Currently Recruiting. Apply Within!

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Is 58:9-14; Lk 5:27-32

If you walk along Washington Street or Brighton Avenue you are most likely to be stuck by notices fixed to the shop windows of coffee shops, mini-markets or practically any store, with the words, "WE ARE CURRENTLY RECRUITING. APPLY WITHIN". They are all looking for help in their particular business and if you were to see whether you can apply for the job, you will realise that they are looking for an applicant with particular a particular experience or with a particular CV.

In today's Gospel too we have something similar yet altogether different. Jesus' invitation is not an anonymous one, like that of the shop owners'. Jesus' invitation is particular. He sees Matthew and it is him he wants. The shop owners need applicants of a particular experience. Jesus needs only someone who is ready to leave his customs post, whatever it may be and follow Him.

The same invitation is made to you and me. It is a calling that Jesus does by name, calling us to leave our old ways of doing things, our sinful habits and our distorted attitudes in order to follow him.

Isaiah gives us some hints about what these attitudes might be and what it is that we need to leave behind. He speaks of false accusation and malicious speech, he speaks of breaching the rights and liberty of those who are weaker than me in some way or other, he speaks of forgoing what is Holy and what belongs to God.

May our prayer be like that of the Psalmist: Teach me your way, that I may walk in your truth. The first step is to acknowledge that we need Jesus, that we are not perfect, that we need to amend our ways. Otherwise we would be making the same mistake of the self-righteous disciples in today's Gospel. At the beginning of the mass in fat we always do so. We acknowledge our sinfulness and our need to renew our commitment to the Lord.

Teach us your way, O Lord we pray, that we may always walk in your path.