The Call to Be United With God and One Another Lectio Divina: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B By Monsignor Francesco Follo PARIS, January 23, 2015 (Zenit.org) - Roman Rite - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B - January 25, 2015 Jon 3,1-5.10; Ps 25; 1 Cor 7.29 to 31; 1.14 to 20 Mk[1]. Ambrosian Rite - Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Is 45.14 to 17; Ps 83; Heb 2.11 to 17; Lk 2.41 to 52 1) The call to conversion. The readings of the Liturgy of the Word this Sunday take us back to the theme already meditated a week ago: Vocation. Last Sunday in the first reading of the Mass we had been told of the vocation of Samuel who answered the call saying Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. God called him by name because he always calls by name, pronouncing it with love. Can you imagine how shocked Paul must have been when, on the road to Damascus, he was called with love by the One he was persecuting[2]? We too are called with love to bring into the world the truth of love of Christ who calls us to work with him in the harvesting of the world. The Gospel of last Sunday spoke of vocation and in particular of the one of the first disciples who followed Jesus thanks to the desire present in their heart that Jesus recognized turning toward them and asking What do you seek?” In today’s Mass, the prophet Jonah (First Reading) and the call of the first disciples in the version of the Gospel of Mark (Third Reading) show us that vocation has, as first condition, conversion that is realized following Christ to be with Him and like Him. He is the Way to follow discovering that the road to take is new not because it is different from the old one, but because new is the motivation or, better, the direction of our following. To say more, when lifes journey is done humanely and without faith, it is a road that goes from life to death: we are born and we die. The path of the Gospel, namely with Christ, is on the contrary from death to life. The path is new and Jesus calls us and invites us to take it following Him. To go on this journey is an act of faith and trust in Christ, which implies a change in thinking and action that leads to take the way of the Lord, whose names are mercy, love, goodness and justice (see Psalm 25). Along these paths each of us must walk, putting our own steps on the footprints of the Lord Jesus who two thousand years ago walked the roads of Galilee (see Mk 1.14 to 20) and doesn’t stop walking and calling even now. If the fishermen Peter and Andrew, James and John called by the Messiah who was passing by followed right away, it is because they understood that there was life, otherwise they would have been stupid and unreasonable. And then, as they followed him, they realized the logic of the journey. Then it was very reasonable to walk after Christ who had called them. In fact, in following him with loyalty and patience they have experienced the fruits of this journey. Faith is not irrational, it is not jumping in the dark, it is the opposite, it is very rational because it is very reasonable in the sense that if anyone gets a sensible proposal, it is reasonable to leave and follow. Following Jesus is just that: to go with Him , behind Him for love: the same path, the same journey. The spirit of the world will be the one that does not tolerate and will make us suffer, but of a suffering like that of Jesus. Let ask this grace: to follow Jesus in the way that He has revealed to us and that He has taught us. This is beautiful, because He never leaves us alone. Never! He is always with us” (Pope Francis, May 28, 2013). 2) Conversion of the way to be Following Christ, the disciples understood that Jesus was the Son of God in constant search of man. They discovered a God stubbornly” in love with humanity. Even today, even if the man stubbornly refuses his benevolence and stubbornly rejects the guarantees of salvation and joy, Christ continues calling him to himself and implementing that dialogue made of familiarity and mutual trust which was started with the conversion to the Gospel t
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 04:35:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015