All invited – By Fr. Dimitrios Bokustranslated

EVERYONE IS INVITED By Fr Dimitrios Bokus

The call of the first apostles is prominently emphasized in the Gospel. Christ met the first quartet of his disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John, while they were working, "they were fishermen", he spoke to them about the Kingdom of God and invited them to follow him. And the first disciples, captivated by what they saw and heard, obeyed his call and "masters everywhere followed him" (Sunday 1st Luke).

All the apostles became "called by Jesus Christ", they received from the mouth of Christ himself the call to follow him and they did this with absolute consistency until their last breath. They present the fact of their calling as proof of their divine mission and the authenticity of their preaching, but they do not fail to emphasize that they are not the only ones called by God. They remind us that all of us, believers, are "called by Jesus Christ". Paul, e.g., bearing the title "called apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God", sends "go... called saints". You too, he says, are all recipients of my letters, "called by Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 1, 1. Rom. 1, 1-7).

A great honor…