Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. // Ephesians 4:7
The eyes of all the little faces on our various icons of the Saints gazed out at me during my afternoon prayer time. My homeschooled children and I were taking time for silent prayer at the end of lessons on our first day of school. The morning had gone more smoothly than I had expected, for my children’s delight in learning and miraculous patience for me had taken precedence over the occasional frustrations. We had even eaten lunch earlier than usual.
I prayed in thanksgiving to the Lord for the graces I had received that morning, I felt the weight of the Lord’s call to me. The weight of raising and educating the little ones entrusted to me. The weight of writing devotions and articles which share His love with those who read them. The weight of editing others’ writing to help them to proclaim truth in a clear, open way. I glanced from the icons of one Saint to another, to find one off whom I could model my work, those dear, familiar Saints who had drawn me into a friendship of devotion to them. But all their faces seemed to respond to me: you have to live out your call to serve the Lord as yourself.
Saint Paul writes in the First Reading about the various roles we are called to in the Body of Christ—our individual calls to holiness, but also our unity as a church built up in love in Christ (see Ephesians 4:7-16).
Sister, the Lord has a special call for you, and He gives us each the grace we need to live out this call, be it to patiently raise our children, to bring His light to our workplaces, or to discover our vocation. On this Feast of Pope Saint John Paul II who truly lived out this call in the Body of Christ, ask him and all the Saints to pray for you to know your call and to allow grace to help you live it.
Bring His light. // Susanna SpencerClick to tweet
Susanna Spencer holds a master's in Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville and is the Devotions Editor for Blessed is She. She is a freelance writer and editor and a teacher-in-training living with her philosopher husband and four kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She loves reading theology, attending beautiful liturgies, cooking delicious food, and casually following baseball. She is the author of the Gospel Studies including Seek His Kingdom: A Meditation on Matthew , Listen to Him: A Meditation on Mark, and Abide in His Love: A Meditation on John. She was narrator for Found: Advent With the Good Shepherd and Rescued: Lent With the Lamb of God and a contributing author and editor for our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. She was the Theological Editor of the Blessed Conversations Studies. Find out more about her here.
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