In this reading from Jonah, we are reminded that we are all  God’s children – God’s ‘Beloved’. We are all related as ‘kin’ - sisters and brothers. Being in this universal  family relationship will affect the way we relate to friends  and enemies.

The extract from St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians comes at the end of fairly complex instructions about human relationships, work and marriage.  He reminds us that ‘This (human) world is passing away’. We can identify with this – whether we are trying to keep up with all the new IT gadgets  or searching for a job or  languishing in a detention centre or coping with illness. Social media networks now  help to  extend us beyond our biological family and immediate friends.

So what was Jesus trying to tell the people of Galilee  over 2000 years ago, when Mark tells us he brought good news (gospel) about  the kingdom of God? According to Fr Jose Pagola, scripture scholar, he was saying, ‘God is already here, seeking a happier life for everyone. We must change our outlook and our hearts, ’in Jesus, an historical approximation’, p 99.

So as Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to help him spread this good news, we also are called to do the same. For some of us, it means leaving home to enter religious life or to found another family; for men in Galilee in Jesus’ time, leaving one’s family was a tremendous and puzzling sacrifice.

For all of us today, it means  recognizing the kin-dom within us and living that good news each day, so   bringing others to realise that  they too are God’s Beloved.

                                      `                                       Rose Mary Kinne op