May the Lord bless you with grace, peace, and blessings in the Holy Spirit.
It is 10th January 2022. We reflect on 1 Sam 1:1-8 and Mark 1:14-20.
We enter the ordinary time of the year. REPENT, FOLLOW, AND BECOME.
No one is excluded from the love and the call of God. No matter how unworthy we feel and unmerited we can be, we are qualified for the love and the call of God. God loves us untiring and calls us unceasingly. Realising and relishing God’s love is the right response to God’s call.
We all have some sort of bareness in our mind, body and lifelike Hanna was barren in the first reading. Our tears and depression cannot solve the problem but our faith in the love of God brings all desired blessings.
The Gospel Mark attempts to answer two questions: ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘What are Jesus’ disciples meant to be like?’
Exactly where the John the Baptist left, Jesus began with the call for conversion, to be open to the Good News and to bring people near God. Jesus recruits people for the Kingdom of God.
In the Gospel, Jesus calls His first disciples namely Peter, Andrew, James, and John and invites us to repent and to become His disciple. The Good News is God is near to each one of us. Personal repentance offers the realization of God’s presence in our lives and grants us the openness to be followers of Christ. Jesus wants all of us to consider three life-changing things: “Repent and believe in the good news.” “Come, follow me,” and “I will make you fish for people.”
No vocation is fruitful without repentance. Metanoia, that radical change of life is the urgent response Jesus expects from us.
Our untiring availability and willingness to at the peg and call of others to follow Jesus are what we need today to respond to the call of Jesus. The more we reflect on Jesus in our lives, the more we make others feel the presence of God in their life. Shall we respond to Jesus generously today? May God bless you.