What are you looking for?

That is the question asked of the disciples in today's Gospel. It is also the question asked of us as well.

Today we shift spiritual gears. We move from holidays into Ordinary time. So what are WE ordinarily looking for?

The migrant without papers would answer, "a better life for his family."

The unemployed would answer "a job."

The investor might say, "a higher market."

We are ALL looking for something.

We are seekers at heart.

So were the two disciples in today's Gospel

So Jesus says, "Come and see."

He gives them no intellectual answer, but rather invites them into an experience.

They like what they see, so Andrew goes and invites his brother Peter.

And it turns out Peter comes for a job interview, and Jesus LIKES WHAT HE SEES IN PETER!

And Jesus gives him both a new job and a new name.

Peter will be "the rock."

And what of you and me?

Jesus likes what he sees in you and me, despite our flaws, inconstincies, and even sins.

He sees our potential for something better in us just as he did in Andrew and Peter.

Peter was not really a rock. He was a marshmellow, yet Jesus could see the future rock in him.

We are all "works in progress, all "under construction."

And this construction goes on in the ordinary days of our time on earth.

We are all seekers, all treasure hunters.

Yet each of us is a treasure to the Lord, a pearl of great price, a diamond in the rough.

Come to see this!

And so we pray:

Help me in my seeking

to observe what is of lasting value,

both around me, and within me.

Help me to know that on ordinary days,

splendid treasures are to be found.

Joy, peace, hope

are offered to me,

if I but "come and see."

Amen

 

 

 

T