We are Called: Chris and Melani McDonell

This is the last in our summer 2009 series on Christian vocation.

“We plan and God Laughs!” It seems to be a recurring theme in our lives...Just when we seem to get comfortable, the Holy Spirit unsettles us and gets our attention in the most peculiar ways. Psalm 139:7 says, “Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I hide?” So many times we ran and got caught up in our dreams. But “even there your hand will guide me and your right hand hold me fast” (Psalm 139:10) In the end, God speaks to us and reveals to us a dream so much more than our self-serving earthly ways but a life of meaning that always leads us back to serving each other and His people. We were born children of God...Christopher Fintan and Melani Dawn.

God came to the local one room game arcade named “Beanies” in 1982. You see we went to the same small Catholic High School but while we had admired each other from afar, we had never met. At 16 and 17, it took a proverbial collision to fulfill God's dream for us.

After that, we were never really far apart again, we had bonded you see, and it was because God held the line open for us. Just a few months in we were presented with family challenges, one was moving and the other had deep roots. Yet, already we knew that it was too good to let go. We were doing exactly what we wanted attending college together, starting careers, and then grad school: the American dream thing. Then God, trying a new direction presented us with volunteer tasks. Being young, it felt like we could change the world. We didn't... but it did make a difference and we could see the values of true compassion and care taking in each other that seemed so worthy of sacrifice. We grew up and our causes grew. Even though sometimes we had been separated by many miles we were connected by something greater than either one of us... “To have and to hold from this day forward.”

It was seven years later, that we made that commitment of sacred union with God and before the church “not to separate what God had brought and kept together.” After all, we had learned so much about the vocation of Marriage and doing God's work together being a source of enduring and realistic love. So, beginning a new chapter in a new city, just the two of us we went on down the road to our dreams. We had it all, great jobs, a new house with a yellow front door, cars, all the china, crystal and the newlywed perks. God's voice continued like background music but sometimes we found ourselves not paying much attention.

Going along we hit a proverbial bump in the road... “In sickness and in health”...and that turned God's volume way up. Through these health questions we acquired new attributes that God needed us to not only have but share. In our own home we were practicing tolerance and sensitivity through the eyes of grace. And it was so alive... and that faith “alone” renewed a sense of well being. Amazingly, as providence works, God had now sent several ordained friends into our lives who felt so real and lived their faith so out loud that it was contagious. So once again, we became closer to church and that felt so very much like home even though we were both so far away. Service became a natural extension of our way of life.

Seven more years had passed and we were still waiting for the Vocation of Family. “For better or worse”... God knows!!! We were scheduled for an invasive evaluative test and ready to go when God's voice confirmed a much desired but unconfirmed pregnancy. With faith in the Greatest Parent, we canceled, avoiding devastating results. Instead we found ourselves waiting through Advent with great joy for not only God's son but our own. Caught up in the baby race and the corporate ladder, we tried not to stay focused on our dream but it felt consuming. As we sat through midnight mass on Christmas Eve passed our due date and focused inward, we realized with grateful hearts that God would come first, as He should. We went home and prepared for His Holy Day. God whispered as Noah, our son, our rainbow promise was born five days later. Mother Theresa inspired us to change the world and this time it was easy to “go home and love our family”.

We fell in love with caring for our family. Work called...We let the machine get it. For “richer or poorer” God showed us clearly “the rich”. It was only confirmed when we moved into our four generation home where we are blessed to experience relationships of many shapes and sizes, days full of life's developmental surprises, and now we see God in all of them. We chose to exit the corporate rat race but the answer of what was to come still not evident. What was clear, we were getting closer to following God's dream. More ordained became cherished friends for we honored and were intrigued by their ability to meet God in this world and live His dreams.

Noah came to us a gift from the spiritual world ready to see, hear and feel God. He loves to be at church and challenges us daily with profound questions. Looking through a child's perspective we experience God as we never have before. The Montessori Preschool program brought us to Epiphany and our family extended to include this beloved community. Our Epiphany was revealed when, we as a family with a tween together could readily enjoy sharing our gifts in many different capacities. Was this our dream leading again?

God comes to us in many ways. We did not imagine. His idea had never crossed our minds. This time an article about ordination of deacons in the Record, the conversation with a master catechist about nothing that lead to a “did you ever consider?”, and ordained from several of our moves increasing presence in our lives were seeds planted simultaneously. During a discussion of what was happening in our church life, without even a hint or knowing that the spirit was stirring us individually, we both envisioned at the same time- our call to the diaconate! God has called in quiet ways but “Now” became like thunder.

We were being called to religious life beyond the vocation of marriage and family. This call was to the Holy Orders of the Permanent Diaconate; preaching, teaching, administering the Holy Communion and foot washing. As a family we try to be leaders which strive in our limited humanity towards the fullness of Christian life and the perfection of charity and service. But, seriously us? And to think that we are called to serve the soul life of our extended family and the world is quite humbling and overwhelming... but our God is good and relentless. It was slow to happen and so many obstacles presented themselves. Yet with God cheerleading it was always enough. With great grace and support of those close to us we applied and were accepted to the Diaconate Class of 2012. Honoring the ordained in our life, we are humbled and in disbelief as we begin our second year in the candidacy phase of training and the theology schoolwork portion. Life is more complicated than ever before but God gently holds us reminding us that we are just fine and His plan is our life's work “till death do us part.” And that's a long time...

We understand now that God called us. We cannot understand that God called us, in our crazy, hurried, messiness. In three years, when the studying is done Chris will declare his intention to undertake the office, receive laying on of hands and the Holy Spirit, hold the mystery of the faith with clear conscience, live a deep prayer life, and to live as an example of Christ, with Melani by his side in faith, prayer and example. We will definitely have more God callings to tell. It is after all God's way of saying, “My ordained child take this gift I offer you, as your two joined souls in union with Me, cherish life in each other, in your family, in your church and take it to the world: for this is My call and you answered.”

Gotta Go...the phone is still ringing off the hook! Are you being called? Is your phone ringing... Answer it. It changes everything and with God all things are possible! (Mark 10:27)