Notices

“Operation Transformation” is a very popular TV programme that follows the lives of five people who wish to shed some weight. It is a very challenging and painful process. They are discovering that the journey is more than just about losing weight, it involves a total life change and means looking at things in a new way.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus is at the beginning of his public ministry. He goes into Galilee preaching the Good News and proclaims with decisive urgency that “the time has come, and the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News”. Jesus urges us to repentance as a condition of being part of that Kingdom. Repentance is our call to transformation and looking at our lives in a new way. It is a very challenging and sometimes painful process too.

The call of the first disciples: Simon and his brother Andrew, and then James and John: the sons of Zebedee, is part of that proclamation of the Kingdom. If the Kingdom of God is really Good News, people would want to be part of it, even if it means giving up everything. These first disciples were ordinary simple fishermen. But the tone of the invitation by Jesus simply attracted them. “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. “Then they abandoned their nets and followed him”. The same thing happened to James and John, who left even their father in the boat to follow Jesus. What was so attractive about Jesus? What did they see in him? They discovered hope of a new life; a glimpse of the Kingdom and they wanted to become part of it, no matter the cost. They made a radical decision to follow Jesus.

Have we made that radical decision to follow Jesus in our hearts? Are we willing to take on the challenge of repentance in our lives? This is the ultimate “operation transformation.” It’s not easy and will involve pain, just as the people on the TV programme have been discovering!

This Sunday, the readings focus our attention on God’s call to discipleship. In the first reading, God calls the young Samuel three times, but Samuel in his innocence does not recognise God’s voice until he is guided by Eli to respond whole-heartedly to the voice of the Lord.

The passage presents two important features of God’s call to discipleship. Samuel’s extended presence in the Lord’s house prepares him for his future task. Secondly Samuel shows his willingness not only to remain in the Lord’s company, but also to be submissive to his will. “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”, an aspect underlined in the response to the Psalm. “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will”.

The call of Samuel was unexpected and Samuel was the most unlikely person to be God’s prophet since he was still a youth. Today, God still calls his people, sometimes in very unlikely circumstances. At the beginning of the Twentieth century, an Italian boy heard God’s call to follow him. He was the most unlikely candidate because his father was quite opposed to the Catholic Church. He was a member of the Italian Socialist Party and he often mocked the Church. His son Albino heard a Franciscan preach and he felt called to the priesthood. Albino’s father was working in another city, and so Albino, with great fear wrote a letter to his father. After a long silence the reply finally arrived. There was only a small piece of paper on which his father wrote, “If that is your wish, do it.” Eventually his father was reconciled with the Church. Albino kept the note all his life, and he still had it when in 1978 as Cardinal and Bishop of Venice, travelled to Rome for the election of a new Pope. Against everyone’s expectation, the Cardinals elected him. He became known as “the smiling Pope”, Pope John Paul I. His Papacy lasted only 33 days, but he left a deep impression.

We might reflect on where the Lord is calling us at this moment and how are we responding to that call?