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| As part of Eighth Grade Vocations Day, Fort Worth Seminarian Samuel J. Maul speaks to the eighth grade boys. Photo by Ben Torres/NTC |
April 10, 2019
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Deuteronomy 3:14-20, 91-92, 95
Daniel 3:52, 53-56
John 8:31-42
Our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy tells the story of the evil King Nebuchadnezzar and the three faithful young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Nebuchadnezzar was a very powerful king; he had more than enough money and riches to do whatever he wanted to do and to whomever he wanted to do it. He could impose his will upon everyone and get them to do what he wanted them to do; he even sculpted a golden statue of his god for people to worship — the statue happened to look a lot like him. He had everything that he wanted, he could get his way, and he could do whatever he wanted to do.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were poor, and they belonged to the Israelite people who were dominated and enslaved by Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. They were unable to do whatever they wanted. Yet, they were faithful to the one and true God.
Nonetheless, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to control them and wanted them to worship the statue of his false god. They refused to do so. Nebuchadnezzar reminded them that he could kill them; again, they refused to worship the false god. He showed them the blazing hot furnace into which he would throw them to their deaths if they refused to worship him. They refused and remained faithful to God. He made the furnace even hotter. They still refused to sin and remained faithful to God. He threw them into the furnace and was amazed to see that besides them walking in the fire he saw one like the Son of God with them amid the blaze. Nebuchadnezzar could do whatever he wanted in his power, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were with God and they were truly free.
St. Isaac Jogues was a priest and a Jesuit. He wrote his religious superior in the 17th century, “Yes, Father, I want whatever the Lord wants, even if I were to have a thousand lives and it were to cost me each one of my thousand lives.” Isaac Jogues was assigned to serve as a priest and missionary in North America (in what is today upstate New York and Ontario, Canada) along with several other missionaries. Among these missionaries was a seminarian by the name of Rene Goupil. When Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil were accompanying a group of their Catholic Huron people on a trade mission, they were ambushed by a war party of the Iroquois nation and they were outnumbered. In the ensuing battle, Isaac Jogues was knocked unconscious and fell hidden into some tall weeds while the seminarian Rene Goupil and the Hurons were captured. Isaac Jogues came to his senses and saw the Iroquois warriors torturing and beating his friends and the members of his flock. Isaac Jogues could have remained hidden in the weeds and escaped, but he came forth and joined his friends in order to absolve, to anoint, and to comfort them. He too was beaten, tortured, and imprisoned.
Isaac Jogues suffered immensely at the hands of the Iroquois for thirteen months — he had hot coals thrown on him, he was beaten daily, malnourished, and mocked. He had two of his fingers gnawed off by a woman who also sheared off his right thumb with a jagged shell. Most painfully, he suffered by witnessing the murder of his friends — the Catholic Hurons whom he had baptized, taught, served, and loved as a priest and Jesuit. He also witnessed the murder of the seminarian Rene Goupil for whose priestly formation he had been responsible. Isaac Jogues was later liberated by a Dutch trading party and returned to France. Immediately upon his return to France he attended Mass. Isaac Jogues was free.
As you prepare to move forward from the eighth grade into high school, you are becoming adults and part of becoming an adult is learning how to hear Christ and to answer His call to do something good, noble, and loving with your life. It means spending time with Him and asking Him specifically about what He wants you to do.
Many of you, Christ will call to marriage and family. A few of you he might call to discipleship in the single life. Some of you He might call to a special dedication to Himself. This is the vocation of religious life. He will ask of you an extraordinary generosity to demonstrate to the world that God is enough for the human heart. He will ask of you to live in such an unusual way that by your life you will be asking the world: “if I’m not crazy, what must be true about God?” This life will make sense only because God is real and personal and a loving friend. The marks of this unusual life are the vows of religious life: poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Some few of you young men, God will call to a special unity and identity with the person and mission of His Son, Jesus Christ. He will call you to live and to serve as a priest, to die and to rise with Jesus for the life of the world by administering the sacraments, preaching the Gospel, and shepherding His sheep in protection from the wolf. This call is to represent Christ in a special way as the head and shepherd of the Church. This discernment requires your attention and daily prayer.
There are so many distractions in our world and there are so many temptations in this world; so many who will demand that you reject the living God just as Nebuchadnezzar demanded of the three young men in our reading. When these trials come, remember that you are not alone and that the Son of God is with you. The Truth that sets you free is Jesus Christ. His selflessness and love is constant for you and He desires that you spend time with Him as you would spend time with a friend. He is the path to your freedom.
Authentic freedom is found in the truth of God, not in power or riches. Authentic freedom is found in the fidelity to our call given us by Christ that we hear through prayer and the ongoing conversation that we have with Him. Authentic freedom is found in the Ten Commandments and in the celebration of the sacraments, like Confession and Eucharist. Authentic freedom is found in willingly saying “yes” to Christ and to trust Him in order to love Him and others through service and witness to the truth. Authentic freedom is found in not giving in to the false gods and idols of power and riches, but by courageously coming out of hiding in the weeds as Isaac Jogues did to be with Christ in service to His people as a religious and priest.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were free. Saint Isaac Jogues was free. I am free. The priests, sisters, and seminarians who shared with you today are free. Spend time with Christ and listen for how He is calling you to be free as well.
