Christian vocation is a call to become part of an ongoing process of establishing the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus Christ. We cannot claim to be part of the Kingdom of God if we do not work whole heartedly for the progress of the Kingdom in and through our lives. If the seeds of the Kingdom are put in the life of each person then it is to increase, expand, grow, advance, overcome, overwhelm, and displace all other false fiefdoms of personal or communal interests. ‘It spreads out like light, pervades like salt, and enlivens like leaven as it brings the fullness of Jesus Christ Himself into every place’ (Eph. 1:22- 23). Each action of persons is judged between the values of Kingdom and the world. In a similar manner the actions of the laity and non-laity are judged in comparison with degree of complaisance to the higher values proposed in the Bible. The Pastores dabo vobis, teaches that ‘The identity of the vocation to the ministerial priesthood is to be understood within the context of Christian identity as a disciple of Christ.’
We must remember that when non-laity give his /her life to the Lord, all that they do are suppose to become Jesus’ mission. Even average people become more than average when they become children of God. ‘What is normal for the children of this world is not normal for the children of light.’ It is the fruit of their dedication to the Kingdom values that forces them to work against corruption, maladministration, mismanagement of funds, favouritism, arrogance, bullish behaviour etc. The socio-spiritual evils mentioned here are not less than criminal tendencies and when we support such individuals, we are going away from God’s way. A religious person is always worried about his/ her obligatory religious practices but a spiritual person practising his/her religious obligations as the way to touch the God above the ritualistic practices.
Lumen Gentium (12) adds flavours when it says that ‘besides sacraments the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God with special gifts, he makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church’. Every Christian who wishes to contribute to the renewal of the Church should remember that all complaints/allegations levelled against anyone should have incriminating evidence to prove our accusation are true and above personal interests. If all our accusations against anyone are motivated by personal interests, then in-front of counter attacks our courage washes away like letters written on the sea shore.
If we are convinced of the values of the Kingdom, then we will never live a life in timidity. It is a matter of fact that many priests and religious suffer needlessly unable to speak the things in their hearts, because of fear food, house, security and good postings. These earthly concerns really distances us from the real mission of Jesus. If we feel that we are weak then must pray with Prophet Isaiah, ‘Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees’ (Isaiah 35:3). Our whole work is to be centred on the faith that when we are at the Lord’s mission, He gives us the energy and vitality to accomplish those things that require our attention.
The powers of evil gathers together to crush the goodness but strong resistance can only melt them like thick snow in the Antarctica. This strong will power grows only when one decides to ‘die to the self.’ It makes you able to face embarrassing situations where, your opinions are ridiculed, all manner of evil is spoken against you, you are purposely set aside, rejected, forgotten, and hurt with all kinds of insults. All these must strengthen us to defeat the powers of evil or else they will disfigure the body of Christ, the Church. How can we transform the Church, if all of us bent our knees before the oppressive structures of power? I believe that transformation begins, when we begin to feel that there is a greater aim ahead of us than the mountain of obstacles in-front of us.
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