Everyone is looking for you!

With the Christmas season complete, we enter a short period of Ordinary Time until the start of the holy fast of Lent. If you take time to pray with the readings of the daily Mass, you will notice during these coming weeks of Ordinary Time before Lent that they focus on the Public Ministry of Jesus Christ, which we also ponder in the 3rd mystery of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.

One way to summarize the Public Ministry of our Lord is when Peter and his companions came to Jesus and told him “Everyone is looking for you” (Mk 1:37). From the poor, to lepers, to prostitutes, to tax collectors, to widows, to orphans, to truth seeking scribes and pharisees, to questioning lawyers, to gentiles and Samaritans and countless foes and supporters, everyone was searching for Jesus of Nazareth and witnessing the marvelous healings, exorcisms, teachings, and proclamations that the Kingdom of God was near, meaning the time to repent and follow Him had come.

Though in our times many claim to no longer believe in God or see the value and purpose in organized religion, everyone is searching for God, for as St. Augustine once taught, our hearts are restless until we rest in Him. As disciples of the Lord, it is necessary that when we encounter those who are searching for Christ, even if they may not realize they are doing so, that we respond in speaking of faith in both word and deed.