"Our Unique Call"

Henri Nouwen was a Roman Catholic priest who wrote many books of spiritual guidance. His book of daily meditations called Bread for the Journey is available as a “Daily Meditation eLetter.” Go to henrinouwen.org to subscribe.

On March 10, Nouwen’s meditation was so much in tune with our times that I wanted you to have it. Here is “Our Unique Call.”

So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyze and depress us.

Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But each of us has our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.

I am reminded of one of Mother Teresa’s well-known sayings. “We cannot do great things. We can do small things with great love.” I know that this is our call here at New Hope. Let’s be about our work, small as it may seem. God will bless and multiply all that we do with love and fill our hearts with more love.