Today’s first reading gives us practical steps that we can take to be favored by God. These are the acts of charity that the Church recommends us to practice, specially during the season of Lent. As we have just begun this holy season, can we try to share a meal with a stranger? Can we try to help our colleagues in our workplace when they are overwhelmed with work? Whatever we do for our brother or sister, we do it for the Lord Jesus himself. In today’s Gospel proclamation we see the immediate response of Levi, to Jesus’ call. How about us? Do we respond immediately to the Lord? Perhaps many years ago we attended a retreat and surrendered our lives to Jesus. However, with time some of us may have lost the eagerness to follow Christ. Today we receive a renewed invitation from the Lord: “Follow me”. Will we stay behind to finalize our worldy matters and sort out our pos- sessions? Or are we willing to surrender everything to Jesus and respond to his call to serve our brothers and sisters? Let us examine our hearts.