Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Readings
First Scripture Reading
1 Samuel 1: 1-8
Gospel Reading
Mark 1: 14-20

Opening Prayer

Creative Lord, why didn’t You call the powerful and popular people to get Your message across. Jesus calls simple fisherman. You seem to like to work through the simple, natural, and normal, even though we expect You in the dramatic, theatrical and supernatural. And here You are with a barren woman again! Like Sarah, Elizabeth, and Mary, I suspect that You are going to do something surprisingly special in Hannah. Like Peninnah, I like to be productive and fruitful, and look down on others as defective, lazy or simply ineffective. But, You as the powerful Lord of Creation work better in the simple and powerless. Help me to be comfortable with my powerlessness, weakness, and ineffectiveness, so that I can acknowledge You as God and Jesus as Your Messiah/Savior. On the shore of my life, call me again, Jesus, and I will follow, even if it is only a stumble sometimes. I may be unsure of who and what I would abandon, but I do want to follow you.

On January 10, 1889, St. Therese was clothed with the Carmelite Habit. Help us to follow her deeper response to Your passionate and embracing love in the way we live our lives. Thank you for choosing us, God of love. Thank you for choosing me.

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