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"We accomplish in our life
time only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise
that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of
saying that the Kingdom
always lies beyond us.
_This is what we are about:
we plant seeds that one day
will grow. We water seeds
already planted knowing
that they hold future
promise. We lay foundations
that will need further
development. We provide
yeast that produces effects
beyond our capabilities.
_We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of
liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do
something, and to do it very
well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step
along the way, an
opportunity for God’s grace
to enter and do the rest. We
are prophets of our future
not our own. Amen"
Archbishop Oscar Romero
– Martyred on March 24th 1980
The
heart of our mission as the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. All Christian calling makes sense only in the light of that Gospel.
The word Gospel comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word "God-Spell"
meaning "Good Tidings". What is this Good News given to us?
God is love!
The Good News tells us of the God who is himself
good news for us. Why? Because God is love (1 John 4-8). His whole being
is summed up by the deepest meaning of love, a word which expresses selflessness,
sacrifice, sharing, self-giving, generosity, compassion and more. God
is all those things for you personally and for every human being. His
love for me does not depend on my response or on anything I do. God simply
loves us first before anything we do and his love is total and unconditional,
free and undeserved.
"God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life" John 3:16-17
The
proclamation of this good news is the core of the mission of the Church,
and of every individual Christian. Jesus himself is the Good News. He
is God reaching out to us revealing himself to us and sharing fully our
human life. The Good News, Jesus Christ, challenges the way we see everything:
our way of life, our attitudes and priorities, our plans and hopes, our
friendships, family lives and relationships, society, politics, economics,
material things and the world around us.
A Call to Love
All of this is important as we try to decipher God’s will for each
of us. Whatever that will may be it is always motivated by love. Whatever
our call may be it is always a call to love. Whatever ministry is to be
ours it will always be a ministry of love. Serving the selfless love of
God made visible in Jesus Christ and poured into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit (Romans 5:5).
©
National Office for Vocation 2003
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National
Office for Vocation The
Chase Centre 114 West Heath Road London NW3 7TX United
Kingdom
Tel: 020
8458 6017 Registered
Charity No: 257239