Monday, January 13, 20141st 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 proclaimingthe Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. TheKingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and hisbrother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they werefishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will makeyou fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followedhim. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mendingtheir nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedeein 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. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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