Monday, January 12, 2026

 

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

The first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are telling.  He says them in in today’s gospel passage: “This is the time of fulfillment.” It is fair, even necessary, to ask, “fulfillment of what?” What are the desires and hopes that are now going to be fulfilled?

In an insightful article journalist David Brooks says that among Americans there has been a telling shift in hopes and desires.  No longer do they want love, at least as defined in a classical way of giving oneself completely to another, either one person, a group of people, or a cause.  Rather, he says, today most people want autonomy, a detachment from others so that one they might pursue personal interests without commitments standing in the way.

For Jesus fulfillment means the connecting of people to God.  This desire has been named “the holy longing.” Jesus is here to bring us much closer to the Lord and to one another.  He is present in the Church which gathers us as brothers and sisters and directs our corporate self to his loving Father.

 

Sunday, January 24, 2021

 

THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Jonah 3: 1-5.10; I Corinthians 7: 29-31; Mark 1: 14-20)

One day towards the end of this year we will turn to our neighbors at Mass to shake their hands. We will take the Blood of Christ from the cup. And we will see the smiles on the faces of the children in church. The Corona-19 virus will be arrested. We will be able to rejoice in the Lord. In the gospel we hear of the arrest of John launching another chain of good news.

John is treated in this Gospel of Mark as the last prophet of Israel. Like Isaiah and Amos, John has preached justice to great and humble alike. He even he faced King Herod with inconvenient truth. His arrest means the end of ancient times. Jesus says in truth: "'The time has been fulfilled.'" The new age introduces the Kingdom of God. In other words, the love of God the Father will no longer remain as a memory. It won't just be the story of the victory over Pharaoh or the exploits of David. Rather, it will be as palpable as the warmth of a fireplace when temperatures drop to zero. God will caress all men and women because we are created in his image. Like the one-time popular song said: "He has you and me, brother, in his hands ... he has the whole world in his hands."

We can rest safe now because God has come. But before we rest we have to fulfill Jesus' command: "'Repent and believe the gospel.' In other words, we have to leave selfishness and greed behind to take care of others. We have to protect the dignity of each person, particularly the most vulnerable. A nun tells of her father who was a gynecologist. One day the daughter asked her father if he had ever performed an abortion. He replied, "Yes." "How many?" she asked again. “At least a dozen when I was in my residency - he said - then something happened that made me stop. After doing an abortion one day, I went to tell the patient's sister that the surgery was over. Before I could leave, she asked me if it was alive. I knew that if I answered "no," it would have been a lie and if I answered "yes," I just killed someone. It was the last abortion I ever did”.

Eventually the physician became a Catholic and discerned the call to treat his patients according to the teachings of the Church. He went to train in a city far from his place of origin. The change meant a drastic reduction in income, but it seemed like God's will. He was like the fisherman brothers in the gospel. Simón and Andrés and Santiago and Juan receive a call from Jesus that means great sacrifices. Simón and Andrés leave their nets behind -- their livelihood. Santiago and Juan leave their own father in the boat.

Jesus tells the fishermen that they will be "’ fishers of men. " He is going to teach them how to call others to the kingdom of God. He does not stop calling with the apostles but calls us today. Could it be that we are called to tell others about God's love? Why not? The world needs to hear that God's love reaches every human person. The scope includes aborted fetuses and also their mothers. Somehow we have to convey to women who have had abortions that God still loves them. We have to inform them that if they recognize abortion as a mistake, God will forgive them so that they have peace.

Abortion divides political parties and increasingly religions. It's not leaving anytime soon. As disciples of Jesus, we have to defend human life from conception to natural death. But we don't want to alienate anyone. Rather, we want to be fishermen and women of others by extending the spirit of reconciliation. Yes, it is difficult, but we have Jesus as our teacher.

 

Monday, January 11, 2021

 Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

The four gospels are read almost entirely at mass on weekdays every year.  Today’s gospel begins the reading of the Gospel according to Mark.  When it is finished sometime in late spring, Matthew’s gospel will be started.  Finally, Luke’s gospel is read for most of the fall.  John’s gospel is reserved for the Easter season.  Selections from all four gospels are read during Lent, Advent, and Christmas. 

In today’s gospel Jesus is seen preaching, “’Repent, and believe in the Gospel.’” This sounds like a relatively easy command to fulfill.  It isn’t.  Mark will illustrate what it means in the very next scene.  Jesus calls first Peter and Andrew and then James and John to follow him.  They must suddenly leave livelihood in the first case and family in the second to “’believe in the Gospel.’”

