One of the many amazing things about Christianity is where it starts. There are many religions in the world, and most of them express mankind's search for God. But Christianity is all about God's search for mankind: it starts with God, not with us.
As an example, the people of Nineveh, a metropolis in the ancient Middle East, are living sinful lives full of pleasures and noise, and maybe even full of popularity and great achievements, but empty of meaning and lasting happiness. This is what happens when people rebel against God’s plans and the moral law he has built into human nature. God's heart is moved with pity for these sinful people.

So, God sends a prophet, Jonah, to wake them up, to put them back on the path of God's plan for human happiness - the only plan that will truly work. Through Jonah, God went in search of the Ninevites, because he cared so deeply about their happiness and the same thing happens in this weekends Gospel.

St. Mark shows Jesus doing what he came to earth to do: calling people into a personal relationship with God which is the core of Christianity. Notice how he calls his first Apostles by name - Peter, Andrew, James, John... He had met all these men before, as we read in John's Gospel, but now he calls them to follow him more closely. He calls them because he wants to give them more meaning, purpose, and, ultimately, happiness. He wants to bring them into his Kingdom. This is what the God of Christianity, the one true God, is all about: he comes in search of every human heart, calling us into everlasting friendship with him.
In a sense, the entire history of the Church can be understood as an ongoing conversation between God and his children – people like you and me – who either listen and respond to God’s voice or ignore it.

Brother Andre is a good example. He was one of ten children born to a working-class family in Quebec in the mid 1800’s. He was orphaned at nine years old and went to live with relatives. Despite poor health, he had to work from a young age to help pay for his upkeep. At the age of 25 he joined the religious Congregation of the Holy Cross. For the next 40 years he spent his days in prayer and work, uncomplainingly washing floors and windows, cleaning lamps, carrying firewood, and serving as a porter and messenger.  Eventually, he found a permanent assignment as doorkeeper of the college. As doorkeeper, he had contact with many visitors to the Congregation – poor people, sick people, people coming for council and for prayers. Little by little, people noticed when Brother prayed for them, miracles would often happen. Soon he became known as the “Saint of Mount Royale” or the “Miracle Worker of Montreal.”

His most lasting contribution was the magnificent Oratory of St. Joseph, the largest church in Canada, and the largest church building in the world dedicated to St. Joseph. It stands today on the highest point in the city of Montreal and receives more than 2 million pilgrims every year. But it started out simple and small. St. Andre had always had a strong devotion to St. Joseph, the patron saint of Canada. As a young man he had a dream in which he saw a church building in an unfamiliar setting. The dream was so vivid and insistent that he become convinced he was being called by God to build a chapel to St. Joseph on the top of Mount Royale. So, he did.

St. Andre was a humble but faith-filled follower of Jesus, who responded to God’s call in his life, just like the first Apostles, and as a result, literally millions and millions of people have been given hope, meaning, and a deeper relationship with God.
In our daily lives, we need to use silence to create an interior space, where God's voice can resound. The most direct way to do this is to give God real, quality time every single day. Spend fifteen minutes or so just with him - in your room, in a church, in a park, even in your office.

God is constantly telling us he loves us and has a plan for our lives; from now on, let us promise him that we will pay attention. Let us pray for the grace we need to respond generously, today and every day, to his personal call in our lives.