The Christmas season was a little shorter than usual this year, ending with the Baptism of the Lord on Monday, Jan. 9th. While the celebrations are long past, the work of discipleship has just begun.

Our first reading today is from the Book of Jonah,  We all know the story of his time spent in the belly of a whale.  We call Jonah the “reluctant prophet”, since he really didn’t want to be the cause for the conversion of these wicked Nineviites.  After all, they were bitter enemies of Israel.  Jonah would much rather see them suffer the full punishment they deserved than to actually repent of their crimes and escape the wrath of God.  But Jonah obeyed the Lord and preached vigorously throughout the whole length of this very large city.

Like many “righteous” people before and since, Jonah would rather have seen them “fry” than be saved! 
The Gospel is Mark’s version of the very beginnings of Jesus’ mission. Following his Baptism  by John and the thunderous witness from God the Father in last week’s Gospel that this man, Jesus, is really the Son of God.

We hear today Jesus’ own words,  “Repent and believe in the Gospel”.  Since John is in prison, Jesus takes up where John left off, and goes now in search of His own followers. What power must have flowed from Him, for Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John drop everything, leave their families and their fishing nets, and follow the Lord.

The theme of urgency is found in all of today’s readings.  Jonah tells the Ninevites that God is giving them one last chance. Jesus declares that the “time of fulfillment” has come…the kingdom has arrived”.
And in the second reading for today from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians, we hear the warning, “…time is running out…for the world as we know it is passing away.” 

As Jesus’ disciples, pledged to Him in our own Baptism and Confirmation, we need to put some urgency in our prayer, and in our own witness as Christian witnesses.  What are we doing for Pro-Life as we observe the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and in this week of prayer for Christian Unity?