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From Father Saliba Kassis: Listening for the Calling

January 13, 2019
in The Word
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In today’s reading, John the Baptist is preaching all over the world about the coming of the kingdom of God. When he heard that John was in prison, he started preaching to repent. Because the kingdom of God is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)

To talk about the kingdom of God, we talk about two ideas. To be in the presence of God, or He is with us. It is not just the afterlife, it starts from the coming of the Lord to save us. And the condition is to repent. To have a special place for Him in order to receive it.

It is always at hand, every time. It is near. Because the kingdom of Heaven is within us.
Later, in Matthew 4:19, Jesus was at the sea of Galilee, and he calls on Peter and Andrew, and in 4:21 he calls on James and John.

They were called to a very special mission. Andrew, Peter, James and John. They dropped everything to be with Him in the Kingdom of God. And Jesus said, “Come with me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19)

They did not change their profession, but they changed their purpose. God is always calling each and every one of us to be a disciple and to follow Him. To start with discipleship, we need to hear His voice. We need to distinguish His voice among the many other voices in this very noisy world.

My sheep know my voice “and will follow me.” (John 10:27)

Listen to Him, know Him, follow Him and make Him part of your life. Make the kingdom of Heaven here. It starts now.
And most importantly, you can do so by loving others.

Maybe He will also make us fishers of men, not by changing our profession, but by changing our life. Whatever we do in this life, we can be disciples for Him, preaching the Word anywhere at any time.

We are all chosen, but we need to hear it, understand it, and give our life and heart to Him.

Our baptism gives us a new duty and responsibility to walk with Him and preach the kingdom of God. We have a new belonging, to the kingdom of Heaven.

Learn more in Father Saliba’s sermon video here.

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