The Calling of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, James Tissot, 1886-1894, Brooklyn Museum
Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Jonah 3:1–5, 10 January 24, 2021
The book of Jonah is difficult to date with great precision, but scholars suggest that it was written sometime between 300 and 250 BC. This would have been after the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and the breakup of his empire after his death in 323 BC. Even the most biblically illiterate person knows of it because of the story of Jonah and the whale, but its message is sublime and one that we may need to ponder now.
Thank you to all who joined together to pray during our Novena for Our Country. Many people have asked for copies of the novena prayers.
Below is a link to the prayers, readings, and reflections that parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo and St. Augustine / St. Francis Xavier parishes prepared together with Fr. Bill Smith and Fr. John Gribowich.
The call of the Apostles in the Gospels seems artificial and contrived. Despite some differences in the individual Gospels, the Apostles give up everything to answer a call from someone they have only just met. It seems very unlikely as a journalistic account, but it very accurately describes if not the moment when the call is first heard the moment when it is understood. I can relate to this myself and can also see it in the life of Martin Luther King, but here with one enormous difference.
The Apostles were the first leaders of the Church, but we see them today as disciples, followers of Jesus like the rest of us. They were not of the poorest class, Peter and Andrew seemed to be rather prosperous and some may have been better educated than the average Jew. We see in today’s Gospel that the immediate group had some connection with John the Baptizer, so they were knowledgeable and interested in religion. Being the disciple of a famous rabbi would have allowed social and most likely financial improvement. Yet there was significant risk, Jesus’ message was as strange then as now. There is a kingdom coming, but it will not be brought by war and power, but by love and nonviolence. No matter when or how a person hears this, realizing what it really means is always a revelation and always requires a firm decision. Today we read the Apostles’ “yes”.
