Mother Church celebrates Sunday, January 17, 2020 as the second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray, “All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Most High! Amen.”
The theme of this day’s Mass is God’s call and man’s response to that call. In the first reading, Samuel is called and his response is, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”. Christ calls his first disciples in John’s Gospel passage by inviting them to come and see where he stays; and Saint Paul, in his First Letter to the Corinthians, in the second reading, tells us that we, as Christian, belong to Christ, body and soul, especially as our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
First Reading: 1 Samuel 3: 3-10, 19.
Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was. The Lord called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am." Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you, " Eli said. "Go back to sleep." So he went back to sleep. Again the Lord called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But Eli answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep." At that time Samuel was not familiar with the Lord, because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet. The Lord called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." When Samuel went to sleep in his place, the Lord came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening." Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
Comment
The Books of Samuel (1 and 2 Samuel) form part of a larger collection of writings in the Old Testament, which the Jews referred to as “Former Prophets”. Most Bibles do, however, refer to this collection of writings as the Historical Books of the Bible. The other books in the collection are Joshua, Judges and 1 and 2 Kings. This collection covers the period spanning Israel’s entry into the Promised Land (Joshua) and Israel’s expulsion and exile (1 and 2 Kings).
The history contained in the books of Samuel covers a very important period in the life of Israel, extending from the birth of Samuel, the last of the judges, to the end of David’s life—a period in which the twelve tribes of Israel changed from the system of having sporadic leadership to an organized state with a single, hereditary monarchy, which was the standard pattern of governance among the neighbouring peoples.
The passage of our meditation is the call of Samuel. The Old Testament gives this call in detail to stress the importance of Samuel as a great prophet in the history of Israel. Not only was Samuel the last of the warrior-heroes called the Judges, he also inaugurated the monarchy and began the all-important prophetic movement. Samuel’s vocation is a good example of how God calls an individual to perform a special mission. It shows both the attitudes that the person called should have and the demands that go with the divine call. We are first introduced to the main actors: the Lord, Eli and Samuel. The action takes place in the temple near the ark when the lamp of God is still burning. It is night-time when everyone is asleep. It is then that the Lord speaks to young Samuel.
There is a charming dialogue between Samuel and his master, Eli, when the young man presents himself to his master, on three occasions with the assertion: “Here I am, for you have called me.” Eli, realizing that God was calling the young boy, tells him what answer to give to the Lord’s call: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!” Saint Gregory the Great tells us that “This young boy gives us an example of the highest form of obedience. True obedience does not question the meaning of what is commanded, nor does it judge, since he who decides to practice perfect obedience renounces his own judgment”.
One of the roles of every prophet is to listen carefully to God so he can faithfully pass on the message God has given him, even if his listeners find it harsh. Saint Bernard says that “Greatly blessed is he who hears the [voice of the] divine whispering in the silence and who often repeats that phrase of Samuel’s” ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening’”. May we too be prophets who listen keenly to our Lord speaking to us in our hearts and sending us as missionaries of peace into our own families, into our community and into our country as a whole. Amen.
Second Reading: 1 Cor 6: 13-15. 17-20.
Brothers and sisters: The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body; God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
Comment
The city of Corinth was one of the most important commercial cities in the Roman Empire. Even in Saint Paul’s days, it already had a long history behind it. Since it was a key trading center, it had a cosmopolitan population, including people from Asia Minor, Phoenicians, Arabs and others. It also had a sizeable Jewish population since there was a synagogue in the city (Acts 18:4).
It was also a city with many different religions and with temples dedicated to all sorts of gods, and, like the city of Douala today, it was notorious for its low level of morality. Saint Paul preached the Christian message in this city, and God’s help enabled him to found a flourishing Christian community. From Acts of the Apostles (18:1-18), we know that Paul founded the Church in Corinth with the help of Silas and Timothy.