Men hear such a radical call today when they know that it is time to stop looking at pornography.  Women sense the same call when they realize that they should stop dressing seductively.  These are hard commands to follow.  Something inside our brains tells us that salacious pictures and promiscuous dress will satisfy our needs.  But the Lord knows better than where our true interests lie.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-8; Mark 1:14-20)

We may wonder how Elkanah, obviously a pious Israelite, could have two wives.  The Mosaic covenant allowed divorce, but it insisted on one wife at a time.  One commentator reasons that at this early stage of Israel’s history, marriage regulation was downplayed.  It was like our Catholic precept of attending mass on holydays of obligation.  Many pastors don’t even announce upcoming days of obligation and provide only one mass.  The commentator further suggests that Elkanah took a second wife in order to assure descendants.

Today’s gospel indicates a contrary dynamic to the concern about descendants.  James and John on hearing Jesus’ call leave their father behind to follow Jesus.  They renounce family for the sake of the kingdom.  Mark’s gospel, as the others, relate the in-breaking of the kingdom with Jesus, the Son of God.  Some may call this development a “big thing.”  That term, however, makes the coming of the kingdom just one important event among others.  The gospel writers are saying, on the other end, that this is the event to end events.  The coming of the kingdom of God represents the end of history.  It merits the abandoning of family concerns.

So we are left to wonder again.  How can history continue if it ended with Jesus’ dying and rising from the dead?  As incredible as it may sound, we live in an “in-between” time waiting for Jesus to return for the ultimate ending.  This is a time for preaching his Lordship so that all human beings may experience his salvation.  It is time for us to prepare for his coming with works of mercy.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

A watershed is a mound of dirt that has been built up to stop water from running off the land.  It conserves water for the dry season.  To speak of a “watershed moment” is to see a past event as decisive in shaping history.  Like water conservation such an event has repercussions for a long time afterwards.  Today’s gospel describes a watershed moment in salvation history.

Jesus emphatically proclaims the beginning of God’s rule. “’The Kingdom of God is at hand,’” he says. John, the precursor, has completed his mission.  Now Jesus will carry out the project of humanity’s return to the goodness of the Garden of Eden.  He will need helpers and calls on robust and resourceful fishermen.  Although it means starting a new career, they cannot resist Jesus’ magnetic personality.  They leave not just boats and nets but their families to join him in this world-changing endeavor.

We should see ourselves making the same kind of critical choice.  We may not be at a point to change careers, but always there is need to improve our behavior.  We may have to show kindness to people we tend to ignore at work.  Or perhaps we have to leave behind unhealthy habits like smoking and squandering time on the Internet.  We certainly want to join Peter, Andrew, James and John in assisting Jesus establish the Kingdom of God.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Monday of the First Week in ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-8; Mark 1:14-20)

When St. John Paul II was elected pope, he said that the celebration of the new millennium would be the hallmark of his papacy.  He then methodically carried out a program with synods in all parts of the world, apologies for the crimes of church people throughout the centuries, and finally the great events of the year 2000.  We see Jesus in the gospel today working with as much deliberation.

Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan and tested in the desert.  Now he begins his ministry.  He preaches his basic message: salvation is at hand; accept it by opening your lives to the Lord. Then he calls followers whom he will train to continue preaching the message.  Three observations are in order.  First, Jesus dispenses with the custom of the time of disciples seeking out a teacher.  Jesus personally chooses his followers.  Second, Jesus chooses simple fishermen, not students for his following.  Scholars like Paul will preach the gospel in time, but for now Jesus wants men who know how to seek out those who are hidden.  Finally, his call is urgent.  There is no time for followers to discern a call.  He demands that they come at once.

Today we begin what the Church calls “Ordinary Time.”  The phrase comes from the fact that the period is categorized by weeks with ordinary numbers – first, second, third, etc.  We hear the term as indicating nothing special.  Perhaps that is a sufficient way of thinking about it.  Ordinary Time represents the opportunity to open our lives to God’s love as Jesus preaches it in the gospel today.  But our response does not have to be immediate.  Rather we should make a deliberate decision to follow him.  But to follow him means that we bring his message to others by manifesting God’s love everywhere.  

Monday, January 12, 2015

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

Today’s gospel makes an interesting study of comparison and contrast with next Sunday’s.  It gives the account of Jesus’ call of his first disciples in the Gospel of Mark.  Sunday’s gospel will proclaim the story of the call in the Gospel according to John.

