Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 29 2025

Listening for God

The story of the future prophet Samuel begins by telling us that the voice of the Lord was rarely heard and visions were uncommon. God seemed to have broken off communication, given Israel’s spotty record of keeping the Lord’s com mandments. Or perhaps no one was giving attention to God’s voice? One night when Eli the priest and young Samuel were sleeping in the temple, God called Samuel by name. Three times God called, and each time Samuel went in to where Eli was sleeping to see what he wanted. Finally, Eli realized it was the Lord and told Samuel what to say.

When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized, John the Baptist pointed him out to those who would be his first disciples. They “heard what he said and fol lowed Jesus.” One of them, Andrew, then went and got his brother Peter. Peter listened and followed his brother to meet Jesus.

Sometimes God speaks in the silence of the night, sometimes in the bustle of everyday life. I loved the TV series Joan of Arcadia, in which God would show up in various guises—a street performer, an eccentric elderly lady, a child. Scripture reminds us to keep on our toes, lest God walk on by. Even a first recognition of Jesus did not totally reveal all that he was. The disciples called him Rabbi and Messiah, but only John the Baptist knew him for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

Consider/Discuss

In a popular hymn we sing that we have heard God calling in the night. Have you heard God calling lately—night or day?
Has your response to God’s call been more like Samuel’s or Andrew’s, needing some assistance, or immediate?

Responding to the Word

God who has spoken in times past, help us individually and as a community to listen for your voice in our day. Send us mentors and friends who will help us to know it is your voice, and give us the courage to respond to your call. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

The vivid and dynamic account of the call of Samuel is both a call narrative and a theophany or manifestation of God. There is a clear difference between Samuel’s relationship with God before this experience and his relationship after it. Though pious, the young Samuel did not know God well; he had received no revelation. His encounter was transformative; a bond was forged between him and God. His responsiveness opened him further, enabling him to receive the word of God and, presumably, to speak it to others. Samuel’s influence is attributed to God’s direction in his life. It was God who made Samuel’s words effective. Paul furnishes the Corinthian community with instruction on the sanctity of the human body. Since it is through our bodies that union with Christ is possible, this same body is to be revered. God highly values the human body, as evident in the bodily resurrection first of Christ and then of others. Paul goes on to assert that our bodies are temples of the Spirit, the same Spirit with whom we are one through our union with Christ. Paul’s final admonition is brief but quite revealing. He calls upon the Corinthians to glorify God in their bodies, which are the means by which we touch the mysteries of God.

There are times when intermediaries play important roles in the lives of others. The Gospel reading describes two such instances of this. John directs two of his own disciples to Jesus. He identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, a title that may be based on an interpretation of the description of the Suffering Servant found in the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 53:7). Later in the story, Andrew recognizes something in Jesus and becomes convinced that he is the long-awaited one. Andrew then brings his brother Peter to Jesus. In both instances, the faith of an associate begins another’s own journey to discipleship.

Jan 24 2025

Team Building

A writer lay in bed at 5:52 a.m. She knew that her rooster-alarm would crow to tell her to get up and write at 6:00 a.m. She relaxed back on her pillow . . . eight more minutes . . . Then she felt an internal tug, a beckoning, a call: “Rise up, we have things to do.” She was startled: “We have things to do?”

Raised in an American individualistic society, she had often thought of “call” as something that she was told to do, something from afar, to which she was simply expected to respond in obedience. That call, that “Rise up, we have things to do,” implied that the divine Coach was a team builder and she a beloved member of the team. She got up with renewed energy and began to write . . .

Notice the team building in today’s call of the apostles. John the Baptist is standing in a group of three. Jesus walks by. Two follow him and they become a group of three. Andrew goes and gets his brother Peter and with Jesus, they become three again. It is a dance of threes, a gentle and quiet camaraderie of coming and going—one points out, two follow; another points out, his brother joins in. It almost feels Trinitarian, like the dance of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, coming and going, gently and forever loving and drawing in.

