3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A, Year II)

Community Word:  True Christian disciples rise up and search diligently for Jesus, the Truth and the Light.

Theme:     True Christian disciples live renewed lives and proclaim the Gospel.

Promise: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  (Mt 4:19)

Reflection:       

Jesus’ call to the first disciples, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt.4:19), marks the beginning of His ministry on earth, ensuring that His mission to bring light to all nations will continue at all times and at all place for all generations.  Following in His foorsteps, the CBCP has declared this the “Year of the Laity” in the Philippines, calling on all present-day disciples and believers to rally under the theme “Called to be holy . . . Sent forth as heroes.“

Jesus’ invitation drew quick response from the four fishermen he called; they immediately abandoned their boats and family and became His followers. With our church leaders now calling the Catholic lay faithful to a deeper awareness of our role in the life and the mission of the Church, how should we respond?  Like the first disciples, are we willing to give up our attachments and be a part of such mission?

Despite our busyness, we should recognize God’s voice when He calls.  As baptized Catholics, we are called to continue Jesus’ mission on earth, and respond to the challenge of a greater mission. We cannot excuse ourselves by claiming insufficient knowledge or lack of preparedness to face the enormity of the task awakening a sleeping soul.  Like His  first disciples, we should respond without hesitation to Jesus’ invitation.  The first disciples were mere ignorant fishermen, but they wisely followed Jesus despite what seems to be their obvious limitation and lack of qualifications to be workers for the Kingdom.

Jesus’ choice of ordinary people to share in His mission of “making disciples of all nations” is God’s way of demonstrating that God’s power is recognized through man’s powerlessness.  “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.” (1Cor 1:27-29)

When God passes by, He may chance upon you and me with an invitation to help Him build His Kingdom.  He does not impose, nor does He pressure us, but gives us the freedom to to choose, respecting the freewill that is His own gift to us. Though we might fear or be anxious about our insignificance and lack of knowledge and wisdom, let us listen to Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians: “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning” (1Cor 1:17).  We should bear in mind that our choice – whatever it may be – may well be the turning point of our lives.

Finally, as true Christian disciples, we face our life’s ultimate challenge – to rise up for Jesus with a life changing slogan: “Called to be bold to share in Christ’s mission on earth!”

Reflection Questions:
1. How can I meet the challenge of showing the Light of Christ to others through my thoughts, attitudes and actions?

2. In what ways can I be bold to rise up for Jesus?

This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
January 26, 2013 (Sun)    Is 8:23 – 9:3/ Ps 27:1,4,13-14/ 1Cor 1:10-13,17/ Mt 4:12-23
January 27, 2013 (Mon)    2Sm 5:1-7,10/Ps 89:20,21,22,25,26/Mk 3:22-30
January 28, 2013 (Tues)   2Sm 6:12-15.17-19/Ps 24:7-10/Mk 3:31-35
January 29, 2013 (Wed)   2Sm 7:4-17/Ps 89:4,5,27-30/Mk 4:1-20
January 30, 2013 (Thur)   2Sm 7:18,19,24-29/Ps 132:1,2,3,5,11,12,13,14/Mk 4:21-25
January 31, 2013 (Fri)      2Sm 11:1-4,5-10,13-17/Ps 51:3,4,5,6,7,10,11/Mk 4:26-34
February 1, 2013 (Sat)    2Sm 12:1-7,10-17/Ps 51:12,12,14,15,16,17/Mk 4:35-41

“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.  Read your Bible daily!”

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