January 11, 2021 Week 1 in Ordinary Time

January 11, 2021
Week 1 in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Hebrews 1:1-6

God spoke in many and varied ways, but now through Jesus, his Son and heir

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”?
Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

Responsorial: Psalm 96:1-2, 6-7, 9

R./: Let all his angels worship him

The Lord is king, let earth rejoice,
the many coastlands be glad.
Cloud and darkness are his raiment;
his throne, justice and right.(R./)
The skies proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
All you spirits, worship him.
For you indeed are the Lord
most high above all the earth. (R./)

Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

Jesus begins his mission and calls his first disciples

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.

Handing on faith

The Scriptures begin where all of us begin, within bonds of human love and family life, with the gradual development of hopes and possibilities. The Bible always manifests a healthy respect for the normal ways of human nature. Even if Hebrews affirms the divine origins of Jesus, its first words acknowledge the long, slow preparation of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Israelite people for the birth of our Lord, “in times past, God spoke in many and varied ways to our ancestors through the prophets.” Those words span the centuries from Abraham to Jesus, where the special Jewish sensitivity to God’s presence and action in this world was handed on from father and mother to sons and daughters over many generations.
No spirituality that disdains the bonds of flesh and family can properly claim to be Biblical. Still, there are times when God calls people to “Leave your country and your father’s house, and go the land that I will show you.” So it was for those working fishermen, whom Jesus called to leave their nets and their families, to travel the countryside with him, spreading his message of love and reconciliation. This Gospel leads us into a prayerful spirit. If at times Jesus may seem only vaguely present to us, he is still nearby, calling us to follow him, not in order to deprive us of ordinary human love, but to enrich and transform it. In the providence of God, transformations take place: Those Galilean fishermen were never the same again. And if to us Jesus says, “Follow me,” and we keep trying to respond generously, our life’s fulfilment will be safe in his guiding hands.

Lifegiving Encounter

Any encounter between two or more people has potential to be a lifegiving moment. The meeting that Peter, Andrew, James and John had with Jesus was such a life-giving moment for those four fishermen, the life-giving power of God was present to them in the person of Jesus. That power of God present in Jesus was the power of love, a love that promised forgiveness, healing, acceptance, a love that gave them a mission in life. The kind of encounter that Peter, Andrew, James and John had with Jesus is offered to each one of us. Jesus is not just a figure of history, belonging to the past. He is the living Lord, still present in his church and in the world, constantly calling out to us and meeting with us in the course of our day to day lives, as he met with Simon, Andrew, James and John while they were going about their work as fishermen.
The Lord meets with us and he speaks to us through the Sacraments, in particular the Eucharist, through the Scriptures, through other people, through nature and from deep within our own hearts. Each time the Lord meets with us we will first hear the good news of God’s unconditional love for us, “the kingdom of God is close at hand.” We will also hear the call to mission, the call to be good news for others, to be the Lord’s body in the world, his feet, his hands, his mouth, his eyes, his ears, “I will make you into fishers of people.” This morning we pray for the grace to be as open and response to the Lord’s presence and call as Peter, Andrew, James and John were.