When I reflect on this week’s gospel, I think about how there are times where we must prepare ourselves so that when we are called, we are ready to follow.
Before the pandemic, I had built a routine that was comfortable and seemingly unchanging. I worked full time at my job where nine hours a day and five days a week, I was in a constant loop of helping customers and having the same conversations over and over again. I would attend Monday night Emmaus and Youth Ministry meetings where I found comfort in seeing my friends and sharing faith constantly. I’d have date nights every Friday night to keep consistency in a relationship. I even had a routine of when to wash my hair throughout the week and followed that over months. All of this became comfortable enough to a point where I saw no other reason the shake up the routine of my balanced life.
Then, the pandemic hit, the world was on lockdown, and everything I was used to was no longer available. However, I knew in my heart that there was something more than my routine that I needed to pursue. I prayed about it for months, understanding that everyone saw it as a chance to slow down and to just enjoy the world taking a pause. And it was not until a few months in that I heard within my heart to go after something that would change my life, and it was to go back to school to get the degree that I have wanted all my life.
I knew this was something I needed to do that would change my life forever, and the best part was that although I found comfort in my routine, I thank the pandemic for letting me hear the call to leave behind my routine and go for the one goal I have yet to complete.
Similarly, in this week's gospel, the brothers that were called also left behind their fishing nets and their own routines to follow Jesus’ calling. They knew that the kingdom was not only where they wanted to be but it was upon them. All they had to do was follow and repent.
As I think about my own faith journey, I know that Jesus calls me in different ways. Just like the time I had a desire to finish school, I heard a call within, and left behind a life I knew in order to follow it. I see my faith through the same lens. I trust that God has plans for me that I cannot see, and because of that, I prepare my heart and my mind to be able to listen for the calls in my life to be able to leave behind my “nets” and follow. My desire to build the kingdom and my faith is much stronger than my comfort in what I have built routine in, and this gospel reminded me of this.
--Janine
Readings at USCCB.org Living the Word resource First Reading: Isaiah 8:23—9:3
Psalm: 27:1, 4, 13-14
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17
