So they have reworked the calendar to remove the specific dates that I was using for a sense of where I wanted to be by Holy Week - which has a step for each day, each with a list of Scripture passages. So either I need to keep track on myy own to work ahead, or I suppose I could just take vacation all that week and be like a monk, praying seven times a day for the whole week. At least I've figured out why I've been having trouble connecting on my wife's computer.
The first passage for this step is the calling of the first apostles from St. John's gospel, starting at verse 35 through the end of chapter 1. This account of the calling leaves a very different impression from the synoptic gospels, which can leave one with the impression that Jesus just meets some strangers by the shore and yells at them and they come and follow. By contrast, the callings in St. John's accounts are heavy on introductions. It's likely that one of the first two to whom John the Baptist points out Jesus is St. John himself. Andrew very explicitly brings his brother, and Philip is brought in through his relationship with these brothers.
I find these early encounters marked by a lot of what we expect at the beginning of relationship, questions and discussion that seek to answer the question we so often have of new people we meet: can I trust you? As he does throughout this gospel, Jesus seems to somehow provide the assurance that each person needs in response to that question.
He does the same for us, too, when we sincerely seek him.
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