The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Prior to applying to seminary, God was whispering into my heart the building blocks of a deep love for the plans He has in store for me. I remember experiencing a sense of rebellion, denial, and the desire to run away from Him and His call. I had dreams and pursuits that I was wholeheartedly passionate about before feeling called to pursue the priesthood. Why would He want to rid me of my childhood dreams of one day working in my dream career, getting married, and being the father of a God-fearing family? Why was He seemingly robbing me of my freedom to live a life where I would commit to glorifying Him?
Come after me. Drop your nets. Leave your boats... Jesus invites His first Apostles in today’s Gospel. “Drop the very things that your livelihoods depend on, your families, and the lives you know and follow me.” He is speaking these very words to us.
In your present vocation, discernment, or in your day-to-day living, how may God be calling you to come after Him? To drop your nets, and to leave your boats? Is He inviting you to embrace the discomfort of radically pursuing and choosing Him?
We have a God that reveals Himself as intimately part of our daily routines and into our views of our futures. All He asks is that we simply follow: as we are, wherever we are, and within the lens of our true identities as beloved children. He invites us to choose Him— and it is in this choice where God's meaning will unfold in time.
So human are we that we fear the repercussions of taking "leaps" in our faith, and at times choose to sit in darkness instead. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the great light that has arisen on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death. He is the Light that relentlessly reminds us that fear is not our future — and that in choosing Him in everything, we will flourish.
I honestly did not expect to find the sweet taste of the fulfillment of my desires in “dropping my own nets” that were my own pursuits and in “leaving the boat” of my own comforts. The Light that prevails over all darkness penetrated into my being, into my own abandonment, and has proved to me as He always does that He is King and worthy of it all. Never have I been so happy in my constant struggling ‘yes’ to Him!
Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you: I am ready for all, I accept all. Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord.
The Prayer of Abandonment, St. Charles de Foucald
Deacon Zinjin Iglesia is a Transitional Deacon for the Diocese of Arlington, VA undergoing seminary formation in Philadelphia. He enjoys all things coffee, good eats, kombucha brewing, traveling, and encountering God through beauty. Please pray for him as he prepares for ordination to the priesthood this year!
