When we keep it simple, life slows down. It is easier to pay attention. A new sound may be heard. This time we answer yes.

Whatsoever one would understand what he hears must hasten to put into practice what he has heard. — Pope Gregory I (540 – 604: commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great,was Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604 AD.)

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.

This is how beginnings always are: we have no real idea of what is going to transpire in the future. If these four men in todays Gospel had known that each of them would share deeply in the suffering of Christ—three of them, through martyrdom, and Saint John, at the foot of the Cross—it is unlikely they ever would have left their boats.

At the beginning of this season of Ordinary Time, let us pray for the grace to be faithful to the calling which we entered into through Baptism.