The Summons

With a purportedly severe storm system crouching on the horizons, the sky over the Greater Toronto Area looked gloomy and threatening. I hurried home after morning exercise and quickly wolfed down my oatmeal and toasts to get ready for St. Justine's 9:10 a.m. Mass. It began with the priest leading us in singing "The Summons" – a song I had known for as long as I could remember. But this morning, with my heart and my senses infiltrated by the Holy Spirit, it was anything but just another old song. It was more like a song that I had heard for the very first time.

Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?...Should your life attract or scare?....Will you love the ‘you’ you hide?...Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen?... Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around?...

Question after question, challenge after challenge - each one was coming at me like a flaming arrow that pierced my heart and set it ablaze! The experience was penetrating and the impact shattering. It was a painful but somehow healing encounter. Like a good surgeon wielding a scalpel gently and skillfully, the Holy Spirit was operating on my heart.

Praise the Lord Jesus that we have Him as a good friend, one who is not afraid to reveal to us the secrets concealed in the darkest chambers of our hearts; one who is totally honest in telling us what we need to do to be cured!