SUNDAY REFLECTIONS
2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time - 15 January 20121 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42

God’s call is personal and he invites a person to build a close relationship with him. He calls people individually and he also calls nations to be united with him. The Holy Bible constantly narrates the divine call of the individual which demands a response from him. We have the example of Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and others who were called by God and they responded totally by sacrificing all they had in response to the divine invitation. In the New Testament we have the calling Mary at the Annunciation, the call of Peter and his companions, call of Matthew, call of Paul and several others. In the Gospel of John Jesus tells us: “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.” Each one of us has a call from God who invites us to participate in the spiritual and temporal affairs of this life and he expects us to respond to his call. In the first reading we have God calling the young Samuel. Once Samuel recognizes God’s call he responds to him saying: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Once he is ready to listen God gives him the message and the mission. In the second reading Paul reminds us that our bodies are holy as we are the members of Christ’s Body and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are meant to glorify God and not meant for immorality. In the Gospel we have John identifying the Messiah and telling his disciples that Jesus is the Lamb of God. He also encourages them to be the followers of Jesus. These disciples in their turn invite others to come to be the disciples of Jesus.
The call from God to holiness is constant in our lives. We often times don’t listen. The Holy Bible tells us of God’s call in the life of every person, containing his majesty, power and at the same time a mystery. He invites every individual with the gift of life at the creation, gives life to each one and calls them by name. He then gives us new life with the Sacrament of Baptism where we are dead to the world and reborn in Christ. God calls each person on a specific mission to continue his work on earth, as a missionary, religious, priest, a teacher or any other work he gives us. In the book of Deuteronomy Moses tells the people of Israel: “You are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his possession out of all the prophets that are on the face of the earth.” God’s call constitutes a permanent relationship expressed in the Old Testament in the form of the Covenant. God promises the people that if they truly obey his commands then he will be their God and they will be his people. We have the examples of the particular call given in the New Testament to the Apostles who were personally called and later Paul who is given his vocation while on his way to Damascus to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. God’s call continues even today and he gives the commission to proclaim his kingdom to all.
In today's First Reading from the First Book of Samuel, we heard God calling Samuel. This was at the very early stage of Prophet’s long career. The family of Eli belonging to the priestly family of Levi was placed in charge of the shrine. Samuel’s mother Hannah had dedicated him to the Lord in gratitude for the gift of his birth. Young Samuel’s devotion to God is apparent as he sleeps in the presence of the ark. Here he experiences the call of God. Samuel is called three times that night and each time he ran to his Mater Eli and reported to him. He did not have the faintest idea that it was God who was calling him. Eli was spiritually enlightened to realize that it was the Lord God who was calling Samuel and instructs him to announce that he stands ready to listen to God’s word. When he is called again he responds to God and offers his humble service to him saying, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel answered his calling from God and listened to him attentively. As he grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his Words fall to the ground. This means that as Samuel learned the Words of God, either directly from God speaking to him, or from divine inspirations and also from the teachings of Eli. Samuel valued those words of God. He memorized the laws of God, His commandments. He kept them in his heart. He made a genuine effort to implement them in his life through his thoughts, his words and his actions. He answered God's calling by persevering in His living faith to the best of his ability and listened to all that God had to tell him.
In today's Second Reading Paul tells the Corinthians community that our bodies are meant to serve the Lord. They are not meant to be used for worldly desires and pleasures that do not glorify God. This is because we are members of Christ’s Body and therefore our bodies are made holy. We belong to Christ and God the Father will raise up our bodies just as he raised Jesus from the dead since our bodies are members of the mystical Body of Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians that we cannot say that our bodies are not touched by sin. He instructs them that there are sins outside the body and there are sins against the body. If we are disrespectful towards someone, that is a sin outside the body. If we are selfish, refusing to share the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us, that is also a sin outside the body. All our unchristian words and actions that do not shine in the love of Christ are sins outside the body. A sin against the body is when we lower our morals to satisfy our fleshly desires in unhealthy carnal relationships contrary to the sacredness of the Church. Because we have become Temples of the Holy Spirit, we do not own our bodies. Although we have a free will, we no longer have a right to choose what is unholy. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in our body, our body belongs to God and therefore must be respected. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, we have waived that right, alleging our obedience to the spiritual law of God. We have been purchased by the price of Christ’s blood and must use our bodies to glorify God.
In today's Gospel Reading we once more perceive God's calling. This is revealed to us by the actions of the two disciples of John the Baptist who followed Jesus. Here John the Baptist who takes the initiative to tell them about the Lamb of God and directs them to Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John give us different views regarding the way in which Jesus received his first disciples. In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus simply invites four fishermen to follow him and promises to make them fishers of Men. They respond to his call, leave everything and follow him. In John on the other hand the first disciples of Jesus were originally the disciples of John the Baptist. On the suggestion of John they leave him and become the followers of Jesus. Some historians of early Christianity think that John rather accurately reflects what really happened. The fourth Evangelist here makes it clear that the disciples of John should become the disciples of Jesus and John himself who prepared the way would show them the real leader. He tells them about the Lamb of God. This title of the Lamb of God is intended to recall the rich background of the Paschal lamb as well as the suffering servant as pointed out by Prophet Isaiah. In other words, Jesus is the savior and because of that he should be followed.
