Monday January 10  

Monday of 1st Week in Ordinary Time

 

DISCIPLES TODAY

A word about the books of Samuel. After the confused times of the settlement in Palestine comes a more stable era with the kings. This period is important because the very vague “salvation” described earlier, – a land of their own for the Hebrews, their growth as a people – turns now into messianism on the basis of the kingship of David: an ideal king will come in whom the promises will be fulfilled. Jesus, descendant of David, will found the eternal kingdom promised to David. In today’s reading in Year II, Samuel appears as the prophet who reluctantly prepares the foundation of a Hebrew kingdom. Only a king can unify and defend the people.

In the Gospel, Jesus begins to preach the coming of the kingdom of God among people. He calls for penance and conversion and chooses his first disciples. These same words are addressed to us today: “Repent, be converted, be fishers of people for the kingdom.”

 

First Reading: 1 Sm 1:1-8

There once was a man who lived in Ramathaim. He was descended from the old Zuph family in the Ephraim hills. His name was Elkanah. (He was connected with the Zuphs from Ephraim through his father Jeroham, his grandfather Elihu, and his great-grandfather Tohu.) He had two wives. The first was Hannah; the second was Peninnah. Peninnah had children; Hannah did not.

3-7 Every year this man went from his hometown up to Shiloh to worship and offer a sacrifice to God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, served as the priests of Godthere. When Elkanah sacrificed, he passed helpings from the sacrificial meal around to his wife Peninnah and all her children, but he always gave an especially generous helping to Hannah because he loved her so much, and because God had not given her children. But her rival wife taunted her cruelly, rubbing it in and never letting her forget that God had not given her children. This went on year after year. Every time she went to the sanctuary of God she could expect to be taunted. Hannah was reduced to tears and had no appetite.

8 Her husband Elkanah said, “Oh, Hannah, why are you crying? Why aren’t you eating? And why are you so upset? Am I not of more worth to you than ten sons?”

 

Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: “Time’s up! God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”

Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.

A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee’s sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

 

Prayer

Lord, our God,
you invite us, disciples of your Son today,
to be wholly converted to the Gospel
and to help extend your kingdom.
Give us hearts open to the Good News
and the generosity to share it
with people of our day.
We ask you this through Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Go Home!

Today, the liturgy begins in the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. The beginning of the Gospel of Mark opens the curtain on the first activities of Jesus: His preaching and the first fruits. Four fishermen drop everything and follow him.

He preaches his first sermon in the Gospel of Mark: It Is too short. Just two sentences: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’ Jesus is in Galilee, in the north of Israel, is not a very religious area. Jesus began the activity “when John the Baptist was arrested.”

The first objective of the proclamation of the Good News is that of forming a community. Walking on the shore of the lake of Galilee, Jesus sees two pairs of fishers, and he calls them. The first four, Simon, Andrew, John and James, listened, abandoned everything and followed Jesus. They eventually form a community with him. It seems to be love at first sight! According to Mark’s account, everything takes place in the very first encounter with Jesus.

Time (kairos) is fulfilled. God’s Kingdom has come, and it is near. Imagine living in Jesus’ day. The Roman Empire has taken over everything. Herod, the “King of the Jews,” is a hateful man who might kill anyone at any time. And along comes a rabbi who proclaims that the time is fulfilled. The time that Jesus speaks about is the assigned time of God when God reveals his face to the humans. And heaven and earth are about to be joined together.

Everything is about to change – a change for people who are desperate for it. Jesus has two demands or commands as the appointed time is approaching: repent, and believe in the good news. “Repent” means, quite literally, to turn around.

If we walk down a dark and scary road of our wrong attitudes and behaviours, turning around is not bad. You turn and run as quick as you can in the opposite direction. “Repent” is part of the literature of the time of the exile in Babylon, something that the Israelites knew very well.

Repenting, when in exile, meant going home. And, Jesus tells us that we can go home and that God will welcome us back and throw His arms around us. And that is the good news. And, that’s what Jesus calls us to believe.
It IS time…and it’s time to go Home. And believe that God our Father waits for our return despite our worst sinful behaviours.

 

Video available on Youtube : Go Home!