Daily Thought For August 10, 2014

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Called by Name

     The common denominator of every call of God to us from birth to death is the call to come to him. "In the hour of my death, call me." For what reason? That I may come to you. Bid me come to you .... That is the whole point. All of these calls through life on to death must be answered on a very deep, personal level. The call of those of us baptized in infancy was answered in our name by others; but it became a real, living, driving force in our lives, a practical vital force, as we grew to maturity and actuated that decision in ourselves .... 
     Knowing that we are called to the God who loves us is what sweetens every sacrifice, gives meaning to all suffering, infuses pain with splendor. It is the being called that gives significance to human love as well and offers impetus to the mortifications life continually puts before us. 
     If we could only remember that God is calling us by name in the unfolding circumstances of each day, we would assuredly reply: "Yes I Bid me come to you." It is not a case of, "Yes, I will make this sacrifice." Or, "Yes, I will be patient; yes, I will suffer this." There can be more than a bit of vainglory in that. There can be any amount of pride in that. But we come to understand that the call does not end any more than it began in the pain, the suffering, the sacrifice, the mortification, the situation, or the hour of death. 
     It is God who is our Alpha and Omega; he is the common denominator of every call. It is God who is the Caller and the Meaning and the End. If we use our God-given energies to remember this as we respond to the daily calls of our life, then in hora mortis nostrae we shall be able to reply to that call, too, making in that tremendous, dramatic final hour of our life on earth a deeply personal decision.
MOTHER MARY FRANCIS, P.C.C 

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