Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. (Psalm 116:12, 13)
(Jesus) walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:19, 20)
Piety
Make me a us disciple on fire with your love that I may bring good news to the afflicted, liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. Help me, God, to enkindle in others a sense of hope that transformation is possible. Amen. [1]
Study
How extravagant become our actions when graced by God! The cup of salvation I will take up refers to prayer, the pouring out of wine and of invocation. But it also prefigures the sacrifices of John, the Baptizer, Christ himself and the followers of Jesus who were willing to take up the cup and embrace salvation by pouring out their own lives.
God’s call comes to ordinary people, leading ordinary lives. Hannah, a barren woman, frustrated, sad and unfulfilled pled with God. Her extravagant trust led her to give up what God had graced her life with and the prophet Samuel was put in place to bring God’s words to the Chosen People. John the Baptist’s extravagant “yes” readied people for “God at work in Jesus Christ. This is the time of fulfillment: i.e., of God's promises”[2] The answer of “yes” to God sanctifies ordinariness. Grace allowed and accepted imbues life with sacredness, with a portion of divinity.
Our “Yes” to God is our invitation to be “fishers of (people).” Our “Yes” to God overrides any other yes-es that we might think we need from the world. Jesus chose fishermen in today’s Gospel. Our “Yes” must be repeated every day in order for it to inform the freedom God gives us in our actions. It allows us to reach out to the unrepentant and to those wishing us harm. We also reach out to those not like us just as Jesus reached out to the fishermen making them disciples and just as God reaches out to us through Jesus. Our “Yes” helps us recognize that within ourselves, without the grace of God, it is all too easy to remain unrepentant, wishing to do harm, wishing to be the center of the universe.
Action
In what way am I fishing for others? Am I confident in the “Yes” I have spoken to God, secure that God delights in my “Yes” and offers me the means to act always in the “Yes”? Am I able to take up and rejoice in the cup of salvation? Sit with God today and renew your “Yes;” be glad in it.
[1] Adapted from Discipleship for Mission Prayer Service, Catholic Heath Care Association of the
[2] USCCB, footnote 8, http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark1.htm
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