It is so good to share with you again!
A young businessman faced a situation where it was difficult for him to know what to do. He sought out a wise man, and they had the following conversation. The young man expressed:
– I don’t know what to do.
– OK, you don’t know what to do
– This job opportunity was presented to me, I made the proposal, and it seems that they accepted it.
– Okay
– If the talks continue as they have been until now, I would be traveling a lot. It’s something I like. Well, of course, I made the project proposal myself. And it was well received. The managers saw the benefit of everything that can help our company, and my benefit as well.
– Ok, it seems that it has benefits for your workplace and for you guys too, is that correct?
– (Pause) Well it seems, but not for everyone. My children are still very young, and they still need me a lot. One of my children has this health situation, and my wife does the best she can with the time she has. In my job, I really like what I do, and it would be of great benefit in the long term for both the company and me.
– Then it would be beneficial.
– Yes, but (pause) not for my family.
What this young man later shared with me was that he felt a tremendous desire to follow up on the proposal that he submitted in his work. But at the same time he was afraid that his project would crystallize. He was aware of the situation in his house, because it was not that he did not love his family, but being able to do what he wanted had a great attraction for him. He had a feeling of “wanting to be somewhere else.”
And you, have you found yourself in a similar situation where you feel like you want to be somewhere else? Do you remember the details of the situation?
As for the young man, since his job proposal was still in the initial stage, there were no details, giving him the opportunity to imagine and draft everything he could contribute. He knew that he had his wife’s support, but that he was traveling so much, if the project were to start soon, would cause a deep imbalance in the stage of that young family.
In my case, the first time I remember a feeling of “wanting to be somewhere else” dates back to when I was between 6 and 8 years old, when I was in a group of missionary children. My parents lived in the city of Torreón, and I have vague memories of an event that my mother took me to, it was organized by the Missionary Childhood and Adolescence (IAM acronym in Spanish). There were activities for children and teenagers. In a very distant way, I remember a living rosary, and the novelty of missionary rosaries. These rosaries were handmade, and each denarius was a different color, representing each continent. In this way, when praying it, we prayed for missions around the world. I think the event was in a baseball stadium.
In the event there was a theme son that said:
The IAM calls on all of us,
Missionary children we fight for Christ,
Announce his kingdom, sharing his word.
At every moment and in every place.
Remembering the event today, it must have been very well organized in terms of reaching the childhood experience, as I remember many details. Frankly, perhaps it was more the group experiences that I liked the most, since I was too young to understand what was promoted, which were the missions.
The event was two days, I only went to the first one, and it was the second day that I did not attend, where I remember that desire of wanting to be in a place where I was not. I wanted to “be there” in a different way than other occasions.
Today, do you know where you would like to go? Do you know where you would like to be?
There was a moment where Jesus tells the apostles to go into the whole world and preach the gospel. I, as a missionary girl (that’s what they called all the children who attended the event), did not have the capacity to understand what it meant to “go to the whole world,” and even less understanding of what it meant to “preach the gospel.” But For you, today, what does it mean to “go into all the world,” and what does it mean to “preach the gospel”? Some time ago I was told that Saint Francis of Assisi said something like this:
– Let’s go preach the gospel, and if needed, we will speak
It seems that for Saint Francis preaching the gospel did not always include speaking.
Where you are, what does it mean to preach the gospel?
The apostles took Jesus’ words literally. But we are not all men, and we certainly do not live in Jesus’ time.
I invite you to take a few moments and consult with yourself, if you perceive a “place” where you preach the gospel. Is that place far away? That seems to be the case of the apostles, and of the young businessman who made a work proposal.
Or, in contrast, is the place where you feel called to preach the gospel nearby? That was the case of the young businessman’s wife. Her calling was not far away, her calling was at home, with her children, who needed her most.
Whatever your calling, you have to start somewhere, that place may be precisely where you are.
The young businessman did follow up on his project, it crystallized and he traveled. Only he did it some time later, when his children were much older, and when one of his children no longer had a health condition that required additional time from his mom.
The IAM did not “send” us to the whole world, but rather taught us a way of how to pray for the missions “far away”, in the place where we were, without “going far away”.
For the young businessman, it was not easy to pause his project for when it was the best time for his family, because he felt that his professional place “was there.” But he discovered that this was not the right time for his family.
Again, whatever your call to “go” preach is, you have to start somewhere, where you are today.
Let the call be that, a calling, not an excuse to escape from reality and the environment, because if God has put us where we are, perhaps it is because we have a mission there.
The place where we are may be our starting point, can you embrace it as that? And if you ever have the calling to “go further,” give yourself permission to discover the right time to start taking that path. If the Spirit leads you, from today you can begin to pray for that mission, for that you do not have to wait or discover the time or place.
The deepest desires of your heart are like a compass to the call that God makes to you. Listen, discern, and remember that you have to start somewhere, which is where you are.
Let’s start with our world. If needed, let’s talk it through. Let this be our starting place.
Where does your heart’s desire take you? Share it with Jesus the Carpenter..
Marisol
P.S. We can hear about going into all the world and preaching the gospel in the readings for the Seventh Sunday of the Easter season, year/cycle B.
