Tomorrow is the holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr, which is a day off for many of you. On Wednesday morning, during our staff prayer, a quote from Dr. King was read that goes like this:

"In this state of exhaustion, when my courage had almost gone, I was determined to take my problem to God. My head in my hands, I bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud. The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory.

'I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership; and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they, too, will falter. I am at the end of my powers, I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face it alone.'

At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never before experienced him. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying:

'Stand up for righteousness. Stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.'

Almost at once, my fears began to pass from me. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything. The outer situation remained the same, but God had given me inner calm."

Two things struck me about Dr. King's story. One is that we often see him as a confident person, and this shows that he too, like us, struggle with uncertainty and confusion in his life.

The second is that I had an experience just like his one night in the rectory at Colo. After a bad meeting, I just told God that I am at the end of my rope and can't do it anymore. God laughed at me (He often does that) and said, Yep, you're right, you can't do it alone anymore. Why don't you drop your pride and ego and let me help you. And from then on, things went really well. I suspect lots of us have done that----tried to face the challenges of life alone, before we realize we can't do it without help from above, and need to learn how to really, really, really trust God.

The readings for this Sunday talk to us about God's call in our life. In Latin, to be called is "vocare", where our word vocation comes from. There is a big difference between a job and a vocation. A job is that you do what you do to make money so that you can do what you really want to do. About 70% of Americans say that have jobs, which is sad to me.

A vocation is what we are passionate about. It what we would do even if we did not get paid to do it. It will demand more from us, but also give us a sense of deep meaning and purpose in life.

One of the privileges of working with college students is helping them develop a sense of vocation in their lives. When people come to Iowa State as freshmen, I think the focus of most is what I want to do with my life, which is okay at the point. But sometime during college, I hope that this question shifts to what does God want me to do with my life, which is a much more interesting and exciting question.

So this week, I just wrote down ten signs that a call is from the Lord and not from ourself, signs I have learned through the years"

1. Like Martin Luther King, God's call will always stretch us beyond what we think we can do on our own power. It will call us to something much bigger that what we are ready for.
2. God's call will always have a sense of the unexpected, a bit of a surprise to it. We may end up saying, "That is not what I planned. This is not what I even wanted." Like Mary of Nazareth, we may say, "I don't understand."
3. God's call will make someone else's life better. It is not about self advancement, but about building up the community and the world.
4. God's call will connect us to a sense of passion in our lives. A vocation is not simply about doing what our high school guidance counselor told us we could do well. It is what puts a fire in our belly and makes life exciting.
5. I have learned that God's call often comes from a painful experience in our own life. When we are in pain, we may later say that I have to do something about that. We may say that my life somehow has to respond to what I experienced in a way that can help others.
6. Even if we run away from God's initial call, God is persistent and will keep tugging at our hearts. Notice in the first reading how it takes Samuel three times before he actually listens to God's call.
7. God often calls us through other people. This is seen in today's Gospel, where it took Andrew to introduce his brother Peter to Jesus. Often other people can see something in us before we see it in ourselves.
8. It helps to have a mentor in our lives to help us discern our true call, since we have an amazing capacity for self-deception and rationalization. Eli was this person for Samuel in the first reading.
9. God's call will change throughout our lives. It will be a bit different when we are 70 than when we are 40 then when we are 20. As our lives change, so does our call. It may be trying a new ministry, or taking a new risk, so it is important to be listening throughout our lives.
10. Finally, God's call may not be changing what we do, but how and why we do it. A couple of months ago, I spoke to a student who is soon to graduate in engineering. He told me he doesn't feel like he can work for a corporation anymore, and is thinking of joining the mililtary so that he can use his engineering talents more for project that benefit a community.

These are ten, fallible ways to know if a call is from the Lord and not from ourself, that we are doing God's will instead of our own will. Martin Luther King is honored for his fidelity to his call, and he changed our country for the better. He was faithful, even on dark and lonely days.

Education at Iowa State is not just about getting a job. You may have come to ISU with that throught, but I sure hope you don't leave this university with that idea. I hope people on both sides of Lincoln Way help you find your vocation, the special purpose that God put each one of us on this earth. May our Eucharist today deepen in each of us the sense that we are uniquely called by God.