Calling from Christ

“As we look to the scriptures, with the crucified and exalted Christ as our starting point, we can, only now, recognize that the world has lain in sin and death from the beginning, waiting to be saved and brought to true life by Christ. The truth of God revealed in Christ brings with it the revelation of the truth about human beings, both what they are called to be and that they have fallen from this high calling.” (Fr. John Behr)

“It is not up to us to create the Church, for the Church existed before us. Rather, we are called to enter the living historic Church of Jesus Christ as she exists today…The church is called to witness to that divine sacredness in worship and life…Christ has not called the Church to be the custodian of religious material culture, but to be light and salt in a world desperately hungry for transformation in Christ…Regardless of whether we are called literally to shed our blood for Christ, we must all pursue the living martyrdom of refusing to deny the Savior and to place love of anyone or anything before Him. That is what it means to take up our crosses and follow Him as we die to all that would deter us from uniting ourselves to Christ in faith and faithfulness.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 1:6, Fr. Basil, Fr. Maxym Lysack, Fr. Philip LeMasters)

“In our lives, we sometimes don’t understand that our life, our planet, our universe are all great miracles. We might be looking for a very specific calling–for another miracle–but God is calling us every single second through everything around us and through everything inside us, because God is everywhere and in everything. We don’t know how to use our heart, our senses, and our brain to understand Him, to understand that He calls us, to understand His calling, and respond to these callings….To be called and actually be Christians, we need to put all impressions aside and have at least these four things: a focus on loving, pure inner content, a simplified attitude, and real authenticity.” (Bishop Emilianos)

“ “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Ro. 8:28). Both verses speak about things “working.” It is a word that has the same root as the divine “energies.” In both cases, what we see is a description of God working for our good – for our salvation. It is possible to go yet deeper into this mystery. St. Maximus the Confessor wrote of three “incarnations” of the Logos (Word). There is the incarnation of the Word as the God/Man, the Word-made-flesh, Jesus Christ. There is the incarnation of the Word as “word” in the Holy Scriptures. There is also the incarnation within creation itself through the “logoi,” the “words” or “principles” that indwell all created things that are their purpose, their telos (end), and inherent drive. We can hear the sound of this “incarnation” in St. Paul’s description of creation “groaning like a woman in child-birth” as it waits for its final fulfillment in the revealing of the “Sons of God” (Romans 8:22).” (Father Stephen Freeman)

“The logoi–a term coined by St. Maximos [the Confessor] to describe the distinct inner principles of each created thing–are themselves not “things” but rather are the particular ways that the Master kneels down and washes the feet of his creation. They are not so much “objects,” these logoi, as they are tropes, or modes, or mannerisms through which Christ the Logos lends his life to the world…each thing participates differently in Christ, or participates in Christ according to the particular aspect of Christ in which it has been called to share. Each created thing falls in love with a particular aspect of Christ’s self-offering. The particular aspect of Christ’s self-offering which each thing loves, is that thing’s particular logos, its “map” of what it must be.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)

“What does it mean to be “called”? It is striking that the same Greek word and its derivatives are used throughout the passage. The Greek words are derived from the root, which means “to summon”…Accordingly, to be called is more than to be invited. It is to be singled out and summoned for a mission. Recall that when the Lord Jesus called his disciples He had the divine authority to choose his associates. It was not their prerogative to volunteer. It was not their mission that they were to serve…The Lord calls us, His disciples, to Himself…[do] not imagine that the Lord’s call is restricted to the clergy, or to missionaries and laypeople with specific “religious” assignments or positions. Having united ourselves to Christ at baptism, we are united to the Lord’s basic purpose. Christ requires each of us to accept this call.” (Fr. Basil, Dynamis 9/16/2020)

“…our society assumes that our goal in life should be to fulfill our dreams, whatever they may be…we have a higher calling than our career in this world…our calling to be disciples in the Kingdom is paramount. But our standing in this world is incidental. Wherever we find ourselves in the social order, we can be content, and we can use our position in this world, whether a high or low estate, to serve the Lord and advance the Gospel.” (Fr. Basil)

