This phrase from today’s first Mass reading (Acts 8: 26-40) caught my ear as I realized the baptismal call implied within it.
>“Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” becomes: “Look, there is parched earth. What is to prevent a call to water the thirsty ground?”
In our baptism, we become sea-farers and water-bearers forever because stepping into the baptismal font is like stepping into a sailing vessel, destination unknown (yet Known), traveling on grace, immersed in grace, with grace falling down from the heavens and washing in with the tide, whirling in eddies all around us.
Our baptismal call impels us to keep traveling on, bearers of grace borne on currents of grace, our destination set by the One who whispers into the ear of our heart, our path guided by the Spirit who sets wind to our sails. What, indeed, is to prevent our being called to any shore, to any role, to any parched place that longs for the grace that flows from the Savior’s side?
Postscript: Even those of us who are called to the monastic life and have made a vow of stability to the community (one of the traditional monastic vows) never stop traveling. We continue to be called to serve God and one another in new and deeper ways. This weekend we will be discerning for the election of a new Prioress for our community. Prioresses serve for a set amount of time, and then it is time to seek the Spirit’s guidance as to who is called to serve the community as Prioress at this particular time. So for one among us, her baptismal call will bring her to a new shore, a new role, but still immersed in grace, traveling on grace, with grace falling down from the heavens and washing in with the tide, bearing her up in all things.
Please pray with us this weekend as we enter our time of discernment.