Commentary on the Gospel of
Life as Vocation
The movie My Sister’s Keeper begins with these words (voice over) of Anna, the protagonist: “Most babies are coincidences […], products of drunken evenings and lack of birth control. They're accidents.” Really? Compare these words with those of Yahweh: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5). The modern world suffers from the loss of the sense of vocation and the perception of life as meaningless accident. Even within the Church, we have circumscribed the sense of vocation to priests and religious, and go on lamenting about the “lack of vocations!” Every human being on earth has received a vocation and consequently a mission which is uniquely his/hers, and which no one else can substitute. On this day when we meditate on the call of Matthew, let us listen to the plea of St. Paul (first reading): “Live the vocation you have received!”
