Monday Week 1 Ordinary Time

First Reading 1 Samuel 1, 1-18

Gospel Reading Mark 1, 14-20

The Word in Other Words (2008) by Fr Carlos Lariosa, SVD (Philippines)

It was a day after New Year. A young man, obviously just out of long bout in hospital bed, stopped me in my rounds. As soon as we finished exchanging greetings, he fired an unexpected question: “Father, what do you think God wants me to do?” I was caught by Surprise. I sat down and asked what his question meant. He said that last October he graduated from college magna cum laude. Their great rejoicing was followed by a night of carousing. Then an accident happened on the way home. That had kept him in the hospital for the last two months.

“What do you think God wants me to do?” That’s quite a question. The coming of the kingdom of God into our lives can have such a very radical and dramatic effect. It is so mysterious. It can make us stop and even change direction.

The introduction of the Kingdom of God is also a time of fulfilment. When Jesus came into the lives of James and John, he asked them to leave their type of fishing and follow him. They followed him at once, and ready for a new venture, a different king of fishing trip. James and John must have pondered on this so many times while paddling their fishing boats. The time of fulfilment of a deeper desire had finally presented itself in Jesus’ challenge to follow him. Do we dream of something more in our lives that makes us ask the same question the young man asked? If Jesus comes to us now, would we be willing to “abandoner nets, our boats and even our parents” to follow him? Are we ready for the great joy waiting for us?