And they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon

4 JANUARY (Jn 1,35-42)

Never before now in the Ancient Scripture a vocation was born from a witness. It was always the Lord who called the prophets and messengers of his Word. The only conversion that occurs following a miracle is the one of Naaman the Syrian.

When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. The prophet sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the Lord his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him. “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.” “As the Lord lives whom I serve, I will not take it,” Elisha replied; and despite Naaman’s urging, he still refused. Naaman said: “If you will not accept, please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord. But I trust the Lord will forgive your servant this: when my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship there, then I, too, as his adjutant, must bow down in the temple of Rimmon. May the Lord forgive your servant this.” “Go in peace,” Elisha said to him. (2Re 5,8-19).

This man adheres to the faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, for the miracle obtained. He recognizes the Lord of Elisha as the true God, and converts himself. Today, in the Gospel according to John, something unimaginable, unthinkable takes place. The Baptist presents Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and two of his disciples abandon him and follow him. They live with him a strong experience and immediately turn into missionaries of Jesus. Andrea meets Simon, and speaks to him of the experience acquired, leading him to the Messiah whom they had just found. Jesus ratifies the faith born in Simon through his brother, by changing him his name. He constitutes him a real stone of stability. After the Resurrection he will constitute him the Shepherd of sheep and lambs.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas” (which is translated Peter).

With the Incarnation a true revolution takes place in the history of our faith in the one and true God. Before, it was the Lord that worked everything directly concerning a vocation. But now man is constituted a tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit to arouse the vocation in many hearts. Therefore, man becomes the responsible of the path of truth and grace of Jesus Christ in human history. Even of this truth it is right that every Christian becomes aware, so that he decides to put this particular vocation and mission into act. God works through man. He speaks through man. He calls through man. He saves through man.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints mould us with this truth.