|
|
|
|
Word To Life
|
Sunday Scripture Readings: Jan. 27, 2008
By Jeff Hedglen
Catholic News Service
January 27, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Cycle A. Readings:
1) Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
2) 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23
My wife works in a cubicle in the middle of corporate America. She often feels she is not doing all she can to answer the call to ministry. I think this may have something to do with the story we hear in today's Gospel of Jesus calling the first disciples.
I have always loved this story because the choice to follow seems so clear-cut for these guys. They walk away from their nets and lives at the drop of a hat with no questions. I wonder if they knew Jesus already and had been planning to follow him and realized this was the time. Or was this their first experience of the God Man, and his presence and call were so powerful they were compelled to follow?
Either way the story continues to challenge me.
On the other hand, this story might make it seem that if we do not leave it all behind and go into full-time ministry, we are not really answering our baptismal call.
This is where my wife comes in.
In cubicle land where she works, there are no private conversations. One day she overheard two people grumbling about a third person who had been out sick for two days. The next day my wife saw this man walking the halls at work. She stopped him and said, "Hey, I heard you have been out sick, how are you feeling?"
He replied, "I have worked here for over three months, and you are the first person who has said more than 'hi' to me."
In that moment my wife was answering the call to follow Jesus. Sure, the man didn't drop to his knees and ask Jesus to become his savior. But he did experience someone who had genuine concern for his well-being, and in that moment he experienced love.
Too often we think that the only way to answer the call to follow Jesus means we have to do something out of the ordinary or spectacular. Raising a family or being salt and light at work might seem pretty ordinary, but when we do these things with the understanding that they are a way to answer the call to follow Jesus, they become extra-ordinary. You even might say spectacular.
QUESTIONS:
In what ways have you answered the call to follow Jesus? What are the biggest challenges to answering this call?
SCRIPTURE TO BE ILLUSTRATED:
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19).
END
Copyright © 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
|
|
|
|
