The Seat Never Vacant
Sponsored
Catholic365 is sponsored by
Road to Purity
Around last year, I was in my Catholic Campus Ministry (CCM) house and some of the CCM group asked me if I wanted to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (it may have been the Rosary, but it was still prayer all the same). I was curious, so I went to pray with them in the downstairs chapel. After prayer was over, the choir director asked me if I would like to sing songs when the choir was practicing. I accepted and soon afterwards, I was at practicing once a week with the choir, and singing with them almost every Sunday at Mass. Later, towards the end of the school year, a banquet was held at the local parish in Sylva, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, to raise money for CCM. The choir was to perform in front of many people, and I was nervous as I could be. Towards the end of the performance, the director placed me front and center to sing. What I realized, many months later, is something extraordinary.
In Matthew 5:16, Jesus is talking, during his Sermon on the Mount, about how “…your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father”. In 1 Peter 4:10, it says that “as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:”. Now think a moment about both these statements. God is not simply saying to take your gifts that you have and become boastful and arrogant, but use them for glorifying Him. But how does this deal with hidden gifts and talents?
Take, for example, a freshman who just entered college. Freshmen are nervous because of the new environment,and are undecided in their major. They are worried they will not make new friends and will be alone for their whole experience in college. In short, they are a bundle of nerves and anxiety. One day however, this one freshman happened to see a sign posted with information for an architecture club. It peaked their interest, so they decided to attend. Well, to enter this club, they had to submit a sample design to see if they had what it takes. It’s a tough challenge, but the freshman decided, “Let me see if I can submit something and hopefully it will turn out alright”. They submitted the sample design and to their amazement, the club saw the extreme potential of this person. Over the course of the freshman student’s time at the college, they eventually became president of the architecture club, changed their major to architecture, and landed a job at the most prestigious building design firm in the world.
You might ask yourself, as the reader, “well that’s good, but how does it relate to using our hidden gifts to please God?” Re-read the verse above and what Jesus says. He doesn’t say your light could shine or possibly could shine, but that it must shine. Jesus is telling us that we must find something deep within ourselves that we are good at and let it grow. In a later parable, Jesus discusses the mustard seed and how it grows from a small seed into a large bush, and one in where “the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches”.
These were my thoughts when I realized that I had this amazing gift, and that I could use it to glorify God through music. Sure, I didn’t change my major like our freshman-friend now building-designer, but I decided that I had something that, through the grace of God, was to be utilized to its maximum.
Therefore, I leave you with a quote of a very personal and dear saint of mine: Saint Anthony of Padua:
“The life of the body is the soul; the life of the soul is God.”
Don't be afraid to let your light through, God's light, shine through.
Matthew Johnson is 35 years old, from North Carolina, and has been a practicing Catholic since he was born into the grace of Baptism. Matthew has had some real powerful experiences with God's Mercy, Grace and Love, and wants to communicate with others about Jesus Christ through the Catholic Faith.