That tug, that call, is not just for a select few who are called to be apostles or prophets or saints or clergy. That awakening is for each of us as well. We arise to join in the dance of the Trinity, no matter what path we walk along in life. Like young Samuel, we call out in the night, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!”

Consider/Discuss

When we ponder our call, what is our underlying perception? Is that call something that the divine Someone from afar imposes upon us as a task to be done? Is that call like taking the hand of a dance partner and joining in an already swirling dance? What difference does it make how we perceive that beckoning?
Each morning, the tug of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, beckons us to rise up one more time. What, God, are we going to do together today in this wild and wonderful life?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of Trinity, you tug at me to join in with what you are doing. You call me to link my life with yours in the dance of your being. Wherever we go together, whatever we do, shine through my eyes, touch through my hands, and speak through my mouth. Teach me to glorify you better through this earthly body, so that it is both transformed and transforming. Most of all, I thank you for letting me be a beloved member of your team. Thank you, thank you!

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

The first reading introduces the prophet Samuel as a youth who is not yet familiar with the God for whom he would eventually speak so eloquently. Samuel has come to the temple at Shiloh because he was dedicated to the Lord by his mother, Hannah (1 Samuel 1:9–28). God’s difficulty in getting Samuel’s attention, and the boy’s comical confusion about the source of the voice, point to an important feature of most call narratives of prophets, namely, that the prophetic figure has not sought out the role. This is a key attribute of authentic prophets, who are indeed called and not self-proclaimed. In all cases, though, God is persistent, exemplifying both divine patience and divine determination.

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul reminds his audience of the implications of their baptism into Christ. They have not grasped that they are different people now and must act accordingly. A case in point is the ongoing sexual immorality of many members of the church. Paul has informed them that they are each a temple of the Spirit (3:16). In the Spirit they are all “joined to the Lord,” which means that their bodies are “members of Christ,” part of Christ’s “body.” Consequently their bodies are not theirs to do with as they please. As temples of God and members of Christ’s body, they are hosting (so to speak) his Spirit. Christians’ bodies are not our own, but the Lord’s.

Whereas in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) Jesus calls his disciples, in John it is the disciples who seek out Jesus and “follow” him, literally and metaphorically. Their response to his question about whom they seek (“Where are you staying?”) seems at first beside the point, but it’s not. The verb translated here as “stay” appears elsewhere in John as “dwell” or “remain,” referring to the mutual, abiding relationship of the Father, Jesus, the Spirit, and believers (14:10, 17; 15:4, 6). Jesus does not tell them where he “stays,” but invites them to see for themselves, and they “remain” with him, which is the point of discipleship for this evangelist.

Jan 14 2025

Our Holiness

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ means to learn from him. He is the teacher, we the students; he is the master, we his servants. But what is it we are to learn? One important title for Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to serve by taking away our sin. He serves by leading us to participate in the holiness of God. We are to do the same for others.

Jesus came to understand his own calling by reading and praying the book of the prophet Isaiah, especially the four poems found there called the Servant Songs. Today we hear part of the second song in which the servant professes how he was formed as servant from the womb, not only to bring back Israel to God, but to be a light to the nations, so God’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Those who serve Jesus as disciples are to join in this work of bringing God’s salvation to the world. Paul recognizes this in his greeting to the Corinthians, noting his call to be an apostle of Christ, one sent by God to the church at Corinth, which has been made holy in Christ and called to be holy. Paul is sent not only to them, but to “all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

God’s will is our holiness. By responding to the call to know Jesus as the Lamb of God, we accept the invitation to participate in this holiness and become the vehicle for inviting others to dwell there.

Consider/Discuss

Do you believe that you are called to holiness? What does this mean? How do you respond to this call?
Does your call to be a disciple lead you to pray for the world to grow in holiness?

Responding to the Word

When at Mass, we call on Jesus several times as the Lamb of God—at the beginning in the Gloria and twice in preparation for Communion. Pray for our world this day to recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.