There was very much in the readings last weekend about vocations last week and the calling of God to a particular end – in the case of the boy Samuel, to prophecy and priesthood. Samuel, Samuel, God called; here I am, Samuel replied; you’re not going to be happy doing this, God said. And indeed Samuel went forth, a brave young soul. Not everybody is happy to do so, however, and in our first reading today, we have the reluctant prophet Jonah, who has to take a message from the God of the Israelites to an enormous city of non-Hebrew Assyrians.
“A second time the Lord’s voice came to Jonas: ‘Up, and to the great city of Nineve make thy way; there preach, what preach I bid thee.’ That voice he obeyed; rose up and took the road for Nineve, a great city indeed, three days’ journey from end to end. And when he had advanced into it as far as one day’s journey would carry him, he began crying out, ‘In forty days, Nineve will be overthrown.’ With that, the Ninevites shewed faith in God, rich and poor alike, proclaiming a fast and putting on sackcloth; nay, the king of Nineve himself, when word of it reached him, came down from his throne, cast his robe aside, put on sackcloth, and sat down humbly in the dust. And a cry was raised in Nineve, at the bidding of the king and his nobles, ‘A fast for man and beast, for herd and flock; no food is to be eaten, no water drunk; let man and beast go covered with sackcloth; cry out lustily to the Lord, and forsake, each of you, his sinful life, his wrongful deeds! God may yet relent and pardon, forgo his avenging anger and spare our lives.‘ Thus, when God saw them amending their lives in good earnest, He spared them, in His mercy, their threatened punishment.”
Book of Jonah, 3 [link]
Why would they listen to Jonah’s message? They had their own gods. Now our reading avoids the subject, but we know how Jonah fled from God in a direction opposite to Nineveh, and was only forced to return by a dreadful storm at sea, and after three days of meditation in the belly of a sea monster. But, as we see in our reading, he eventually got to Nineveh and gave his message to the people, and they received it! They actually took up a fast and humbled themselves before Whom to them was a foreign God, but Who is truly the Lord of all. And God spared them. This episode should be an encouragement to all of us reluctant prophets, we who to keep the peace do not wish to bring the Gospel to the people around us. For, as Paul says in the second reading, time is growing short.
“Only, brethren, I would say this; the time is drawing to an end; nothing remains, but for those who have wives to behave as though they had none; those who weep must forget their tears, and those who rejoice their rejoicing, and those who buy must renounce possession; and those who take advantage of what the world offers must not take full advantage of it; the fashion of this world is soon to pass away.”
First letter of S. Paul to the Corinthians, 7: 29-31 [link]
When priests in the first century like S. Paul say that time is growing short, we shouldn’t take them for imbeciles who thought that the end of the world was going to take place almost immediately and in their lifetimes. How many years do we have in these short lives of ours? Eighty? Ninety if we’re lucky? The time is always growing short, to mend both our own wills and the wills of those around us. Paul says that we should dedicate ourselves utterly to God, in abstinence, in sobriety, in humility and detachment from the business of this world. That has never meant that we should all leave off our families and businesses and join monasteries. Some men and women in the long history of the Church have done this, but it is not given to all of the rest of us to do so. Rather, Paul’s recommendation means our conducting the business of this world, but not setting our minds and hearts upon it, as if it were an end in itself. Our only end as Christians is spiritual union with God our Lord, alertness to His inspirations within our hearts and hearts brimming over with the charity, the love of Christ. Let’s have a quick look at the Gospel message today.
“But when John had been put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God’s kingdom: ‘The appointed time has come,’ He said, ‘and the kingdom of God is near at hand; repent, and believe the gospel.’ And as He passed along the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen); Jesus said to them, ‘Come and follow me; I will make you into fishers of men.’ And they dropped their nets immediately, and followed Him. Then He went a little further, and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; these too were in their boat, repairing their nets; all at once He called them, and they, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, turned aside after Him.”
Gospel of S. Mark, 1: 14-20 [link]
We learn here that Herod had already imprisoned S. John the Baptist, and Christ had taken up John’s message of humility and repentance. But Christ was far greater than John, and just as He had called the prophet Jonah centuries ago, He has now prepared to call up new prophets and apostles. So, he sought out Simon and his brother Andrew, both of whom He knew already and called them to follow Him. Unlike Jonah, they jumped to it; like Jonah, they would be sent to non-Jews and would be tortured and killed, Simon Peter in Rome and Andrew in Greece. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, had slightly better luck. James was the first of the Apostles to die, killed in Judaea by Herod, but John died naturally as a very old man. John’s last words to his churches was to Love one another, this love being a natural result of our love for God Himself, our utter dedication to Him and our willingness to give everything else away should He ask it.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 