Response to God’s upward calling 

“Behold new things have come” [2 Corinthians 5:17]

“Peter Chan.”

“Present.”

I still remember when I was a child and when the teacher called out the names in class, we would all respond “Present”. It was such a familiar and long-lost response. This long-lost feeling is not only due to the change of time, but also because as we grow older, we gradually become indifferent to this kind of response, and even find it meaningless.

A ‘response’ is an essential interaction in communication, and a ‘response’ is not just a simple reply, but a reply that expects both parties to listen patiently and understand what the other is saying and thinking. Just as when we pray and make a wish, we all long for God to hear and grant it. However, when we talk to God, do we sometimes forget to listen to Him and become ‘self-talkers’?

“Here I am, God.”

In the bush, the Lord called Moses’ name, and Moses immediately responded to the Lord and accepted His commission. He went on to part the Red Sea, crossed Egypt, and endured 40 years of exile in order to be faithful to the Lord’s command to lead the people of Israel to the wonderful land He had promised. God’s call was heard seriously and Moses spent his life responding to it, and he experienced the grace of God without pursuing it. Even though Moses had not yet set foot in the blessed land, he had already seen God who had given it to him. God was always with Moses and through Him, he led the people of Israel into covenant with God and established the identity of His people. From nothing to nothing, it all began with Moses’ earnest response to God’s sending.

In the same way, Jesus Christ has revealed to us the source of eternal life, and the point is how seriously we listen to the Lord’s call and response. In the city of Sychar, when the Samaritan woman was confronted with Jesus’ request for a drink of water, she could have chosen to refuse. The Jews and Samaritans had never got along, but when Jesus told her about her secret affairs with a number of men, she did not become angry, but chose to respond in faith and obedience. She asked Jesus to give her living water. She even went out into the city and said, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” (John 4:29)

The woman once lived a life of debauchery, but she accepted Jesus’ salvation. Her response reversed everything. The one who wanted water before her became the giver of water for eternal life, and that life would finally be truly fulfilled.

‘ Behold, new things have come.’ (2 Cor 5:17) Whoever is in Christ is a new creature. Whether in exile or in debauchery, whether in epidemics or in the midst of the fire, in the face of all the ups and downs, the only way is to recognise the true source of living water, to listen well to the Lord’s call, to let the spirit of Christ be renewed in our lives, to let the old be replaced by the new, and to practice “responding in faith to the free promise of salvation and also responding in love to the thirst of the only Son of God.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2561). This is the best response we can give to our personal lives, but also to our Father in heaven.

Lenten Campaign Organising Committee, 2022