Monday of the 1st week of Ordinary Time
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Armies in Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to the Lord, were there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; but he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had shut up her womb. So year by year, when she went up to the Lord's house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn't eat. Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why don't you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?"
What will I give to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the Lord's name.
I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all his people. Precious in the Lord's sight is the death of his saints. Lord, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your servant girl. You have freed me from my chains. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on the Lord's name.
I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the middle of you, Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God's Kingdom, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and God's Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News."
Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men."
Immediately they left their nets, and followed him.
Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.
What strikes me most about these readings is how God calls us right in the middle of our messy, ordinary lives. Hannah is caught in a painful family situation - dealing with infertility while living alongside her husband's other wife who has children. The rivalry, the yearly temple visits where her pain gets rubbed raw, the well-meaning but tone-deaf comments from her husband - this all feels remarkably contemporary, doesn't it?
Then we see Jesus calling the first disciples, and here's what I find beautiful: he doesn't wait for them to finish their work, get their lives perfectly organized, or complete some spiritual preparation program. He calls them while they're casting nets and mending them - right in the middle of their workday, with fish scales on their hands and salt spray in their faces.
This tells us something profound about how God operates. He doesn't wait for us to have our act together. He meets us in our Hannah moments - when we're struggling with disappointment, when family dynamics are complicated, when we feel overlooked or misunderstood. He also meets us in our Simon and Andrew moments - when we're just doing our regular work, focused on the task at hand.
The disciples' immediate response teaches us about availability. They don't say "Let me think about it" or "After I finish this project." There's something about recognizing God's voice that creates this sense of "now is the time."
We might not leave our jobs to follow Jesus literally, but we can cultivate that same readiness to respond when we sense God's invitation in our daily encounters - whether that's showing patience with a difficult coworker or offering help to a struggling neighbor.
How is God calling you right now, in the middle of your current circumstances? What nets might you need to set down to follow more closely?