35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” 37 The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
In this Gospel passage, there is one seemingly inconspicuous detail: “It was about four in the afternoon.” This translation is dynamic, according to how we tell time in our day. Literally, it is the tenth hour from sunrise in the Roman calculation of time. Some suggest that the next day, beginning at sunset, was the Sabbath: and they would have stayed with Jesus to avoid it. “About four in the afternoon”—this is the time the Lord calls and the time to decide to stay on with him and spend more moments with him. Figuratively speaking, we can perhaps consider it as the time when the Lord has called us.
“It was about four in the afternoon.” Call me impressionable. Many times I am so taken up by an idea that it lingers for days and there are even times that it would not let me sleep. One such thought came when I was in Canlubang. Once, during the time I was high school principal from 2005 to 2009, I was planning out with our pastoral assistant what would be the theme of our vocation month. I thought long and hard. Then I remembered this particular passage: John 1:35-39.
For the theme of the vocation month singled out the sentence “It was about four in the afternoon”—a detail that may seem insignificant, yet it could mean something really profound. I encouraged the pastoral assistant to make this passage the running idea of the whole of the vocation month. Hours later after that short meeting, the words lingered. Days later, they remained, pleasantly haunting me like a beautiful dream, as they made me go back in time, to my own personal vocation story.
“It was about four in the afternoon” (Jn 1:39). This sentence evokes a lot of scenarios. Personally, I consider 4:00 PM among my favorite hours of the day. At about this time the earth has cooled down and the sun is not anymore in its fiercest glare and it gets ready to take its dip into the horizon. In Canlubang, even in these last six years it was the time when everyone was relaxed and thankful because classes and work have ended and it was time to go home. Our young Salesians and aspirants are in the basketball court or football field for their games. At four in the afternoon, it is time to heave a sigh of relief that another day of work is done. Four in the afternoon was the moment when Jesus called the two disciples in the passage with his invitation “Come and see”, the hour when they responded to his call to stay with him that day.
Last July 7, 2023, at about 4:00 in the afternoon, I arrived at Seminaryo ng Don Bosco, Paranaque for my new assignment. A good number of lay mission partners from Don Bosco College Canlubang accompanied me to my new home. In the Gospel reading, the disciples stayed with the Lord that day. It must have been the beginning of the sabbath! I arrived at the Seminaryo, yes, at the beginning of the sabbath.
In 2017 the Rabbi invited me to stay in Canlubang. “That day” came out to be six years. As in Canlubang, here the Rabbi invites me to stay. I look at my watch. It is about 4:00 PM.
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