Depending on our age, many of us can remember where we were on the morning of September 11, 2001, or for those who are middle aged or older, the afternoon of November 22, 1963 is forever recorded in memory. Important, life-changing events have a way being "sacramental," if you will making an "indelible mark or memory and in our lives."

In today’s Gospel, John 1:35-42, one of those "moments" happened for Andrew and the other disciple, left un-named, as they saw Jesus and He spoke to them for the first time. They immediately left John and followed Jesus’ call to follow Him. What was it that Jesus said to these two that moved them to drop everything and follow Him, to give up, or at least trade their allegiance we are not told the details or the content of the con-versation but it had to have been powerful, life changing in fact, that Andrew sought his brother, Simon Peter, and told him that "We have found the Messiah…" (John 1:35-42) and Simon Peter joined his brother and his brother’s friend in the ministry with Jesus.

Gospel commentators tell us that we can surmise from what seems like an insignificant detail of trivial proportion: it was "about 4 o’clock in the afternoon," that this detail about the time of day signifies to us just how important and life-changing that first meeting with Jesus was. It was locked in time and space for all generations to consider. Even though we do not know the de-tails of the conversation Jesus had with Andrew and his friend, we do know that it caused Andrew and another to drop what they were doing, end their discipleship of John, with whom they were standing at the time Jesus walked by them, and become a fol-lower, a disciple of this unknown yet hoped-for Jesus. Scholars of the gospels say that "it must have been earth shaking, maybe even too personal to record or too powerful to put into words." Certainly meeting the Son of God would have been rather an impres-sive event for anyone, a king or pauper. One would even say that meeting the Christ will change your life forever…as they say of atheists, "he won’t be one forever once he meets the Almighty." Meeting God will alter anyone’s view of life—and death. Indeed, God will have a profound affect on our eternal lives.

What can we also take from today’s gospel? Gospel commentator Peter Edwards calls us to consider that "Perhaps, too, the Gospel writer realizes that an encounter with the Lord must be a unique event that each potential follower has to experi-ence personally…the Lord issues the invitation, but it is up to each of us to respond." It is said that we have to be in a "state of readiness" to be receptive to His call. The Catholic Church teaches this as a well known understanding. We look to our faith and all those who have come before us as wonderful examples of ways to follow the Lord. Ways to see how the Lord calls us to be His hands and arms, His heart and ears in our world. The saints are great examples: Mary, Joseph, Moses, Catherine of Siena, and the unnamed saints—our grandparents and neighbors who built our parishes, our fellow parishioners who teach in religious edu-cation or bring Holy Communion to the sick or knit shawls for the wounded and bereaved. What we must understand is that there is only One God and this One God calls each of us to Him—in dif-ferent ways and in different times and places. The road is indeed well-traveled and it is also posted with various "speed limits" – some of us seem to travel on it pretty quickly while others mosey along. But that’s fine, for God gives us the fuel—the grace—to answer Him and the desire to be one with Him.

"As Christians we believe that we have been called, and that we are following the Lord, however faltering or hesitantly," says Peter Edward. The call to follow the Lord requires us to spend time in His presence to pray and to listen to Him as He speaks to us in our hearts. If we do not take the time to "talk" with the Lord—prayer and reflection—how then can we expect to hear Him speak to us? As Samuel shows us, hearing the Lord’s voice can be a gradual affair, just as discipleship is a life-long commit-ment, not a one-time event. Let us all listen in silence to Him and hear how he is calling us: perhaps some are called to religious life, others to bringing Holy Communion to the sick. Some shall be called to Feed the Hungry or to working with others in Youth Ministry, more still might be called to mentor a youth, visit the elderly, teach a class, help the bereaved after a funeral or pro-claim the Word at Mass. Not matter what, all are called. Are we answering…is the eternal question.