DAILY GOSPEL Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68 Sunday, 25 January 2015 Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B Feast of the Church : The Conversion of Saint Paul, apostle - Feast Saint Ephrem : Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men Book of Jonah 3:1-5.10. The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you. So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORDS bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single days walk announcing, Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out. First Letter to the Corinthians 7:29-31. I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 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 abandoned 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. Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB Commentary of the day : Saint Ephrem (c.306-373), Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church Commentary on the Diatessaron, 4, 20 ; SC 121 Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men When they came to him they were fishers of fish and then they became fishers of men! As it is written: “Look, I will send many catchers of men, and they will catch them on every mountain and high hill” (Jer 16,16). If he had sent wise men it would have been said they had persuaded the people and won them over that way, or that they had deceived them and thus caught them. If he had sent the wealthy it would have been said they had fooled the people by giving them food, or that they had bought them with money and so gained the upper hand. If he had sent strong men it would have been said they had won them over by force or constrained them with violence, But the apostles had nothing to do with any of this. Our Lord demonstrated it to everyone with the example of Simon Peter. He lacked courage since he took fright at the words of a serving girl; he was poor since he was not even able to pay his share of the temple tax (Mt 17,24f). “Gold and silver have I none” was what he said (Acts 3,6). And he was without sophistication since, when he denied the Lord, he had no idea how to get out of it by guile. And so these fishers of fish set out and carried away the victory against the strong, the rich and the wise. What a miracle! Weak though they were, they drew strong men to their teaching without force; poor, they taught the wealthy; unlettered, they made the wise and prudent their disciples. The wisdom of this world gave way to that wisdom which is itself the wisdom of all wisdoms.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 05:47:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015