“If you are apostles at all, you are apostles, not of men, nor by man. Your sufficiency is of God.” ~ Joseph Barber Lightfoot
Today is the first day in Ordinary Time. Yesterday, the Christmas Season came to a close with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord. At that time, we reminded ourselves of the promises that we made to our God by the virtue of our own baptisms.
Those promises may have been made for us initially by our parents but we later verified that promise by renewing our baptismal promises at other sacramental moments in our lives.
We were baptized for mission. We were baptized to serve the Lord. Our baptism, which made us an intimate part of the family of God, came with a calling.
At Mass today, we heard about a very particular call. The gospel from Mark related the call of Simon and Andrew as well as James and John. They were fishermen. Jesus came up to them, called them to leave everything behind and follow Him, and they did just that.
They left family and business and embarked on a venture that they had no idea where it would lead. That sounds frightening. To leave something known — something that provided a means for living — and set off who knows where. The thing about it is that we are called to do the same.
We all have specific calls in life. We call that a vocation. Some are called to married life, some to dedicated single life, some to consecrated life as priest, deacon, brother, or sister.
Those calls may not have been what we had planned. We might have had something else in mind. We might even have been engaging in something else for a long time. But when we hear the call of the Lord, we need to respond to Him because only in the Lord will we find fulfillment.
FAITH ACTION: Pray for those who are being called by the Lord and who might not be listening or who might be refusing to listen. Pray that they have the grace and the courage to respond.