“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ― Mother Teresa

Gospel Text: (MK 1:14-20)
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.

Today, the Gospel invites us to change: «Change your ways and believe the Good News» (Mk 1:15). Change to what? It would perhaps be better to say to whom? To Christ!

To change means to gratefully receive the gift of Faith and live a life of love and service. To change means to accept Christ as our only Lord and King of our hearts, so that we become a useful servant to Him. To change implies discovering Christ in every event in human history —and in our own personal history too— while realizing He is the origin, the core and the end of all History and that everything has been redeemed by Him and in Him. To change also implies living with hope, for He has defeated Sin, the Evil One and Death, and the Eucharist is His guarantee.

To change also involves loving Our Lord more than anything else in this world, with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. To change invites us to deliver our intelligence and our will to Him, in such a way that the Episcopal motto of the Holy Father, John Paul II, Totus tuus, that is, All yours, my God, is made true by our lives. And “all” means time, qualities, possessions, illusions, projects, health, family, work, leisure, everything. Therefore, to change requires to love God's will in Christ over all things while enjoying it, which means to be grateful for whatever He may care to send us, even if it is contradictions, humiliations or ailments, and take them as treasures which allow us to express more clearly our love for God:

If You want it like that, so do I!

As it happened with the apostles Simon, Andrew, James and John, changing means to leave «immediately the nets» and follow Him (cf. Mk 1:18), once we hear His voice. To change, after all, is that Christ be everything for us.