Following Christ

Monday, January 13, 2020
1st Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading:‍
1 Sm 1:1–8
Gospel Reading:‍
Mk 1:14 –20

AFTER John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life ‍‍Experience)
A priest walks into a pub and says to the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?” The man says, “I do Father.” The priest says, “Then leave this pub right now!” and approaches a second man. “Do you want to go to heaven?” “Certainly, Father,” is the man’s reply. “Then leave this den of Satan,” says the priest, as he walks up to a third guy. “Do you want to go to heaven?” “No, I don’t Father,” the man replies. The priest looks at him right in the eye, and says, “You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?” the man smiles, “Oh, when I die, yes, Father. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now” (from the internet).
If you think heaven can wait, you are wrong. Heaven respects no personal schedule. That is why Jesus made discipleship an urgent affair. In today’s Gospel he said: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand.” He invited people to repent and to follow him. He did not entertain excuses. To the man who said ‘let me bury my father first’, Jesus said, ‘let the dead bury their dead.’ He explained that a man who puts his hand on the plow and keeps looking back is not worthy of the kingdom.
We share the same urgent call today. To some it is to become ‘fishers of men’; to others it is to be witnesses to the dawning of the kingdom in the ordinariness of married life or single blessedness. To whichever state we are called, the time to follow Christ is now. Following him may not give us an exact idea of where it will lead us. In this world it could lead us to persecutions, material want, and even spiritual dryness. There may be consolations along the way though, but we should not expect life to be smooth sailing because the call focuses on a direction beyond this world. Hop in, don’t miss the bus. Heaven can’t wait.  – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.