What are you called?

When I was growing up we had a family down the road with three children, all with names beginning with R – Rosalind, Ruth and Roderick. Their surname began with R too. At the time I thought it was obsessive alliteration but I’m now wondering whether it referred to the ‘three Rs’ of education. Unlikely (I’m sure you’re thinking),nbut their father was a teacher who was very focused on educational achievement. So who knows.

Parents give their offspring names for all sorts of reasons and, whatever it is, this one little word ends up labelling a whole human being for the rest of their life. Well, often it’s for life. But sometimes life changes give someone a reason to be re-named, to take on a new name or adapt their original one.

As we all know from recent events, it happens when someone is elected Pope. And it’s interesting for many of us because the name the Pope chooses will tell us something about what is important to him and his ministry.

Leo XIV has explained his choice of name by citing Pope Leo XIII who was committed to addressing the social injustices of the industrial revolution. Leo XIV, like his namesake and predecessor, wants to tackle injustices he sees posed by today’s revolution – the developments in artificial intelligence. He has also said that he wants to continue the ministry of Francis in caring for the poor, wishes to engage in courageous dialogue with the modern world, and urges everyone to seek peace. All high on his agenda, but his choice of name indicates to us what is foremost in his heart and mind.

At almost the same time as Pope Leo made his intentions clear, the Rector of the church we attended for many years announced a change of name due to a development in his vocational life. Fr Bruce became Fr Bruce-Julian, a Julian Oblate, and he will now follow monastic living but outside of a monastery, embracing the theology of Julian of Norwich.

It will be a significant change to how he lives his life and to whom he ministers. It has taken years of discernment, starting decades earlier when spending time in the Society of St Francis. He calls this journey ‘finding your authentic self’: that is the person God has named and whom he is calling. It is discovered through ‘making space’ available for God, laying aside plans and offering yourself to the future that God is inviting you to. It is becoming someone and doing something that only you can be and do.

In choosing to embrace the next stage of what God is calling you to be can mean accepting huge life changes. It may be difficult. It could be sacrificial. But it has your name, and only your name, on it.

I wonder what name he is calling for you and me.