John is aware that his role as a leader is only temporary and that he has to yield the leadership to Jesus. Perhaps with much hesitation or out of curiosity the two disciples of John follow Jesus. The first question Jesus asks those who have decided to follow him is what they were looking for and what they wanted. This is the key question of all discipleship, ancient and modern. The disciples in the story respond that they want to know where exactly Jesus is staying. He in turn issues the invitation to come and see and the Gospel tells us that they accepted his invitation and went with him and spent the day with him. In every person’s life, the discipleship is about faith, risk and discovery. It is the faith in the one who calls decision to go ahead even if there is uncertainty or darkness and finally the discovery of the richness of the person who invites and therefore the fidelity to that person. Jesus did not give them any lengthy description about the details of becoming a disciple. Discipleship is about experience and no theory or explanation can capture its reality. We are told that the disciples not only followed Jesus but they remained with him.
We do not know what happened and where exactly they stayed or remained with Jesus. The term “remain” is used in John to convey a relationship, commitment and intimacy. It describes what is at the heart of authentic discipleship. To know him in the Gospel sense is to seek, find and respond to his loving presence in the fabric of our daily lives. However their spending time with Jesus had lasting effect on them. One of the two, Andrew, became not only a committed follower and but also an ardent disciple of Jesus. He goes immediately in great excitement to his brother Simon, and tells him that they have found the Messiah. He brings Simon to Jesus who gives him a new name, Cephas, which is translated as Peter and the word means “rock.” Simon Peter now becomes a follower, an apostle and the leader of the new community. A change of name among the chosen people meant a change of position or function. It is important to note that Peter, in spite of his future important role, was not called directly by Jesus but through his brother. And that happens again and again. Everyone, including the greatest saints, were called by another, often lesser, person and brought to Christ. In the life of Jesuit Saint Peter Claver who worked among the slaves of South America it is the simple saintly brother Alphonsus Rodrigues who gave him the inspiration. Each one of us here was led to Jesus by other people and we too have the task of leading others to Jesus.
Jesus came to the earth to proclaim the Kingdom of God and for this mission of his he elicits all human help. He calls people personally to be with him to continue his work on earth and fulfill the Kingdom. He chose every human way possible in order to make his church more acceptable to our limited human understanding and more acceptable to our finite human nature. We know from faith that Jesus as the Son of God could deal directly with every human person on earth. He could teach the infallible truth, forgive sins, build up new relationships and pour out his graces. Then there will not be a need for a church with its teaching authority and doctrine, or the sacraments and not even the Eucharist. But in his divine wisdom he elicits human help and support to complete his mission of establishing the kingdom of God. In his mission Jesus chose the lowly, simple ordinary persons. The first four and later the other eight persons he chose were ordinary persons from Galilee, some of them fishermen, some tax collectors, some freedom fighters and others whose background is not known. Certainly they were not men of education and social standing in their community. He trains them and makes them persons to carry out his work and to be his witnesses on earth. This is the same way Jesus has continued his mission over the past two thousand years building a new community and kingdom with ordinary simple persons.
God’s call is a gift and this call is given to each and every person and God expects of each one to respond to him and work for him. He has called people to be missionaries, preachers, teachers, ordinary office workers, builders of families, social workers, medical practitioners, nurses, persons who could be his instruments of reconciliation, to work as priests and religious. In the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah responding to the call of God says how he has been called by God and feels cheated at times and does not want to talk any more, for as a prophet he had suffered a lot from his adversaries. But he says there is a compulsion from within him that does not allow him to keep quiet but talk on behalf of God and proclaim his justice. This again was the call that forced Mother Theresa to go and work in the slums and care for the poorest of the poor or of Father Damien to go and work among the lepers or to Francis Xavier to leave his motherland and go to distant lands like India, Japan to set the world on fire. Jesus places this responsibility on each one of us to continue his work on earth in a large or a small way depending on the talents he has placed on us.
God wants each and every one of us to enjoy His Kingdom through the Person of Christ. He is concerned of the new hearts and human spirits that He has created within us, desiring that our freedom of choice will cooperate with His Divine Will so we will be assured our redemption. As we contemplate on his word and respond to his call we ask the grace from the Lord not to hesitate to respond to him but give him our life and strength to complete his divine task. As he asked the first disciple what they were looking for, so also Jesus is asking us what we are searching. If we are looking for him, the way, the truth and the life, then we must fix your eyes on Jesus. We must answer our calling by living holy lives in harmony with the nature of our new human spirit that coexists within us with the indwelling Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Indian sage Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, in his wisdom teaching narrates a beautiful story of vocation in a person’s life. The story is about a young man who wanted to leave the world to become a sanyasi or a mendicant. His sister was getting worried about him and she tells her husband that she is worried about her brother who has been planning to leave the world for the past three months. He has been sacrificing daily some food items, some of his comforts at home and giving up his rich and delicate clothes and so on. He husband looks at her and smiles and tells her, “My dear, you need not be worried about your brother. The people who plan in this way to leave the world in this way by sacrificing little by little will not leave at all. You can rest assured that he will be with you for long time to come.” The wife was surprised at her husband’s words and asked him, how one leaves the world to devote himself or herself to God. The husband looks at her and tells her whether she truly wanted to know how a person left the world, he would tell her. He then gets up; tears his flowing garments and wears a loin cloth; takes a begging bowl and a walking stick in his hand. After this he bows to his wife and says, from now on you and every woman to me is like a mother. He leaves the house never to return.Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J. Rome