This week and next, we have two Gospel accounts about the same event: the calling by Jesus of his first disciples. This Sunday we hear John’s account, and next Sunday Mark’s description. Today’s account begins when John the Baptist says to a couple of his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God,” as he sees Jesus walking by. One of them is Andrew, who after being with Jesus for a couple of hours, finds his brother Peter and tells him, “We have found the Messiah.” What strikes me is how the Baptist and Andrew both have their spiritual antennas up. They are looking for God in their lives and their world, and expect to find Him. So they don’t just see an ordinary man passing by, but someone special. I wonder if it was easier in their day to be ready to believe, to embrace the divine? Our culture is fact based, science based, and so overly busy that we don’t easily notice or may even dismiss the presence of the sacred in our lives. So our spiritual task is to make pauses in our lives when we can notice the depth of things: the beauty of our world, the goodness in people who have crossed our path this day, the generosity and compassion we’ve witnessed lately, the courage of those dealing with suffering… . We need to ponder what God is saying to us, and not let God pass by unnoticed. We need to cultivate a supernatural consciousness, a spiritual alertness. Only then can we recognize the Lamb of God walking down our road and lead others to Him.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia