3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
As we continue our journey with the COVID19 virus we continue our prayers for everyone wherever they are who is affected by the pandemic. This Sunday is the 3rd Sunday of ordinary time and we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God in which we emphasise the centrality of Gods word in our lives, the Second Vatican Council gave great impulse to the rediscovery of the word of God, thanks to its Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum. The Constitution clearly expounds the nature of sacred Scripture, its transmission from generation to generation, its divine inspiration embracing the Old and New Testaments, and the importance of Scripture in the life of the Church . Pope Benedict convoked an Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2008 on “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church”, and then issued the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini. That document emphasizes the particular character of the Word of God, especially in the context of the liturgy, in which its sacramental character comes to the fore.
May we listen more attentively to the voice of the lord in the Scripture readings as we travel the roads of life during these difficult times and they will provide a lamp for our feet.
In the Gospel for this Sunday we hear the call to get up and get going. That is to get up and leave family friends and go out to the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus. Of course in today’s world the church and faith in general mean a lot less in people’s eyes and many tell you that the faith they had in God has got up and gone and for a great number that was a long time ago!! So many have placed their trust in the worldly things whilst leaving the lasting things that is things of god behind. The second reading for this Sunday tells us that though we live in the world and are of the world we need to remember that all of us who have to deal with and live in the world should not become engrossed in it as the worldly life has often taken people down the wrong road and that road leads away from a god and his ways. In the Gospel we learn the names of the first four disciples, the brothers Simon and Andrew, and the brothers James and John.
Christ saw something in Simon James Andrew and John that led Him to entrust them with carrying out His mission at the beginning building His Church when he called them to be fishers of Men. Each person had their unique role to play in that process at the beginning, just as each of us have a unique role to play now. The fishermen abandon both their work, and their family ties. Something momentous is happening in their lives and they see the Call of Jesus as just that, a momentous event that they cannot ignore. It was amid the preoccupations of each day that the Lord called his disciples. It is also true for each of us that amid the preoccupations of our time many people are called by the Lord to be fishers of men. So are we prepared to take up the call of Jesus to be fishers of men where we are? Being fishers of men does not necessarily mean that we leave our families and our lives behind though many take up this part of the challenge as priests or religious serving gods people in that particular way.
The challenge for us as followers of Jesus in the modern world is to be an example of faith in all we do and say and as a result of this we will be fishers of men because the people out there will see how we live our lives and they will want to follow us to see where we have come from and where we are going and when we finally finish our journey all of us will find lasting things of great value that are the things based in faith in God and his Church.
Fullerton T 