To begin her \u201cLittle Mandate\u201d, the distillation of the rule of life for her religious community of Madonna House, the Russian-Canadian foundress, writer, mystic and potential future saint Catherine Doherty begins with two words: \u201cArise \u2014 Go!\u201d These two words are meant to shake us to action, to arise and go without fear and without delay, to be detached from all else holding us back, and to follow Christ in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our Mass readings this week centre on this theme. The prophet Jonah minces no words in our first reading \u2014 \u201cForty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!\u201d A startling proclamation, no doubt, and one that elicits an even more startling response! The sinful city of Nineveh, a pagan city, the capital of the Assyrians, immediately proclaims a fast in response to Jonah\u2019s preaching, and turns to God. The Ninevites had forty days to repent, and yet they do so immediately! Likewise, St. Paul urges the Corinthians to shake up their lives, to live in a radically different way \u2014 \u201cfor the present form of the world is passing away\u201d. In the Gospel reading too, Jesus calls his first four apostles, and we read that Peter, Andrew, James and John leave their past lives immediately to follow Christ. This is always so surprising, and St. Mark\u2019s abrupt style makes it even more startling \u2014 they left immediately! Not \u201conce this hole in the net is mended\u201d, not \u201cnow is not a good time\u2026\u201d, not \u201care you sure?\u201d \u2014 but immediately, the apostles leave everything in their old lives and follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is God calling us to \u2014 today? God is good and patient, and able to use our hemming and hawing to his advantage, but sometimes God needs an immediate response. Jesus passes by and calls for us to \u201carise and go\u201d \u2014 what is it that we must do? Each of us has a specific mission, a specific vocation, something that He asks us to do in the world that will be our response to His love, and it is our job in this life to discover this and live it out. Whatever it is, Jesus asks us to come and follow him without delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For us here at St. Joseph\u2019s Seminary in Edmonton, next weekend will be our \u201cCome and See\u201d weekend, for young men to come and experience seminary life with us for a few days, to see if the Lord is calling them here. For some, they will come, and we will see them again in September with the new academic year; others may take a couple years for the call to ripen; still others will come, and know that this is not where God asks them to be. All of this is good. What is most important is that these potential younger brothers are willing to arise and go, to respond to Jesus\u2019 invitation to follow Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, what about you? The Lord is calling, and we can only delay so long. Dear friend \u2014 arise, and go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solomon Ip <\/strong>\u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. Belinda Fewings\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n