Lord, What Do You Want Me to Do?
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11 May 1984
Guadalajara, Mexico

My dear Confreres,

Three times in the Acts of the Apostles the story of Paul's conversion is recounted. We have just listened to one of those accounts. In another of them St. Luke tells us that, when St. Paul was knocked off his horse and had recognized the hand of God in the experience, he said: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" (Acts 22:10). Those are the words which I would like to write on the walls of every Seminary in the world. "Lord, what do you want me to do?" When we come to a seminary or to a Community like ours, we come with the intention of becoming a priest or a brother. Before we come at all to the seminary, we have done much reflection and have taken advice. Even after all that, there will remain an element of doubt about our vocation. So it is for that reason that I suggest the prayer of St. Paul to you as one which should often be on your lips and in your hearts."Lord, what do you want me to do?"

A seminary is a place where we become more certain of our vocation or we come to realize that we would be better Christians outside the Seminary and as lay persons. A seminary is a place where we find our vocation. It is for that reason that I think any man who is earnest about his life in the Seminary should have no regrets if he should come to the conclusion that he would serve Our Lord better in lay life. For many, of course, their vocation is strengthened and confirmed in the Seminary. For all, then, in the seminary, the prayer of St. Paul is very appropriate. "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

The prayer, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" will be answered in time. What is important is that you give yourself fully to the life of the seminary as it is proposed to you. The answer to the prayer, "Lord, what do you want me to do?" will be given with assurance if you dedicate yourselves fully to the work of studying, praying, visiting the poor, and to participating fully in community life. Our Lord said on one occasion: "He who does what is true comes to the light." (Jn. 3:21). Reflect often on that advice of Our Lord. If we do what is true, that is, if we dedicate ourselves fully to the task of the present moment, we will come to the light. Our minds will be enlightened about what we should do with our lives. "Lord, what do you want me to do?" He who does what is true, comes to the light. As I celebrate this Mass with you, I pray that each one of you will come to the light and see clearly what Our Lord wants you to do.

Did you notice in the reading how St. Paul was told to go into the city of Damascus to a certain house and to a man called Ananias? Wasn't it strange that Our Lord did not tell him immediately what he was to do? Our Lord used another man to make known His Will to St. Paul. That is something else which we should often reflect upon in our lives, especially when we are seeking light about our vocation, or when we are finding some appointment difficult. Our Lord makes known His Will to us in all sorts of ways, but in a special way by those, to quote St. Vincent, in whose hands our souls are placed by Divine Providence.

St. Paul does not seem to have undertaken any great missionary journey immediately after his experience on the road to Damascus. In fact, he would seem to have undertaken a very long retreat. The time we pass in the seminary is one of the most valuable periods of our lives for this reason, that you are given an opportunity of coming to know Our Lord better, to know His Church better, and to know St. Vincent and our Community better. All this is accomplished under guidance by the Director and other Confreres who already know our Community, but also through your own reflection. That is why it is so important that you try, not only to acquire knowledge about Our Lord, the Church, St. Vincent and the Community, but to reflect and pray quietly about your experience of life here in the Seminary. Cultivate a humble attitude of mind, in order that you may draw fully from the riches of spirituality which St. Vincent's Community offers to each one of us. As St. Vincent himself expressed it in a letter to a Confrere: "Let us learn from the Saint of Saints to be gentle and humble. These are the virtues which you and I ought to ask Him for unceasingly and to which we ought to pay a great deal of attention so that we will not be surprised by the contrary vices; the vices which produce so many effects and destroy with one hand the spiritual building which the other hand has constructed. May Our Lord animate us with His infinite gentleness which will permeate our words and our actions to make them so that they may be agreeable and useful to our neighbor...." (Coste VI, Fr. ed., pp. 387-388).

May Our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady and of St. Vincent, give us that grace and all graces we need, so that we may do what He wants us to do. "Lord, what do you want me to do?"

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