God's persistent invitation to us to 'Come and see.'

The mystery of God's love is its limitlessness; throughout human history, despite our rejection of God and obtuseness to his ways, God never ceases to call us back to him, to "come and see." Our God is a God of newness and beginnings, who constantly extends his grace to "start over" and begin again.

"Come and see" is both an invitation and a challenge. Jesus dares us, really, to come - to leave behind the things that deter us from God - and see - to focus not on what the world exalts as important but on the values of God.

To be disciples in our own time and place.

Henry West Beecher observed that "if a person cannot be a Christian in the place where they are, they cannot be a Christian anywhere." The challenge of the call to discipleship/prophecy (as Samuel hears in today's first reading and the disciples hear in the Gospel) is to discern and respond to that call within our own lives, in the context of our own experiences. Regardless of social standing or lifestyle, regardless of where we live, God calls every one of us to life in him. Whether we are creatures of Wall Street or denizens of Sing-Sing, we can make God's reign a reality in our own time and place through our faithfulness to the Gospel values of servanthood, reconciliation, justice and compassion.