REFLECTION:



Today we begin the Season of Ordinary Time. The Church moves from the joy and celebration of Christmas into what we call “ordinary.” In a way, this shift itself feels like an interruption — from festive days to getting serious about walking with Jesus in daily life.

Christmas tells us who Jesus is. Ordinary Time teaches us how to follow Him.

The decorations come down, routines return, and life feels normal again. And yet, today’s readings remind us that God often does His greatest work not only in extraordinary moments, but by interrupting ordinary life.

Most of us don’t like interruptions. We prefer our plans, our schedules, our sense of control. An interruption feels like something that gets in the way.

In the first reading, Hannah’s life is already full of painful interruptions. She carries the deep sorrow of being unable to have a child, and even her loving husband cannot fix what is broken in her heart. Yet it is precisely in that painful place that Hannah turns to prayer. And from that prayer will come Samuel — not just a son, but a prophet who will help shape the future of Israel. What looks like delay and disappointment becomes the beginning of God’s greater plan.

In the Gospel, we see a different kind of interruption. Peter, Andrew, James, and John are simply working — an ordinary day, an ordinary routine. Then Jesus walks by and says, “Come after me.” And Mark tells us, they left their nets at once. They leave behind their work, their security, their plans, because they recognize that this interruption is not a distraction — it is an invitation.

Here is the lesson for us: Not every interruption is an obstacle. Some interruptions are God’s way of redirecting our lives.

Sometimes God interrupts us through pain. Sometimes through a call. Sometimes through circumstances we did not choose.

And usually our first reaction is, “Why now, Lord?”

But Scripture shows us: God’s interruptions are not meant to ruin our lives — they are meant to reveal our mission.

If Hannah’s life had not been interrupted, Samuel would never have been born. If the disciples’ day had not been interrupted, the Church would never have begun. And the same is true for us.

As a parish and a school, we might ask: What interruptions is God placing before us right now? Perhaps God is allowing certain changes or challenges not to frustrate us, but to refocus us, to realign us, to call us back to what truly matters.

Maybe what we need is not a smoother routine. Maybe what we need is a holy interruption — one that calls us back to mission and reminds us to follow Jesus, not just in extraordinary seasons, but in the ordinary days of our lives.