First Reading
Jonah 3:1-5, 10

The word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, ” when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.

Second Reading
1 Corinthians 7:29-31

I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.

Gospel Cycle Cycle B
Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He 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.

You and I are called by God just as much as was Jonah in the first reading or Simon, Andrew, James and John in the Gospel of today. We are called to follow the will of God and we are called to follow Jesus.

The Jonah story is always full of delight. The focus today, however, is simply on one aspect: Jonah heard the word of God come to him—and Jonah did what God told him. It is so clear and so simple! When we look into our own lives, probably we are not going to find anything quite so clear and simple! We might wish at times that we could hear a straight and clear word from God telling us what to do!

Perhaps our experience is closer to that of Simon, Andrew, James and John in the Gospel. They are going about their normal daily work and Jesus comes along and says: Come after me! Some people actually have experiences like that.

Many of us slowly come to understand from within ourselves that God is present and inviting us to live a life with Him.

Today, then, we could reflect on two aspects: listening for the Lord and striving to respond to the call of God.

Jonah and the apostles all had—so it seems—very clear calls from God. Do we listen for the voice of God in our lives? How do we think that we might hear the voice of God? Does God have to hit us on the head for us to hear Him? So often listening to the voice of God demands that we be attentive to the situations of our lives: to our responsibilities to others, to our responsibilities as citizens, to the poor, the those who are suffering, etc. Perhaps we never hear a call from God because we are insensitive to all that happens around us and seek only the good for ourselves.

When we become still and silent within ourselves and actually hear the needs of those around us, perhaps we are hearing the voice of God inviting us to do something.

Are we able to give ourselves to others? This is about the responding to God! So often in our lives we just live for the moment or we just strive to survive. Responding to God means giving our whole lives over, just as Jonah does in his story and the apostles do in the Gospel. This is not about surviving, it is about giving all of our life’s energy to God and His service.

We can ask God today in our prayers that we can hear His voice and that we would have the capacity to give this energy of our life to His service.