Personally Responding to God's Call
I
was reading about St. Peter Claver in "How the Saints Shaped History"
(by Randall Petrides) with great interest as St. Peter was a Spanish
Jesuit who served in Colombia, and our youngest daughter is from Bogota,
Colombia.
According
to Petrides, Claver "tended to the thousands of slaves who were shipped
from West Africa into the port of Cartagena," assisting them when they
arrived, providing food and medicine "to give them a sense of dignity,
and to advocate for improved treatment."
While
he could not stop the slave trade, he would visit those who were sent
to plantations, even staying with them where they lived under terrible
conditions. As Petrides continues, interestingly, St. Peter Claver is
responsible for leading over 300,000 slaves to conversion and baptism,
even though they had witnessed the behavior of their "Christian" traders
and owners.
As
I read this account, and the way this saint responded, my mind jumped
to the immigration mess we are currently experiencing at our border.
Now I know it is an entirely different tragedy, but I started wondering
if we have would-be saints today responding like St. Peter did. I expect
maybe we do, but they don't often make the news.
The
problem just seems bigger than most of us. It seems completely out of
our hands. We just don't know what we can do, but one thing's for
sure--one person, responding to God's call, can make a big difference,
as we can see with St. Peter Claver. (Perhaps if you know someone who
lives near the border, you might send them this post and encourage them
to reflect on what they might be able to do to make a difference, even
in some, small, way.)
Petrides
writes, "Peter contracted the Plague in 1650 and died alone and nearly
forgotten in his own room, but he left an enduring legacy in Colombia."
It's not about the attention we get, but our passionate response to God's call in the moment.
What is God asking of you today in your community?
(Don't forget to pick up a copy of "How the Saints Shaped History" and read about the lives of more amazing saints!)
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