The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today emphasize the role of conversion in our journey, guided by the Spirit, to fullness of life.
The reading from the Book of Jonah describes the Conversion of Nineveh.
* [3:7–8] Fasting and wearing sackcloth are signs of human repentance; here they are legislated even for the animals—a humorous touch, perhaps anticipating 4:11.
* [3:9–10] Scripture frequently presents the Lord as repenting (or, changing his mind) of the evil that he threatens; e.g., Gn 6:6–7; Jer 18:8. (Jonah, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 25 is a prayer for Guidance and for Deliverance.
* [Psalm 25] A lament. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Such acrostic Psalms are often a series of statements only loosely connected. The psalmist mixes ardent pleas (Ps 25:1–2, 16–22) with expressions of confidence in God who forgives and guides. (Psalms, PSALM 25 | USCCB, n.d.)
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians is advice concerning the end times.
* [7:29–31] The world…is passing away: Paul advises Christians to go about the ordinary activities of life in a manner different from those who are totally immersed in them and unaware of their transitoriness. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)
The Gospel of Mark describes the beginning of the Galilean Ministry when Jesus calls the first disciples.
* [1:14–15] After John had been arrested: in the plan of God, Jesus was not to proclaim the good news of salvation prior to the termination of the Baptist’s active mission. Galilee: in the Marcan account, scene of the major part of Jesus’ public ministry before his arrest and condemnation. The gospel of God: not only the good news from God but about God at work in Jesus Christ. This is the time of fulfillment: i.e., of God’s promises. The kingdom of God…Repent: see note on Mt 3:2.
* [1:16–20] These verses narrate the call of the first Disciples. See notes on Mt 4:18–22 and Mt 4:20. (Mark, CHAPTER 1, n.d.)
Elvin Cardoso, S.J. comments that the call to repentance and conversion is urgent and crucial for everyone who wishes to live a fulfilling life.
Therefore, let us heed the call to repentance and conversion, turn away from the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God, and experience the restoration of everything that sin destroys. Let us embrace the Kingdom of Heaven, which is near, and live a fulfilling, joyful, and life pleasing to God. (Cardoso, 2024)
Don Schwager quotes “Common people on an uncommon mission,” by Eusebius of Caesarea (260/263-340 AD).
"Reflect on the nature and grandeur of the one Almighty God who could associate himself with the poor of the lowly fisherman's class. To use them to carry out God's mission baffles all rationality. For having conceived the intention, which no one ever before had done, of spreading his own commands and teachings to all nations, and of revealing himself as the teacher of the religion of the one Almighty God to all humanity, he thought good to use the most unsophisticated and common people as ministers of his own design. Maybe God just wanted to work in the most unlikely way. For how could inarticulate folk be made able to teach, even if they were appointed teachers to only one person, much less to a multitude? How should those who were themselves without education instruct the nations?... When he had thus called them as his followers, he breathed into them his divine power, and filled them with strength and courage. As God himself he spoke God's true word to them in his own way, enabling them to do great wonders, and made them pursuers of rational and thinking souls, by empowering them to come after him, saying: 'Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for people' (Mark 1:17, Matthew 4:19). With this empowerment God sent them forth to be workers and teachers of holiness to all the nations, declaring them heralds of his own teaching." (excerpt from PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 3.7) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 1:14-20 comments that we can also receive multiple callings in our lives, and our calling can change or expand over time. Maybe in one season of life, we are called to focus mainly on the needs of our family. In another, God might be asking us to spend more time meeting the needs of our brothers and sisters, perhaps by teaching the faith or caring for the poor.
Spend some time at Mass today thanking Jesus for the ways he has called you. It’s not always easy to say yes—we know that following Jesus will inevitably involve hardships as well as joys. But there’s no greater honor or privilege we could ever hope to have!
“Jesus, I am forever grateful that you have called me to follow you.” (Meditation on Mark 1:14-20, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the conflict in Jonah on being called to preach conversion in Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, and place of cruel punishment to conquered peoples. Paul anticipates the imminent end times after many people are raised from the dead as Jesus is resurrected. Friar Jude reminds us that in the calling of the fisher disciples, Jesus is demonstrating the nature of conversion when our natural talents are used in a new way.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, defines resilience in the context of the Christian faith.
To have faith, to grow toward love, union, salvation, or enlightenment, we must be moved from order to disorder and then ultimately to reorder.
Eventually our ideally ordered universe—our “personal salvation” project [2], as Thomas Merton called it—must and will disappoint us, if we are honest. Our spouse dies, we were rejected on the playground as a child, we find out we’re needy, we fail an exam for a coveted certification, or we finally realize that many people are excluded from our own well-deserved “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This is the disorder stage, or what Christians call from the Adam and Eve story the “fall.” It is necessary in some form if any real growth is to occur; but some of us find this stage so uncomfortable we try to flee back to our first created order—even if it is killing us and the very things we love.
There is no nonstop flight to reorder. Various systems call it “enlightenment,” “exodus,” “nirvana,” “heaven,” “springtime,” or even “resurrection.” Reorder is life on the other side of death, the victory on the other side of failure, the joy on the other side of the pains of childbirth. It is an insistence on going through—not under, over, or around. To arrive there, we must endure, learn from, and include disorder, transcending the first naïve order—but also still including it! (Rohr, n.d.)
We reflect on the need for conversion of some of our attitudes, practices, and goals to be aligned with the direction of the first disciples who changed their focus to follow Jesus.
References
Cardoso, E. (2024, January 21). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/012124.html
Jonah, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jonah/3?1
Mark, CHAPTER 1. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/1
Meditation on Mark 1:14-20. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/01/21/879327/
1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/7
Psalms, PSALM 25 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/25
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Faith and Resilience. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/faith-and-resilience/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 21, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=jan21
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