“Everything belongs to God. And what belongs to us? What can we do? We can respond to God’s call; we can do what we can. Basically, we can say that every era, every time, every hour has its own needs. And every man either responds or doesn’t to the challenges of the times and circumstances. For example, St. John the Merciful lived at a time when there was a need for alms. What did he do? He responded to the call of his time and gave away his possessions; he became a philanthropist. St. Athanasius the Great lived at a time when true Christian teaching was threatened by various heresies. He gave himself to this need and to “rightly dividing the word of truth,” for which he endured persecutions, harassment, and suffered exile. But he stood firm in the struggle, preserved the faith of the Church, and handed it over to us in an undistorted form.” (Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol)

“All the apostles, including Sts. Peter and Paul, learned through their difficult journeys that responding faithfully to God’s calling in their lives was not a matter of self-glorification. Instead, theirs were paths of humility in which their sins were made clear for them and others to see. They both made the ultimate witness as martyrs, becoming last in this world to the point of shedding their own blood for Christ. They pursued paths that had nothing to do with self-exaltation.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)

“The Lord knows the soul of every man and guides him to the service where he’ll manifest the God-given qualities of his soul and bear more fruit. And God prunes every vine that bears fruit, so that it may bear more fruit (cf. Jn. 15:2).” (Schema-Archimandrite Iliy Nozdrin)

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Ten words. These ten words completely turned the lives of these men upside down and in so doing, turned the world as we knew it upside down. If I say “Peter and Andrew” everyone knows who I am referring to. If I say “James and John” once again everyone will be fully aware. These men were nobodies but through their obedience to the invitation of Christ, they became glorified in Christ. Each of us is like these men going about our daily lives busy with whatever we are doing. Yet, the moment that the Lord Jesus Christ enters into our lives, something has got to give. Something has got to change. Jesus Christ has entered into your life and invited you to enter into His life. With God, it is always an invitation and never something forced. God is love and this love cannot compel using force. God desires the human heart to desire and seek and pursue after her love. This is how we enter into a relationship with the living God.” (Fr. James Guirguis)

“In order to have the wherewithal to hear, discern, and obey His calling, we must open our hearts to Christ mindfully through daily prayer, regular fasting, generosity to our neighbors, and repentance. Through frequent Confession and reception of Communion, will find healing and nourishment for greater strength in fulfilling our vocation. And we must not set up our own self-imposed standards for what our calling will be. If something needs to be done in the parish and we are able to do it, that is likely our calling. If there is a need to serve Christ in our neighbors in the larger community that we can meet, that may well be our calling. If our parents, spouses, children, and others for whom we have unique responsibilities need our care, that is certainly our calling.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)

“Our response to Christ depends on our understanding that the Lord calls on all of us within the Church (much as He sends the Twelve forth here [Mark 6:7-13]) to proclaim “that people should repent” (vs. 12). Even inexperienced disciples – as the twelve are at this point in time in their relationship to Christ – should not imagine that the Lord’s call is restricted to the clergy, or to missionaries and laypeople with specific “religious” assignments or positions. Having united ourselves to Christ at baptism, we are united to the Lord’s basic purpose. Christ requires each of us to accept this call.” (Dynamis 9/13/2023)

“Jesus commanded Matthew (Levi) in today’s reading by saying “Follow Me” (Mark 2:14). Likewise, He calls all of us. Perhaps we have not had as dramatic a personal encounter with Jesus as Matthew did, but certainly we have heard Him call to us—perhaps through reading Scripture, perhaps through a friend’s voice, perhaps by a still, small voice speaking in our heart…we each have a call and do not come fully alive until we follow it. Further, while there are likely to be similar patterns in our call throughout our lives, call manifests itself in different ways in different seasons of our lives.” (Archpriest Steven John Belonick, Rev. Christopher H. Martin)

“God is a Person; He is who He is, does what He deems necessary, and does not try to appear good, kind, or loving, to please anyone, or to “save” anyone. And as a Person, He wants to enter into a relationship with another person—His creation, who is absolutely unique and invaluable in His eyes. Who else but the Creator knows His creation? Therefore, one can only build a relationship with Him by showing one’s true self.” (Julia Balayants)

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