First Reading: Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23
Reflection Questions
1. Using a New Testament Bible map, take time to plot the various places that are mentioned in this passage. How close are the villages in this Gospel to each other? What kind of distances did Jesus travel?
2. How has your call from Christ been similar/different to the call of the Apostles given in this passage? Describe.
3. How would you describe the core of Who Jesus is want what He is trying to do to:
a. A non-practicing Catholic;
b. A non-Catholic Christian;
c. A non-Christian.Gospel Reflection
In whom do you put your trust? As Catholics, we are invited to put our trust in a place that is foreign to most of the world. Our society tells us to put our trust in ourselves, our work and in our superstars. Companies spend millions of dollars in advertising, all with the hope that you and I will trust them with their products. What makes us different is that we as Catholics don’t put our trust in a philosophy or a product, but we put it in a Person, Jesus Christ. As we begin Ordinary Time, the Gospel takes us back to Jesus’ calling of His first Apostles, the men He would choose to govern His Church. We see in this passage how these men put their complete trust in Jesus. The passage begins by showing us how St. John the Baptist’s mission ended with his arrest and, as we know, his eventual beheading. St. John knew that this was going to happen because it was his time to ‘decrease’ as Christ ‘increased’. Jesus spent His time traveling around the region of Galilee, all in fulfillment of the words of the Prophet Isaiah. This shows us how St. Matthew was very interested in Jesus as the fulfillment (not replacement) of the Old Covenant. St. Matthew also makes clear the core of Jesus’ message: Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. While many people try to come up with their opinions about the core of Jesus’ message, Jesus shows us that the heart of His ministry is to help each one of us reconcile with the Father. To help with this mission of reconciliation, Jesus begins to delegate his work by recruiting the Apostles. Jesus calls Simon Peter, Andrew, John and James, and St. Matthew makes it a point to us to describe the immediate response each one of them made to Jesus’ call. This is what made the Apostles great: They didn’t waste time trying to talk themselves out of their calling, but made the decision to follow Him, no matter the cost. We cannot underestimate the cost that each one of them paid, giving up families, friends, and familiarity with their way of life. Christ makes the invitation to follow Him to all of us. So often we get caught up in the burdens and responsibilities of everyday life, and forget God. We end out living lives in which God has no practical, day-to-day influence in our decisions and actions. God does not want us to live lives that look the same as the atheist! He wants us to live lives that show our complete trust in every action of the day, as a child would depend on their loving Father. May we have the ability to respond to Jesus as quickly as the Apostles did, and trust Him with control over our entire lives.
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