that the many wonderful people I would soon meet, both here on campus and across the entire country, over the next few years would lead me to stay and continue to support the mission of this University. My wife is a Creighton graduate and our son, Frank, is a Xavier undergraduate and Creighton law graduate. Our daughter, Paige, has both her undergraduate and master’s degree from Creighton.
I do not participate in social media websites so posting my personal interpretation about what the readings mean to me is a novel experience for me. However, being required to put pen to paper forced me to become more reflective about what God is really trying to say to me and this has helped me in my daily prayer life - to slow down and let the Word of God dwell within me instead of racing through the daily devotions.