Saint Paul spent more than a year and a half in Corinth in the period 50-52 AD. He made many converts but he also ran into much opposition from prominent Jews, who brought charges against him to Gallio, the Roman proconsul. However, Gallio dismissed the charges against Paul as a mere complicated Jewish religious squabble that was of no interest to him and did not constitute any threat to the Roman dominance of the land (Acts 18:12-17).
In the passage of our meditation, Paul is not only having trouble with those members of the Corinthian community, who claim to be master of the Christian message, but also with those who want to solve moral questions in their own fashion. After all, they ask, did Paul not proclaim Christian freedom from the Law of Moses? Should they therefore not be free to do as they want, including the use of their own bodies?
Paul strongly objects to this type of interpretation of his teachings, firmly asserting that God is not indifferent to what we do with our bodies. He says that a man who enters into illicit sexual union sets up a relationship of the flesh which profanes the present union with Christ in faith and baptism. It shows that such a man has returned to the things of the world. He also says that the body itself is guaranteed to become ‘spirit’ because it is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which should not be soiled with immoral sexual acts. Paul argues that the Second Coming of the Lord (Parousia) is just around the corner and that upon the Lord’s return, we should present to him a body that is free of all stain or wrinkle.
Let us pray for the strength and courage to follow Paul’s recommendation and preserve our bodies from sinful acts as we are all part of the body, the Church, of which Christ is the head. Amen.
Gospel Acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. We have found the Messiah: Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace. Alleluia.”
Gospel: John 1: 35-42
John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God." The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. 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?" He said to them, "Come, and you will see." So they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" - which is translated Christ -. Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas" - which is translated Peter.
Comment
In today’s Gospel, we see John the Baptist introducing two of his own disciples to Jesus, and in so doing he introduces them to their new future. The disciples follow Jesus and stay with him. The evangelist John, who is thought to have been one of the two disciples, does not give any account of what happened when they went with Jesus. It is, however, Andrew, the other disciple, who is so impressed with what he sees and hears from our Lord, that he goes straightaway to find his brother, Simon. Not only is he content with talking about their encounter with the Lord, he actually invites him to accompany him to the Lord. So what John the Baptist does for Andrew, Andrew, in turn, does for his brother, Simon. It is thanks to Andrew that Jesus meets the man to whom he gives the name Peter (Rock) and upon whom he builds his church on earth, and to whom he gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 16: 18).
In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Andrew is known simply as “the brother of Peter”, but in Saint John’s Gospel, Andrew has the special function of introducing people to Jesus. Not only does he bring his brother to Jesus, he also brings the small boy with five loaves and two fish to Jesus, who takes the little food, blesses it, and offers it to be distributed to several thousands of people. The last appearance of Andrew is just before the Passover festivities in Jerusalem when some Greeks ask Philip to introduce them to Jesus. Philip and Andrew then introduce the delegation to Jesus. Like Eli, in the first reading, and John the Baptist, Andrew’s role is to bring others into the presence of the Lord.
When we reflect on the beginnings of our own Christian faith, we recall the people who introduced us to Jesus. Most of us can remember a particular person who enabled us to begin our journey of faith. We can also think of some who might have re-introduced us anew to Jesus. None of us goes alone to Jesus; access to Jesus is always mediated through other people. We all come to Jesus by way of generations of Christians, who shared their experience of Jesus with us, people who were themselves introduced to Jesus by others. Thus, the story of Christianity is a story of a great chain of witnesses linked through the apostles to Jesus himself.
We must therefore play our role by introducing others to Christ. We do not necessarily have to be great missionaries, crossing seas and oceans in search of people to bring to the Lord. As Pope Francis says, we are all baptized and sent as missionaries to others. More often than not, we do not have to go far to find people who need to meet our Lord. We just have to look in our own immediate family and there will always be someone who stands in need of the Lord’s saving grace. If we believe that Jesus is worth knowing, we will bring others into his presence by our quiet witness. In that way, the Christian faith grows, and there will never be an end to it because somewhere, someone like the Apostle Andrew, will be bringing another person to meet Jesus of Nazareth.
Lord, give me the grace to be a missionary of peace wherever I may be today. Amen.
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