Called out of comfort:
God promises great blessings

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Jane Sullentrap

Lent is an opportunity for us to once again learn how to die to ourselves, so that we may rise with Jesus. Traditionally, we make sacrifices during this time in order to learn how to die to self.

I believe that when we sacrifice, in any form, God calls to us through that sacrifice. By sacrificing we are silencing the background noise of our lives so that we can better hear our Heavenly Father. What an opportunity!

In the first reading today, God calls Abram out of his homeland and asks him to travel to a foreign land. He asks Abram to leave all that is familiar: his family, his friends, his hometown.

Second Sunday of Lent (Feb. 20, 2005) Gn 12:1-4a Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 2 Tm 1:8b-10 Mt 17:1-9

He wants Abram to give up all that he knows so that he can travel to a land he's never seen before. Surely it would have been easier for Abram to drown out God's call.

But God promises Abram blessings. With great trust, Abram does what God asks of him.

As a St. Louis native attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I can relate to Abram's situation. In the last three years, I've faced a lot of hardship, including the divorce of my parents, the death of my father, and the diagnosis (and remission, praise God) of my mother's cancer.

Before my life had a chance to settle down, it was time to pick a college. With no idea where to start, I turned to prayer.

With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a trusted adult, I began to feel God's call to me to go to Madison. But this made no sense.

I knew no one in Wisconsin, I had attended small private schools my entire life, and it felt both risky and selfish to go so far away from my family after so much hardship. I struggled for many months, and with wary trust, I finally made my decision.

Although I questioned Him every step of the way, God has blessed me so much through my small act of obedience. I have been able to grow and heal in ways I don't think would be possible if I were closer to home. Everyday I am even more thankful that God has brought me here.

Yet however thankful I am that God called me to Madison, I am infinitely more thankful that He called me not just out of St. Louis, but out of the depression and self-pity that was so familiar to me.

Sin thrives when we become comfortable in it, and we are reluctant when God calls us out of those comfort zones. However, He promises us great blessings if we will only obey His call.

	Reflection questions • Are you using this Lenten season to listen more closely to God? • What comfort zones is God calling you out of? Do you trust Him?

In this Lenten season, I encourage you to use this opportunity of sacrifice to listen more attentively to God. He is calling you not necessarily out of a physical place, but out of a place of comfort in your life.

He is asking you to trust. He is promising great blessings.

Jane Sullentrap is a freshman at UW-Madison from St. Louis who is currently undecided on a major. She attends Alpha-O and Bible Study and is a sacristan at the 9 p.m. Mass at St. Paul's University Catholic Center.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

Faith Alive!

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