Today's Gospel calls us to reflect on vocation. It begins with fisherman washing their nets. Next, Jesus transforms the fishing boat into a pulpit "and taught the multitudes from the boat." The passage concludes with the famous words, "From now on you will be fishers of men" (Lu 5:10). So which will it be? Commercial fishermen or fishers of men? Men providing a solid living for their families or itinerant preachers living on the brittle edge of bare survival?

Two thousand years later we only see the conspicuous honor bestowed on these men. They are .... The Twelve. Ever after, we will say "the saints and Apostles." But how clear would all this have been if it had happened to us?

Imagine a respected researcher and teacher today. People say he has a genius for laying open the most complex subjects in aspects of clarity. Reviews assert, "I have never seen better." He is sought after, recruited by first-rank universities, asked to lunch by prestigious publishers. He receives a feeler about hosting a television program that would explore scientific and technical subjects.

Then, on a day, something begins to happen. Otherworldly things. Impossible coincidences recur day after day, week after week. They all seem to be connected to God. One night, he experiences a visitation from the Greater Life. He is granted the privilege of beholding an angel. The fabric and texture of his life have changed, radically changed. Quietly, he consults a spiritual director who tells him, "You are receiving an 'honest call' to ordained ministry."

What is he to do? Shall he tell his wife that everything will change including their affluent lifestyle? Should he confide in his superiors at work forever tagging himself as "unstable"? A colleague seeks him out, a world-renown author and teacher, who upon hearing the story says, "And you would scrap your life's work because of coincidences?" His department head, a patient and prudent man, tells him, "The world is filled with priests and ministers .... one might say 'overfilled.' But I do not know anyone who is able to do what you do. The subject you raise is vocation. The only one I know who could fulfill your vocation is you. Let others proclaim the Gospel and minister at hospital bedsides."

The story of the promising scientist who, in the end, did enter the maelstrom of the Western Church is too long to tell. The important point today is the great burning point of each of our lives, which is vocation.

The term derives from the Latin verb vocare, which means "to call." Our God is a calling God. He creates each of us as His son or daughter, but this is no dog or cat, no two-dimensional creature. Each is an Image of the Creator having that magic we call freedom. There is no other way for the magic to come into its fullness and unity with God other than in complete freedom, creative freedom. Like God each of us must become a maker, called to make a life that is good and a world that is good .... all by the grace of God. He has endowed our souls and our DNA with His goodness, but we must act upon it in our freedom. It all boils down to this: we have choices to make. Every day, choices.

But we do not know exactly to what He is calling us. We must not rush to the conclusion that every call is to vowed religious life. First of all, He calls everyone to relationship with Himself, to intimate relationship. Next, He is calling us to fulfill the special plan He has inscribed on each of our souls — for each soul a unique plan. But what is this plan? Where is the path that leads to it and finally completes it .... and ourselves?

In frustration, we might look at the Apostles and say, "It was simple enough for them! Their spiritual director was God!" Or was it? After all, this is one of the master points of the Gospels. The disciples must face that greatest question in human history: "Who do you say that I Am?" attested in all three Synoptic Gospels (Mk 8:27-29, Mt 16:13-16, Lu 9:18-20). It was their greatest question, and it is ours. So, what is our answer? This is the first and all-important step of every vocation.

To borrow C. S. Lewis' words,

For two pairs of brothers, Andrew & Peter and their neighbors John & James, God brings this proposition into a sharp and unforgiving clarity. Their life is fishing. They have undertaken the enormous expense, not to say risk, of acquiring boats. They fish all day and sometimes all night. When they are not at sea, they are mending their expensive nets. Then, in one day, they catch more fish than ever they had in their lives, more fish than they ever dreamed of catching. Is not this a sign from Heaven that their true vocation is to be commercial fishermen? After all, which fishermen could rival them? Who could claim greater success? Is this not the obvious interpretation of events?

But this man from Nazareth, this Jesus, teaches that this catch should bring them to the opposite conclusion, that they must leave their boats and nets and livings. It all comes back to the bedrock question: "Who do you say that He is?" To his everlasting credit, the impulsive Peter, remembering Isaiah's declaration, "I am a man of unclean lips!" (Isa 6:5), blurts out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

Believing ourselves to be humble, we might also reply, "I am not worthy." But it cannot be humble to inform God that He is mistaken. Humble people do not correct God. And we must call to mind Moses, the stutterer (Exod 4:10), whom God called to be His spokesman. We must remember Abraham, who disavowed his wife (Gen 20:2), whom God chose to be the father of a chosen people. And then there is David, who was least in the eyes of his father (1 Sam 16:11), whom God called to be first among the people Israel.

Moreover, we cannot really know what God's plans are .... at least not in detail. The stereotype cannot be so that God wants us to win souls. Jesus says that the gate is narrow and few will find it (Mt 7:14). God is not in a numbers game. Conversion to Christ is about holiness and self-denial concerning worldly things. I recently bumped into the formula,

God calls us because He calls us (Rom 9:15). He commands us to respond. And He promises that the Holy Spirit will tell us what we should say (Lu 12:12). The only thing that is important here is obedience: "not My will but Thine be done" (Lu 14:36).

Of course, we might feign ignorance "playing possum." We might pretend that God has not called us, that all of this never happened. I recall a Roman Catholic bishop many years ago say to his audience, "We now have this Caller ID attached to our phones. So when long-winded and eccentric Uncle Wilbur calls, what do you do? Do you screen the call? How many of us are screening calls from God?"

Can you do that? Pretend that all this never happened? This response has a name: refusing the call. In Joseph Campbell's landmark study, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, we find the heading "Refusal of the Call." It reads,

Or let us remember Jesus' teaching

But no one can elude God. As the Psalmist has written,

Is God calling you? The answer, of course, is "Yes." He is the calling God. He speaks into our lives every day. In this, we are tried day by day. This is for our growth, to shake off our complacency.

Has He surrounded you with a world of details that point to a call? Is He bringing you to some great decision? Or perhaps it is about the life you are already living? Are you cooperating with evil .... though trying to convince yourself that you are not, or that this evil has to do with others but not you? In God's economy, either we are part of the solution, or we are part of the problem. Jesus says,

Do not be tempted by "pop culture Christianity," which passes God off as meek and lowly merely. He is your God and your King. That He has stooped to number the hairs on your head calls for humility and gratitude, not insolence, indifference, or passivity.

If He is calling you, He means now. "Later" equates to disobedience. Do you fear that your life will fall apart if you should follow Him? Remember, in order to have a new life, your old life must be dismantled. This is the nature of the thing. In any case, you are not the captain of your fate. None of us are. Our only security and confidence is Him. He is the One who has overcome the world. And our lot is tribulation (Jn 16:33).

The promising scientist finally did burn down his whole life. This was followed not by the sudden appearance of a new and exciting life but rather by ashes. Years of ashes. Over time, though, and following God's crooked though most efficient path, he found himself under the spiritual guidance of a wise teacher and author. Unaccountably, she made time for him who now had become .... no one in particular. One day, as he was leaving the pregnant silences of her office, she said,