THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME ( SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD) - 2021

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

The kingdom of God is close at hand: repent, and believe the Good News. MK 1:15

JONAH 3:1-5,10

My Soul's Beloved,

Today's passage taken from the prophet Jonah reminds us that God is always at hand to save, to show mercy, and to forgive if we have true contrition for our sins and resolve to sin no more. The people of Nineveh were pagans, yet, the God of mercy and compassion would not destroy them before giving them a chance to repent and renounce their sins before punishing them. And Jonah was chosen to preach to them the message of repentance.

This was the message, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.’ It was a three-day journey across the city. In just one day's journey in the city, the king and the people heard Jonah's message heard God's word, believed, and did as He asked. In fact, it was the king who instructed and led his people by example to repent and fast in sackcloth and ashes. 

What about us who know God and believe in the Good News? What about the leaders of nations who know Him? How much longer will God be patient with us? How much longer before we permit God to replace our hearts of stone with a heart of flesh? How much time do we have? The pagans repented in one day what about us? Are we ready for a real conversion of heart now before it is too late?   

The passage ends with revealing that 'God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.' Grant O Lord that we repent while there is yet time.

PSALM 25:4-6,7b-9

My Soul's Beloved,

We are so blessed to know that You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life and there is no salvation apart from You. However, just this knowledge will do us no good. Not only must we know the Way we must choose to walk in it every moment of every day that we are alive. 

When we do stray, Lord, when we are weak and we stumble and fall, when we are lost, please remember the price You paid for our salvation and be merciful to us, Beloved. You are our Good Shepherd who keeps the flock that belongs to You safe. Keep us safe in Your love.

The Way of the Lord is the Way of Truth grant that we may walk in it always. Only the truly humble walk in the Way leading to Life for the road is narrow and hard and few choose it. But the one who gladly submits to Your will in all things You will take by the hand and lead every step of the way.

1 CORINTHIANS 7:29-31

My Soul's Beloved,

All who are born will die - some sooner than others. But the end will come to us all and that moment will arrive when we will stand before You to be judged. It is time for us to put the old ways behind us for death comes when we least expect it and we must be prepared to meet it.

Only those who live in this world without being possessed by it have hope of entering the place prepared for us from all eternity. Too many of us are so caught up with created things, with creatures. Obsessed with our own personal desires and wants, we forget that the hour will arrive when we least expect it and we will be called to give an account of the precious gift of life and the free gift of faith that was given to us. We deserve nothing and yet You give us everything.

Let us heed the advice of St. Paul today and live as strangers to the world. Let us see ourselves even now as citizens of heaven. Let us not become engrossed in the world and worldly affairs for the world and all that is in it is passing. We are as grass, here today and gone tomorrow. You alone O Lord, are eternal.

MARK 1:14-20

My Soul's Beloved,

Today's Sunday Liturgy reminds us that we live in time, and time for us will cease one day. How ready are we to meet our Maker? You began Your ministry after the arrest of John, reminding those who thronged around You, that the Kingdom of God was close at hand and urged them to repent and believe in the Good News that saves. 

At the start of Your ministry, You began to choose the Twelve who would form the College of Apostles with Peter as the Rock on which You would build Your Church. You would teach them, instruct them, form them and breathe Your Holy Spirit on them before the great commission, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

You chose ordinary men, men who were familiar and unafraid of hard work. You came to them, You chose them, You called them, You set them apart from the world they toiled and labored in for their livelihood, and You appointed them as Your ambassadors. They heard the call, 'Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men,' and at once they left their nets and followed You.

James and John were with their father Zebedee mending their fishing nets along with the hired men that Zebedee had employed, but Your invitation was only directed to the sons. They heard Your voice, they accepted Your invitation, and they left everything behind father, mother, family, and friends, and followed You. 

How ready am I to give up the world up and all that is in it and follow You without a backward glance? The world as we know it is passing, are we prepared for what is to come? Is our gaze fixed on heaven or are we clinging to earth? "Show me, Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is."