Open with a prayer: God, our loving Father, we gather in your name to share your Holy Word. May your Spirit break open for us the true meaning of the Word we share. May your Spirit bind us together so that we may become a small church family. Above all, help us to become doers of your Word. We make our prayer through your Son, Jesus. Amen.
Sharing of life: What are you most and least grateful for this week?
Facilitator reads focus statement: This week, the church places before us readings that are filled with a sense of urgency with regard to the call to conversion. In the gospel, Jesus calls his contemporaries to conversion. In the first reading, the Ninevites surprisingly respond to Jonah's message of conversion. In the second reading, Paul encourages the Corinthians to make the best of the time that they have by conforming their lives to Christ.
Now read the three readings and Psalm. Pause briefly at the end of each reading.
FIRST READING: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
In this reading, Jonah, the runaway prophet, preaches a message of repentance to the Ninevites -- a people whom the Israelites despised because of their war crimes. To Jonah's amazement, the Ninevites, from their king down, respond immediately to the call to repentance. The sudden conversion of a very sinful city and people points to the transformative power of God's Word. For the Israelites of Jonah's time, the lesson is that no people, regardless of how godless they are, should be looked upon as excluded from God's concern.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 25
This psalm stresses the rightness of God's ways, which, if followed, lead us to life.
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
This reading reflects the sense of urgency found in the first and third readings. Paul believes Jesus' Second Coming is imminent. So he sets out to show his readers how to live in a world that is transitory. In light of the fact that the world will soon be coming to an end, it is foolish to treat as permanent that which is transitory. This does not mean that Paul is suggesting that people sit around and do nothing. But it does mean that people's primary focus should be on "higher things", that they should use their time to conform their lives to Christ.
GOSPEL: Mark 1:14-20
In this story, we hear two central themes of the gospel: the call to radical conversion and the call to discipleship. The Hebrew word for conversion or repentance, shubh, means to return to God, to do an about-face, i.e., to turn completely away from a former way of life in order to begin anew. Conversion and repentance is not just about turning from evil and sin. It is not just about fasting. But first and foremost, it is about turning one's whole mind and heart, one's whole life to God, in the manner of little children who allow themselves to be led with unlimited trust.
The immediate response of the disciples to Jesus is a practical example of the radical nature of the call that Jesus was issuing. After Jesus calls them, they immediately abandon a former way of life to begin a new life of discipleship with him.
Mark's mention of the "arrest of John the Baptist" signals to his readers that the reign of God would not be established without sacrifice and that following Jesus could be dangerous.
Finally, the fishermen are not just called to learn from Jesus but to share in his ministry of attracting people to the reign of God. They, like Jesus, would be sent to attract people to God by the authenticity of their lived faith.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What verse or image spoke to you and why?
2. Jonah or his Jewish contemporaries would not have been happy when the Ninevites responded so readily to the call to repentance. What about you? Do you think it would be easy for you to accept a murderer, rapist, or child molester who truly converted their life? Might you continue to see them in terms of their old status?
3. In the second readings, Paul says: "The world in its present form is passing away.". For the victims of recent hurricanes and earthquakes, much of their world passed away. What part of your current world is passing away?
4. For the first disciples of Jesus, conversion meant leaving one's way of life so that they could give their total focus to Jesus. What do you need to leave so that you can follow Jesus more fully?
RESPONDING TO GOD'S WORD
Name one way you can act on today's readings. Suggestion: Try to be awake and aware to what Jesus might be calling you to leave behind, so that you can give yourself more fully to him.
CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION
Especially pray asking God to show you how your life still needs conversion.