Today is a special, yet very ordinary day. This is the time of year when Advent and Christmas are officially liturgically done, but Lent doesn’t start until March, so we are in the in-between. Which makes today just… ordinary. Welcome to the First Week in Ordinary Time.

When things are back to normal, especially after the excitement of Advent and Christmas, we tend to settle back into our routines. Less spontaneous baking, more comfort food dinners. Less socializing on a school night, more getting homework done and getting to bed by 9pm. But in today’s readings, after He proclaimed the Gospel, Jesus didn’t ask Simon and Andrew to return to their normal lives. He did the exact opposite: pulled them away from their daily jobs and livelihoods! He promised to transform them from ordinary fishermen into “fishers of men.” He invited them to trust and to follow Him.

Today, we are in the same position as Simon and Andrew. We have heard the Good News, we have spent weeks celebrating the Savior’s birth. And just like in today’s Gospel, Jesus is inviting us to be changed by that news. As ordinary time begins, we are called to follow Jesus and watch Him turn the ordinary into extraordinary.

Where is Jesus calling you away from routine, and onto a new path to follow Him?

Jesus, today you call us to drop the nets of our routines and follow you. Let us not return to the complacency of normal life, but instead, allow our hearts to be changed because of you. Amen.