The Spirit will find us:
Even if we miss the boat

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Anders Hendrickson

In desert wastes between barren sands and blazing sky, as the Chosen People, sustained only by God's daily ration of manna, stubbornly ignored miracle upon miracle, the man of God, Moses, at last was to receive help: 70 men anointed with God's Spirit, whom the church has ever seen as symbols of the priests who aid the bishop. Among the 70 God called were Eldad and Medad, and they did not come.

We don't know why they missed the ceremony. Perhaps they feared such a heavy responsibility, or perhaps felt unworthy of so great an honor, or perhaps simply stayed home to tend a sick child.

What the Scriptures do tell us is that God's call was not thwarted. When the Spirit came upon the other 68 elders, He also sought out Eldad and Medad at home; their prophesying proved that God had found them.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006) Num 11:25-29 Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 Jas 5:1-6 Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Every Christian has some mission in the church, the New Israel, and for the young the great task is to discover one's primary vocation. Am I to be a layman? A cloistered monk? A priest? A missionary?

I myself spent years attending discernment retreats, praying to know God's will, and growing frustrated at the delay. Sometimes, straining my ears to hear in the silence, I began to wonder whether I had missed the call, whether God had indeed spoken but I simply hadn't heard.

Now the story of Eldad and Medad is no excuse for inactivity. Human messengers summoned them to the tent; God speaks through our family and friends, too. Their calling was confirmed by Moses, just as Mother Church confirms our vocations to marriage, to priesthood, to religious life.

They ought to have gone in obedience to the tent to discover God's call. Likewise the long hours I spent in obedient prayer were my duty and no excess - but could they fail anyway, through some mistake of mine?

No, the Scriptures insist. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of the Father, of which all human language is but a shadowy reflection: He knows how to communicate. A master orator wields that still, small voice.

Even if you miss the boat, as Eldad and Medad missed their ceremony, God will not be missed. Even if you're in the wrong place when God speaks, He will be heard. So long as you do not intentionally ignore Him, you will hear His call when it comes.

My own time of discernment I spent at monasteries and Jesuit houses, among Oratorians and diocesan clergy, and even two years in graduate seminary, looking hard for the celibate vocation I was expecting.

Although I was looking in these "wrong" places, God's Spirit found me even there; when His time came, I heard clearly enough His call to marriage, and Our Lady provided confirmations of my vocation as unmistakable as Eldad and Medad's prophesying was of theirs.

We may confidently await His call in patient prayer; hearing Moses' prayer, the Lord will indeed put His Spirit upon all of us.

Anders Hendrickson is a Ph.D. student in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and teaches Latin at St. Ambrose Academy. He is a parishioner of Holy Redeemer Parish in Madison and has helped lead the graduate student and young professionals group at St. Paul's. He will marry Marie Patton this November.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

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