"I will also give him a white stone, and written on the stone a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it"8.
Saint John makes mention here of the custom of showing a stone, properly sealed, as a pass or entrance ticket to participate in a feast or banquet. It expresses the unique and personal vocation and the particular relationship with God that this grace carries with it. God calls each of us so that, voluntarily, we may participate in His divine plan of salvation. He is always the one who calls, the one who truly knows which plans are best: *You did not choose me, but I chose you*9.
Something similar happens to what a film director does when looking for actors for his movie script. "He is sitting at his desk, upon which lie dozens of photographs provided by casting agents. After a while, he chooses one of them, looks at it carefully, and says to his secretary: 'Yes, this is the type of woman I need. Call her and set an appointment for her here tomorrow' (…).
"Through this example—imperfect, of course—we can get an idea of the reason for our existence. Far back in the depths of eternity—speaking in human terms—God projected the entire Universe and chose the protagonists—all of them—of the great story that was to unfold until the end of time. Before His divine mind passed the photographs of souls—unlimited in number—that He could create. When He came across your image, He stopped and said: 'This is a soul that moves Me to love her… I need her to play a unique, personal role, and then enjoy My presence for all eternity…'"10.
God paused with love, with interest; He called us into life, and then to self-giving, to the faithful fulfillment of His plans, where we would reach fulfillment and happiness. "In fact," notes Pope John Paul II, "God has thought of us from all eternity and has loved us as unique and unrepeatable individuals, calling each of us by name, like the Good Shepherd who calls his sheep by name (Jn 10:3)"11.
Vocation is that divine plan for our lives presented as a path to walk, at the end of which God is waiting for us. It is very important to get this path right, this role that God wants us to play in His work of salvation. "When choosing, when deciding, 'what God wants' always takes precedence over 'what I want,' over what I like or what I feel like doing. This does not mean that God's will and mine must always be in conflict. Often, doing His Will is something extremely attractive. At other times, our will does not correspond exactly to what He Himself wants. But conflict can arise, and we must be ready to rectify whenever we are aware that our will and His are heading in different directions. It will be an infallible proof that we love God, the best way to respond to His love"12.
Let us ask the Holy Archangel Raphael today to guide us so that among the many decisions we have to make in life, we may always know how to seek the Will of God our Father. Let us also pray for our friends, especially the youngest ones, so that they may know how to choose the right path to the Lord; let us try, as the Archangel did, to accompany them in a discreet and simple way, as a good friend, in the most difficult moments: may they never lack our advice and the strength of our friendship, without forgetting that the most divine task is to cooperate with God in the salvation of other souls.
HCD