Our Gospel today reminds us that our lives as Christians must be built on the foundation of a strong and lived-out faith life.  Every vocation requires that good Christian foundation; people living as God calls them to, come what may.  Working with the men I do, it is that foundation that is one of the most important things I look for in men who are discerning as an important sign God might be calling them to priesthood.  It is not in what we might think it is; in how good or terrible they’ve been in their life, not how catechized or knowledgable about Church teachings they are, not in how often they’ve gone to Mass throughout their entire lives.  The Lord knows that if these were the criteria to determine the foundation of a person’s life in Christ; I would be neither a Christian nor a Catholic priest.  It is how they are living now (or in the case of what I’m called to determine how they’ve been living for a few years) and how they are prepared to live today and continue to try to live each and every day.

The foundation is to be found in a deep and committed love for Jesus Christ, a desire to grow in that love and to share that love, not just in word but embody it and share with all others.  That’s what makes a good priest, a good religious sister or brother, a good husband and father, a good wife and mother.  That’s where the rubber hits the road for us as Disciples of Christ, as committed Christians and it is what is needed by each of us to live out that discipleship day by day and most importantly to live out the unique and particular plan and call that Jesus has for each of us.  Are we, are you ready to live that out?  The Lord wants you to!