15 January 1992
Rome, Italy

My dear Confreres,

The passage from Mark's Gospel, to which we have just listened, is one of particular interest, because it enables us to follow Our Lord for twenty-four consecutive hours. We could say that this passage gives us a description of a typical day in Our Lord's public life. This particular day happened to be a sabbath, and Jesus spent the morning in the synagogue. Today's Gospel begins with the words, "After leaving the synagogue, Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew." (Mk 1:29). Peter might have been a little embarrassed because "his mother-in-law lay ill with a fever." (Ibid., v. 30). I suspect that she was the cook, for St. Mark tells us that when she had been healed by Jesus, she "began to serve them." In other words she got the lunch ready; there was no lunch ready when they arrived.

All afternoon Jesus would spend in recreation with His little community of disciples, for it was forbidden to do any work on the sabbath. Then, when the first star appeared in the sky, the sabbath was over. "The crowds of sick people came to the door of the house to be cured of their diseases." (Ibid., v. 34). From the few phrases St. Mark uses, you will get the impression that this work of healing went on into the night. "All who were sick were brought... the whole town was at the door.... and many were cured." (Ibid.).

Presumably Jesus then took some sleep but, if He did, He did not sleep long. St. Mark notes that Jesus rose very early in the morning and went off to a quiet place to pray, where St. Peter and the disciples found Him later. (cf. Mk 35-36). So we are again at the beginning of another day in Our Lord's life.

What is very interesting in that description is the balance that one sees in the activity of Jesus. There is prayer: liturgical prayer in the synagogue, and that is balanced by private prayer. There is hard work, and that is balanced by rest and relaxation with His little community. We, in our Community, have that same balance in our day. St. Vincent wanted us to pray privately and to pray together: to work and to take recreation. In our Constitutions we will find all those elements. If we blend the ingredients properly, then we will be balanced and effective missionaries after the heart of St. Vincent.

The first reading is also of particular interest to us, for it is the story of how Samuel found his vocation. Samuel was a youth serving his apprenticeship under a man named Eli who was an Old Testament priest. One night Samuel thought he heard Eli calling him. Three times during the night he arose, but Eli said that he had not called him. Then Eli suspected that the voice was that of God and he suggested to the young Samuel that, when next he heard his name being called, he should reply by saying: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." (1 Sm 3:9). Samuel did just that and he immediately received from God a clear message about what he was to do.

Samuel did not immediately recognize the voice as that of the Lord. We might be tempted to say, "Why did not the Lord make it clear to Samuel in the very beginning that it was He who was calling?" That remains God's secret. It took time for Samuel to discover his vocation. It is so with you. You are presently in the Internal Seminary of our Community. You have reason to think that the Lord is calling you to the priesthood in St. Vincent's Community. Some of you may have been a little like Samuel, who did not recognize the Lord's call at once, and you may have started out on another path of life, until it became clear to you that Our Lord was inviting you to the priesthood. Sometimes, too, the Lord seems to call a man to the priesthood, and then in the seminary He makes clear to him that it is not to the priesthood that He is calling him. For that reason, I have for many years thought that a seminary is a place where a man discovers his true vocation in life. If that is so, then it is important that in the seminary a man must be very intent on listening to the voice of the Lord. In practice that means doing as perfectly as you can at each moment of the day what God is asking of you. When I was in the seminary, we were told to live the axiom, "Do what you are doing." It means taking one thing at a time and giving it your undivided attention, considering the particular task as God's invitation at that moment to do His Will. If you live that axiom for the love of Our Lord, I have no doubt that you will hear the voice of the Lord clearly and you will know what to do with your life.