In Mark, John the Baptist has been arrested when Jesus goes to Galilee to proclaim the Good News.  Finding Peter and Andrew fishing, he calls them to follow him.  In John, the Baptist himself tells his disciple Andrew that Jesus is the “lamb of God.”  In both Mark and John Jesus takes the initiative by inviting his future disciples to “come.”  Again, in both cases again the men assuming the role of disciples explicitly “follow” Jesus.  Finally, in Mark Jesus tells Peter and Andrew that they will be fishers of men while in John, Andrew goes out fishing for his brother Simon to become Jesus’ follower.

Many begin to doubt the truth claim of the gospels when they hear of inconsistencies like the ones mentioned above.  But when we think about it, don’t the inconsistencies while still delivering the same basic message support their being true?  The evangelists Mark and John wrote at least one and perhaps two generations after Jesus died.  There is no sure evidence that they knew one another or that one knew of the other’s writing. Both received Jesus’ story largely by word of mouth as it was preached first by the Twelve and then by other apostles.  Naturally some deviation occurred.  But the similarities are so strong that we can say with confidence that, yes, Jesus did call his disciples and, yes, they did “follow” or learn from him.

Monday, January 13, 2013

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 1:1-18; Mark 1:14-20)

Many rabbis in ancient Israel had disciples.  But none treated their disciples like Jesus did his.  Other rabbis received students who came to them for instruction.  Jesus went out to seek his disciples as today’s gospel shows.  The duty of other rabbis was to teach their disciples the law.  Jesus, however, has another purpose  – to make his disciples fishers or gatherers of people.  Other rabbis had their disciples serve them; Jesus, on the other hand, came “to serve, not to be served.”

Jesus’s ways are so distinctive because he comes to proclaim the arrival of God’s Kingdom.  He knows that now is not the time to study God’s law; it is time to embrace the fulfillment of all that the law promises.  It is the difference between preparing for a feast and sitting down at table.  The people must be moved to give up prejudice toward other nations and hostility toward one another.  They must be shown that God, the Father of all, calls all to solidarity.

It may seem to some that the moment of the Kingdom has passed, that we live in post-religious times when the best we can hope for is growing the world economy so that everyone will have access to the Internet.  But this is not so.  The Kingdom is still within our grasp because Jesus is not a mere human whose bones have long rotten.  He is the resurrected Lord who always calls us to greater love.

Monday, January 10, 2010

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

In a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright song-writer Paul Simon wrote, “Architects may come and architects may go and never change your point of view.” Wright, of course, was different. His lines and spaces lift people from the drudgery of daily life to a celestial height engaging their freedom and nobility. Attending to Jesus’ words and actions in the gospel today, we are likewise called out of slumber to a new spirit.

John has been arrested. His prophetic message warned listeners of the need to repent or face the wrath of God. Jesus employs the same words as John, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent…” but with him warning has given way to hope. Now God has come to look after people’s needs. First Simon and Andrew and then James and John have only to hear Jesus’ call to adopt a wholly new lifestyle.

For some after so many centuries and so many readings, Jesus’ message seems stale. It is a plausible criticism since many people who profess faith in him hardly exhibit a renewed spirit. However, for both those who are tired of reading the gospel as well as those who only give it lip service, there remains the challenge of taking Jesus up on the call. When people leave behind their boats – their little worlds of cynicism and prejudice – and their nets – their fortunes and pleasures – to follow him, they will find a refreshing and fulfilling way of life.

Homilette for January 14, 2008

Monday of the First Week of Ordinary Time

(Mark 1:14-20)

In a recent book evaluating the great Catholics theologians of the twentieth century, the author reserves the highest praise for the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. Fr. Lonergan’s Method in Theology not only contains keen theological insights; it also answers modern philosophy’s challenges to the theological enterprise. For Lonergan the concept of conversion that Jesus has in mind when he calls for repentance in the gospel today is as basic to writing theology as it is to living the Christian life.

We might hear the call to repentance as meant for other people. After all, we are already in church when the gospel passage is read. But, as Bernard Lonergan would say, conversion or repentance is a life-long process that every person must strive for in order to experience the Kingdom of God. All of us continually have to examine the principles by which we live, ask ourselves where we fail to measure up to the standards that God has set, ask forgiveness for any harm that living by the old principles has caused, and then amend our lives to incorporate the gospel. As extended as this list is, true conversion is even more challenging because it means going against established routine. But, of course, the happiness of the Kingdom provides the necessary incentive and the Spirit of Jesus, the extraordinary means to take up the quest.

To achieve full repentance religious have formed the habit of frequent participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They seriously look at their lives once a month or even once a week. They note where they have strayed from the gospel values that they have learned. And they confess these sins with the firm resolve not to fall again. This practice is not the reserve for those who have vowed themselves to a religious community. It is the model for all Christians who take their faith seriously.