3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Massimo Palombella
Today’s Gospel (Mt 4:12-23) describes the call of Simon, Andrew, James and John, all fishermen.
It is interesting to note that when Jesus invites Simon and Andrew to follow him, he tells them “I will make you fishers of men”. In essence, following the Lord is not a denial of our identity, a radical and uncritical change of everything, but basically a broadening of our horizons: from fishermen of fish to fishers of men.
To follow the Lord is to initiate a slow process of unification of life where everything, precisely everything, even that which we avoid because it destabilises us, finds its place, becomes a resource, becomes part of that broad architecture given to us by the Lord that alone allows our existence to become ever more authentically human.
The Offertory antiphon of today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 117 (Ps 117, 16. 17) with the following text:
“Dextera Domini fecit virtutem,
dextera Domini exaltavit me.
Non moriar, sed vivam et narrabo opera Domini.”
(The Lord’s right hand has shown strength,
the Lord’s right hand has exalted me.
I shall not die, but live; and I shall declare the works of the Lord).
The attached music is by Bruno Bettinelli (1913-2004). The interpretation is by the Ensemble del Giglio conducted by Livio Cavallo. The music track can be found on the CD “Sentinelli, Bettinelli, Verlingieri, Kirschner – Quando Canto (Choral Glimpses in Italian Contemporary Music)” published by “Da Vinci Classics” in 2019.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
