Responding to the Mass of the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

It is startling how immediately James and John, Peter and Andrew seem to have responded to the Lord’s call.

‘Come, follow me’ he said, and they did.

Maybe they had already spent time with Jesus, maybe he had already helped them to prepare and hear his call. Maybe not…

What helps you hear his call? And to what – at this time – does he principally call you.

The Church has traditionally identified a range of general vocations – to marriage, to the single life, to life as a religious brother or sister, or to service as a priest. There are other descriptors too, of course, and within each group an immense variety ways of living out the calling. But each and everyone is a response to the life in communion with Christ and the Church, to which we were committed by baptism.

It might be helpful to read a little more about vocation, and also to pray for faithful and generous response to the Lord’s call by ourselves and by others.

Lord Jesus, send labourers into your harvest.
inspire, in the hearts of your people, vocations to life in Christ.
Bless our families with a spirit of generosity.
May all Christians be brave
and seek to serve and follow you
in all of the circumstances of their lives.
May those whom you call
have the courage
to give themselves as cooperators in your work
for the good of the world.

Amen.

Photograph: (c) 2016, Allen Morris. Mosaic. St Peter’s Rome.