Who God Calls Me To Be

15/6/2022

A Reflection on the Psalm for June 19th, 2022
The Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Psalm 110

R. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

R. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty sceptre. Rule in the midst of your foes.

R. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.

R. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest for-ever according to the order of Mechizedek.”

R. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

As a child, my answers ranged from actor/movie star, to business woman, to writer, to French teacher, to Wonder Woman. As an adult,I think I’m still trying to figure it out! And if I’m even more honest, ministry wasn’t really an option I thought about. In some ways, church work (or God!) pursued me.

I had started to claim my Catholic faith as my own in my late teens. I began to volunteer on a diocesan level and at my parish. The next thing I knew, I was working on a contract for the diocese. When that contract finished, I figured I had given what I could to the Church, so it was time to find work in the “real” world. Well, that didn’t last long. Sure I found work, but I missed ministry. And so I did more studies and found my way back to “professional” ministry work. But that’s not to say that there aren’t days when I question: “Really God? This is where you want me to be? Seriously, where do you really need me?”

These days are a challenge because our Church is a mess. There is so much hurt, betrayal, and misused authority. Yet I continue in my ministry because it is not just a job I do. It is a part of who I am. It is a part of my identity. Yet it is not, and cannot be, my whole identity.

If I place my whole identity in what I do, what happens when that ministry is taken away from me? Or when I am no longer fruitful in that ministry anymore? My identity is not simply what I do. My identity is, more importantly, knowing who I am. And who am I? I am a child of a God. When I get caught up in trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I can forget this important fact. A non- Catholic supervisor I had during my chaplaincy training commented in one of my reflection papers that she would be pleased when I didn’t tie my identity so closely to Jesus and developed my own identity. I was perplexed by her comment. Claiming to be a disciple of Christ means I am who I am because of Jesus. My identity is as a sister of Jesus and daughter of God. I cannot separate that from who I am. And shouldn’t. Like the priest in the order of Melchizedek, my identity in Christ is forever.

Who I am, who I believe myself to be, affects what I choose to do in my life. So while I may not have quite figured out what I want to do when I grow up, I do know what I want to be. I want to be who God calls me to be.

Aurea Sadi

3 Comments

Alana

15/6/2022 07:32:33 am

“If I place my whole identity in what I do, what happens when that ministry is taken away from me? Or when I am no longer fruitful in that ministry anymore? My identity is not simply what I do. My identity is, more importantly, knowing who I am. And who am I? I am a child of a God...I want to be who God calls me to be.” Amen.

Thank you Aurea. You have expressed so beautifully a lot of what God has placed on my heart about this. As Christians we know we are of value not because of what we do, but because of who and whose we are. But the world tries to tell us differently. The world tries to tell us that we are valuable because of what we do. The danger of this, that I am sadly seeing evidence of more and more in healthcare, is that if our identity is all wrapped up in what we do and what we have, people may believe the lie of the enemy that if they “can’t do” a certain thing or “don’t have” a certain thing that they themselves are not valuable anymore and may even feel their life is not worth living. This is unacceptable! We as Christians need to be convicted on the truth about all this and live out the truth with our very lives (and I say this knowing that I fail miserably at it over and over again because I’m influenced by this world around us as much as anyone - praise God for His mercy). But I believe we need to help each other to remain convicted and counteract the lies - with our very identities, by our relationships, and by how we love and serve each other.
We are His Beloved daughters - and with us He is so well pleased. Help us Lord to live out this truth with conviction. Help each of us to be who You call us to be. Help us help and support each other in living Your truth. So everyone may come to know and live the eternal truth and love that You offer each of us. Amen. 😊🙏🏻💕xo

Lisa

15/6/2022 04:29:26 pm

“ My identity is not simply what I do. My identity is, more importantly, knowing who I am. And who am I? I am a child of a God.”
This is something that I have been praying with for a while and trying to move from “head knowledge” to “heart knowledge”. It is so easy for me to slip back into old thought patterns and I am having to renounce lies frequently these days. So thank you for this reflection Aurea!
P.S. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. 😆

Suzanne

16/6/2022 08:16:53 am

Heart knowledge and head knowledge! This is a challenge!