-      James Taku and Alex Anis

 

Pope Francis reflected on the Sunday Gospel of 18th January 2021, which presents the meeting between Jesus and His first disciple, from the scripture in John 1:35-42.

 

The Holy Father re-told the scene, which unfolds along the Jordan River the day after Jesus’s baptism.

 

He explained that, it was John the Baptist himself who pointed out the Messiah to the other two disciples, with these words: “Behold, the Lamb of God!”. The two, trusting the Baptists’ testimony followed Jesus.

 

The holy Father said God’s first call is to life, through which he makes us persons, it is always an individual call because God does not make things in series. Then God calls us to become part of His family in faith. Lastly, God calls us to a particular state in life: to give ourselves on the path of matrimony, or that of the priesthood or the consecrated life.

 

Speaking from the Apostolic Library in Rome, the Holy father described the response of the disciples to the Messiah as an ‘invitation for an encounter’. Pope Francis said, before the Lord’s call reaches us in thousand ways, our attitude at times might be ‘rejection’ and at other times, ‘fear’. But God’s call is love and it should be responded to, only with love.