Today's Mass readings are that rare and golden treasure trove where they all have a readily discernable theme running through all of them. These are the Holy Grail of preachers and Sunday School teachers for it gives us a ready made platform.
But why this platform? Why, why, why?
To explain the discomfort of many, the reading from the Prophets is that of Jonah's call and Jonah finally heeding it to proclaim news of Nineveh's imminent judgement. (Jonah 3.1-5, 10) The Epistle is St. Paul's admonition that the time is short and to get cracking on what we're doing. (1 Cor. 7.29-31) The Gospel is Our Lord calling Ss. Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him as He proclaimed the Kingdom of God is at hand. (St. Mk. 1.14-20)
We saw last week that God is calling people, people we have helped prepare, to new life in Jesus Christ. Here this week we see that because our runway is shrinking second by second to get our move on to get the Good News of Jesus Christ out there. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes, the time is now.
Granted, as we saw last week, we have to be smart about it. The ground has to be prepared, the seed sown, the fields tended. This means we can't just thrash about blindly. Jonah had to have a lot of his baggage burned away. Photini had to face her past and move past it. The Apostles had to leave their nets. The Corinthians had to put aside their petty concerns and focus on the big picture. They all had to pay heed to the call of Our Lord and the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The time is short and the call has gone out. Will you respond?
