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The message of today's readings is turning back towards God who loves us and cares for us. In the first reading God sent Jonah to Assyria to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh who were renowned for their cruelty and their godlessness. Immediately, from the greatest to the least, they had a change of heart and the destruction God had threatened was averted.

In today's gospel Jesus, too, urged people to repent because the Kingdom of God is near. In Judaism at the time of Jesus, the "kingdom of God" referred to the God's reign at the end of history. Following Jesus means to live out the demands of the kingdom so when Mark recounts Jesus calling his first disciples he emphasises the cost of leaving behind family and financial security.

Are we listening to the message of Jesus today? Is he calling us to repent, to turn our lives round and follow him more closely? This week let us pray to God with the psalmist, "make me know your ways" and respond to his call. Then we will live in the joy of his kingdom.