Here I am, Lord
Monsignor Mahon’s February 9 homily with the theme “Here I am, Lord; send me” quickly brought to mind a friend back in Wisconsin who I met a few years before moving to Rochester in 2011. I’m not sure how old Trudi was, but I do recall she was a grandmother. Though she was a modest person, I recall a public Catholic event during which she was asked to give a faith witness or testimonial. She talked about several of her volunteer activities, primarily through her parish, only some of which I knew about. During a break afterwards, I commented about what a blessing she’d been to her parish, and I speculated something like, “for what, more than two decades?” She reacted with shock and apologized (not that she actually needed to) for not having made it clear her activity had only begun a few years earlier!
She then explained she had been a Catholic since birth who had good attendance at Mass weekly but did nothing else of note. She was glad that she at least showed up regularly, because one weekend her life changed dramatically. She didn’t recall any particular cause, such as an unusually powerful homily or words in a hymn that served as a wakeup call. “All I remember,” she said, “was that I walked into the church as usual, but left as a totally different person.” Apparently, she quickly started making up for lost time!
Of course, a common and often legitimate reason for trying to resist such a call is how very busy we can be, between jobs, family obligations, and volunteer work we’re already doing. I sometimes fear that I’m stretching myself too thinly as I engage in a few different volunteer activities and thus may not be providing much value to any of them. In fact, late last year I was close to quitting one of them (which is only loosely connected to our parish), because I was becoming less active than a year or two earlier – not that I was a role model previously. Instead, when I was asked to take on a new role with that organization in December, I agreed because I was assured it would be temporary.
Then suddenly in January, a very messy situation developed, and I found myself in the thick of it. I couldn’t help but think of that sarcastic saying, “No good deed goes unpunished,” and wondered if my other volunteerism would suffer as a result of the new demands on me. Instead, to my pleasant surprise, I’ve found a surprising surge in mental energy, and a new efficiency in other aspects of my life, which I can only credit to the Holy Spirit. And what do you know, the challenge several of us have been grappling with has already started to subside noticeably.
I’ve read that Pope Benedict XVI often made a point in public messages to invoke “Here I am, Lord; send me.” (Isaiah 6:8). I’m particularly pleased that he did so to large gatherings of Catholic youths on at least on a couple of occasions, during World Youth Day in Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. Younger Catholics might have another valid reason to resist divine callings: worry stemming from inexperience. “The Church has confidence in you and she thanks you for the joy and energy that you contribute,’ Pope Benedict said to the Rio audience. He also echoed any number of angels in the Bible, who said to some good people, “Do not be afraid.”
I’m sure my friend Trudi wished that she had started her noblest work back when she was of Confirmation age. But at the end of the day, no matter what our age, we can start saying yes now.
Richard Bogovich