God’s Call and our response

According to Divine Revelation, although the God who calls is one, he is nevertheless a Trinity of Persons, who work together.

This relationship is well explained in the gospel of Saint John. Saint John Paul II explains:

“Thus, ‘the Holy Spirit…proceeds from the Father’ (John 15:26) and the Father ‘gives’ the Spirit (14:16). The Father ‘sends’ the Spirit in the name of the Son (14:26), the Spirit ‘bears witness’ to the Son (15:26). The Son asks the Father to send the Spirit-Counsellor (14:16), but likewise affirms and promises, in relation to his own ‘departure’ through the Cross: ‘If I go, I will send him to you’ (16:7). Thus, the Father sends the Holy Spirit in the power of his Fatherhood, as he has sent the Son (3:16f., 34; 6:57; 17:3, 18, 23); but at the same time he sends him in the power of the Redemption accomplished by Christ-and in this sense the Holy Spirit is also sent by the Son: ‘I will send him to you.’”

John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem, n. 8

The Call of ‘God the Father’

The Call of ‘God the Father’ takes form as a “fount-like love” (Ad Gentes, n. 2), which flows continuously on each human person.

As a pilgrim towards his house (see, Lumen Gentium, n. 8, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, n. 49), the response to this Call is a quest to discover, through Christ, this unconditional flowing love at every moment of one’s life.

This loving Father, who created all things and through whose will they continue to exist (cf. Revelations 4:11), has a project for every person.

A project to choose life, because it belongs to him (1 Corinthians 3:22-23).
A project to choose the new covenant, because that which was hidden is now revealed (cf. Matthew 11.25; Luke 10:21; Colossians 1:26).
A project to be born again (cf. John 3:3-8).

The human response to the Father’s Call

The human response to the Father’s Call takes place, with

a life according to the words and deeds of Christ,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and
in the Church.

In relation to the Father, the person is called to develop the identity as a child of God in the Child Jesus (cf. Ephesians 1:4-6).

As Jesus, in his awareness of God as a father, developed an attitude of a real son, the same ought to be the effort of the Christian. Acquired by baptism, this filial identity is developed by the following and imitation of Christ, his Son (cf. Romans 6:4).

Because everyone is unique, the Father calls everyone for a specific personal mission (cf., Evangelium vitae, n. 78-101).

The Call of ‘Jesus Christ’

The relationship Call-response with ‘Jesus Christ’ is more personal because he is at once both human and divine.

Being the one Mediator between God and humanity (cf.1 Timothy 2:5), he who lived among us has made his Call clear through words and deeds (see, Gaudium et Spes, n. 22).

Christ’s journey on earth is like a map for the person that indicates the way to the Father (cf. John 14:6-7).

Christ broke the chains of sin and death with which the devil wanted to bind humanity. Having done this, Christ liberated humanity ‘from’ evil, sin, and death, ‘to’ a deeper union with God, our brothers, creation, and ourselves.

Christ is our brother (cf. John 20:17) and friend (cf. John 15:14-15), who identified himself with humanity except sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15). In Christ, in fact, is the fullness of humanity:

“All this holds true not only for Christians but for all people of goodwill in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all, and since the ultimate vocation of humanity is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every person the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.”

Gaudium et Spes, n. 22.

The human response to Christ’s Call

As a response to Christ’s Call, the person is called to live in, with, and according to Christ in order to reach one’s fullness as a person.

“The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly—and not just in accordance with immediate and even illusory standards and measures of his being—he must with his unrest, uncertainty, and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ.

He must, so to speak, enter into him with his whole self, he must “appropriate” and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself.

If this profound process takes place within himself, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself.”

Redemptor Hominis, n. 10.

The Call of the ‘Holy Spirit’

The Call of the ‘Holy Spirit’ takes form as a gift of the Father and of Jesus to every baptised (see, John 14,26, Ad Gentes, 7 n. 4).

As he guided Jesus in every moment of his life (cf. Luke 4:1.14; 10:21¸etc.), the Spirit’s Call continues to guide the person towards the Union with God.

It was Jesus who gave us the Holy Spirit “on the day of Pentecost in order that he might continually sanctify the Church, and thus, all those who believe would have access through Christ in one Spirit to the Father” (Lumen Gentium, n. 2).

The Spirit is also the breath of our life which gives life (cf. Genesis 2:7). Thus, it is the Spirit’s Call, that generates and sustains the person during one’s journey towards the union with God in Christ.

The human response to the Spirit’s Call

The response to the call of the Holy Spirit, is a life-long journey that includes moments of union to God as well as moments of raptures due to sin. A journey intended to lead towards heaven.

Following the example of Jesus, who allowed the Spirit to guide him throughout his life (see, Matthew 3:16, Luke 10:21, Hebrews 9:14), the same the Christian today has to be open to the guidance of the Spirit.

Moreover, since the Holy Spirit is also the Spirit of Truth (cf. John 15:26) who guides the disciples into all the truth (cf. John 16:13). And since this truth can never contradict the teachings of the Church (cf. 1 Timothy 3:15), the purer and refined knowledge of revelation a person can possess, the more one can be sure of the authenticity of one’s guidance of the Holy Spirit.

On the other hand, the actual living of these Truths does not depend on the effort of the individual to obtain such knowledge, but “it is the Holy Spirit that works from within that brings change” (Catechesi Tradendae, n.72).

Conclusion

Thus we can conclude that the discovery and actualisation of God’s dream, is a collaboration with a grace that originates in the Divine Call for Union, the person needs to use supernatural means as a response.

According to John of the Cross, the most appropriate means is an attitude of a living faith, which arouses hope and works through love. These theological virtues have the function of withdrawing the soul from all that which is less than God, and thus consequently have the mission of joining it with God. As a result, they offer a possibility to focus more on God, then merely on one’s effort.