HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B
THEME: I will make you into fishers of men.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
1 Samuel 1:1-8
Psalm 115:12-19
Mark 1:14-20
LITURGICAL COLOUR
GREEN
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.Today we celebrate the Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time. After the seasons of Advent and Christmas, we are now in the first week of what is called Ordinary Time and we will remain in Ordinary Time until the beginning of the Season of Lent, Until then, we will be reading the gospel of Mark, chapter by chapter on weekdays.
ALSO RECOMMENDED: MONDAY HOMILY: BAPTISM OF THE LORD – YEAR B
FROM OUR FIRST READING
We begin our new year of First Readings with the First Book of Samuel. The book opens by introducing us to Elkanah, who is obviously a good and religious man. According to the custom of the time, he had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Penninah had borne several children to her husband, but Hannah was barren, perhaps the most painful experience any married women of those times could have. It was a culture where a woman’s success was measured by her being able to give children, especially sons, to her husband and his family, thus ensuring the continuance of the family line. Penninah would mock and jeer at Hannah’s barrenness and this situation went on year after year. Stricken with shame and distress, Hannah refused to eat. Elkanah, who was clearly a good and compassionate man, tried to console her by reminding her that she had a loving husband, and was he.
As we shall see, God is not going to abandon two such very good people. And so the stage is set for something very special to happen.
FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
Today’s gospel reading we find fishermen going about their daily work by the Sea of Galilee, casing their nets into the lake, mending their nets in their boats. They were doing what they did every day. It was in that very ordinary setting that they heard the call and the promise of Jesus, ‘follow me and I will make you into fishers of people’. Having heard Jesus’ call, they immediately responded to it. Their response meant leaving what they were used to and good at, fishing by the Sea of Galilee, and setting out on a very different road, sharing in Jesus’ work of gathering not fish but people, not into physical nets but into the nets of God’s loving reign.
CONCLUSION
Our first reading of today makes us to understand that, it is easy for us sometimes to regret that God has not given us some gift which we would dearly love to have. Perhaps, too, we have become the object of people’s mockery or criticism and asked “Why did God do that to me?” Yet God is working in our lives and we need to ask him to help us see where, even in our deficiencies, his love and grace are at work in us. We may be in for some surprises. Let us then learn to light one candle rather than curse the darkness.
As we go about the ordinary matters of the day, we can expect the Lord to call us, to prompt us, to inspire us. Hopefully, we will be as responsive to the Lord’s call at the heart of our lives as those first disciples were in our gospel reading.
I wish everyone a Blessed New Week.
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