This week's readings Week of Jan. 26 - Feb. 1 Sunday, Jan. 26, 2003 Reading I: Jon 3:1-5, 10 Reading II: 1 Cor 7:29-31 Gospel: Mk 1:14-20 Monday, Jan. 27, 2003 Reading I: Heb 9:15, 24-28 Gospel: Mk 3:22-30 Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 Reading I: Heb 10:1-10 Gospel: Mk 3:31-35 Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 Reading I: Heb 10:11-18 Gospel: Mk 4:1-20 Thursday, Jan. 30, 2003 Reading I: Heb 10:19-25 Gospel: Mk 4:21-25 Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 Reading I: Heb 10:32-39 Gospel: Mk 4:26-34 Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003 Reading I: Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 Gospel: Mk 4:35-41 Pope's Prayer Intentions January General Intention You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world: That Christian communities may fully embrace the Lord's invitation to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. January Mission Intention The Christian communities of China: That China's Christian communities may strengthen their ties and cooperate more effectively in spreading the Good News.

Be swallowed up:
In God's grace and love

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The familiar story of Jonah and the "great fish" which swallowed him precedes this week's reading where Jonah fulfills his call from God to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh.

Last week we listened to the story of Samuel, who heard the Lord calling but needed help to identify that call. We also watched the first disciples follow when Jesus invites them to "come and see." These two ways of responding to the Lord calling are part of our own lives, too.

"We need to be swallowed up by the love and grace of God. We need to let the Lord pursue us, strengthen us, mold us, fashion us, and love us into the people he has called us to be."

This week we watch Jonah fulfilling his call by preaching at Nineveh, but in the background we know that he fled from God, eventually going to sea in a ship. Thrown from the ship when it was discovered that he was the cause of its ills, Jonah is swallowed by a large fish or a whale, in whose belly he lives for three days - a foreshadowing of the Christ, who was three days in the tomb before his Resurrection.

Whenever I hear the story of Jonah, I am reminded of the great novel of Herman Melville, Moby Dick. Just as Jonah fled to the sea from God, so does Captain Ahab flee to the sea as if he were God. Just as Jonah is saved by the great fish or whale, so is Ahab destroyed by what he sought to destroy in his pride.

Readings for Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jan. 26, 2003) Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

In both cases, Jonah and Ahab thought they knew better than the Lord. Fortunately, Jonah recognized his error and instead answered the Lord's call faithfully. Unfortunately for him, Ahab plunged headlong into destruction.

In the Gospel, Andrew and Simon-Peter, James, and John leave their fishing life - they abandon the sea and their boats - to follow Jesus. In Jesus they recognize God's presence, and they answer the compelling call "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

"The world in its present form is passing away," warns Saint Paul as he writes to the church at Corinth. In some sense this has always been true of the history of the Church. As the apostles preached the word of God, as they appointed bishops to be their successors, as those bishops ordained priests to be their helpers, and as priests, religious, and lay people together worked to bring the Gospel to all the world, the Church and the world has changed dramatically.

That the world in its present form is passing away, then, is always true in every age - and this can be change for the good. We need to be swallowed up by the love and grace of God. We need to let the Lord pursue us, strengthen us, mold us, fashion us, and love us into the people he has called us to be. This is the process of conversion and repentance to which God calls us every day of our lives.

It takes courage and conviction to recognize when the Lord is calling as he called Samuel, or Jonah, or the apostles, or any of us. It takes faith and deep trust to recognize when the Lord is permitting the present world to pass away in order to bring something new and beautiful - and maybe quite different - into being.

And most of all, it takes the willingness to trust that the Lord will not abandon us, even when we are in the midst of changes which are difficult and challenging. For the Lord makes all things new, and that even includes us.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.