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Reflection for Sunday 01/22/12

Readings for Today:
1st Reading: Jonah 3:1– 5, 10
2nd Reading: Corinthians 7:29 – 31
Mark 1:14 – 20

Readings for Next Week:
Deuteronomy 18:15 – 20
Corinthians 7:32 – 35
Mark 1:21– 28

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
In life, it may seem that it doesn’t always turn out that others listen and change their evil ways when confronted with the truth, or that people give up their families and livelihoods to follow God. We must be reading the Bible, because such things only happen there. Or do they? Each day men and women give up smoking, drinking, and drugs. Each day, unfaithful spouses repent and start again. And every day some generous souls join the Peace Corps, embrace religious life, or slip a ring onto another’s finger because they heard a voice that said, “Come after me.” It’s an insistent voice that voice we hear, and in today’s readings, it is full of urgency. The time is short, it says. Respond now, before it’s too late. The God who calls is full of forgiveness and of mercy, but we must reach out to take it. We must be willing to be changed, willing to give up what we enjoy and value, willing to repent of the ways of selfishness and pride. Remarkably, in the First Reading, it’s God who repents “of the evil that he had threatened to do” (Jonah 3:10). Now it’s our turn, for the world as we know it, whether we are aware of it or not, is passing away.

“This is the time of fulfillment. . . . Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

SHARING FAITH
The special vocation of the lay faithful is to bring the light of Christ into secular affairs, into situations where that illumination can be brought only by them. Where do you see others living and witnessing to their faith in the temporal world, and what daily opportunities do you have to do the same?

LIVING THE LITURGY
Make a conscious effort to forgive someone who has hurt you, someone you feel justified in holding at a distance. If your parish has a welcoming ministry for new parishioners, ask how your family can help. If not, offer to recruit help and begin one.

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