Welcome Back to Banquet of the Word!
We’re back in Ordinary Time, week #2 (there are 34 in all).
Our mission is simple:
We want to help everyone in “pew-land” get more out of mass.
Because it’s fun to feel smart about scripture
Fun Fact:
Samuel was the child promised to the barren woman Hannah, who prayed for him unceasingly and after his birth, dedicated Him to God. She took him to Eli when Samuel was 2 years old and Eli (a priest) raised him.
Today’s theme? Being Called.
We are ALL Called in a unique way by God the Father.
1 SM 3:3B-10, 19
(The 1st reading is Old Testament. It always links to the Gospel)
Samuel is one of the holiest, most righteous men in the old testament. Today we hear the story of Samuel being called by God in the middle of the night. It is further evidence that God doesn’t yell or scream to get our attention. He whispers. He nudges. He shows himself in the small and quiet times in our lives.
Maybe we are like Samuel. Maybe we can’t distinguish his voice at first. After all, the first 2 times God calls Samuel, he gets up to go find Eli. Eli is confused and tells Samuel to go back to bed. By the 2nd calling, Eli realizes what’s happening – ” Samuel, go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Samuel does listen. He grows up with God as his guide. He does amazing and important things to further God’s kingdom, not the least of which, is going out to select King David from the fields. What we can learn from this reading:
- Recognize that you might mistake God’s voice for someone else’s, as Samuel did.
- Understand that someone else may become “an Eli” for you – someone who tells you, “ya know? That event/relationship/opportunity has ‘Holy Spirit’ written all over it. I think God’s trying to tell you something!” That person is probably right.”
- Maybe YOU are being asked to be an Eli for someone you love. God most certainly speaks through the people in our lives.
- Above all – when you think God is speaking to you? Listen. Tell Him you are ready!!
Psalm 40: Here I am Lord, I Come to do Your Will
(The Psalm is a “response” to what we heard in the 1st Reading)
The first verse speaks of someone looking to God for help and calling for HIM. The second verse is more in line with the first reading, where God calls US.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
1 COR 6:13C-15A, 17-20
(The 2nd reading is usually from Paul’s letters. Speaks to how the early church was built after Christ’s death and resurrection).
Today’s reading from St. Paul is a bit of a “wild card.”
In today’s theme of being called, however, we are encouraged to remember that we are called to respect our bodies, to exercise modesty and treat them as “temples” or holy places where the love of God abides.
This is especially true because ARE temples – after receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ at Holy Communion, we actually carry Christ with us. He strengthens us to do HIS will all week long.
It is our job – we are called – to carry Him to others.
With this in mind, we should not be surprised that Paul asks us to “avoid immorality” wherever we go, dressing and behaving as the chosen children of God we are.
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.
JN 1:35-42
(The Gospel is the highest point of the Liturgy of the Word. That’s why we stand.
We are about to hear from and be instructed by Christ Himself.)
Today, Jesus chooses his disciples. We did not hear the readings for the Baptism of Our Lord this year (on a Sunday), but that feast day was held on Monday 1/8.
This week (in the scriptures we’re told it’s “the next day”), Jesus calls his disciples by name, just as God the Father called Samuel. He is beginning His public ministry.
[This will take us into the beautiful season of Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday on February 14 this year, with Easter being celebrated on April 1.]
Jesus calls 2 of the 12 disciples today, Simon Peter and Andrew who say at the start, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
They follow Jesus and ask, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus tells them, “Come, and You Will See.”
The men stay with him all day and Jesus begins an intimate relationship with Andrew and Simon Peter, who later – as you know – denies Jesus 3 times, but is still the rock upon which Christ built His Church.
Matthew tells us the conversation between Jesus and Peter in his gospel: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus speaks of the Church and its everlasting nature, the Church we are called to serve each day.
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.
How are you being called today? This week? In your life?
Who are you called to help? Can you hear or see Christ in someone else’s life? Do you need to be an Eli for them?
Do you have enough quiet time in your life to hear God’s voice? It can be hard to hear, so be sure to set time aside that is away from the clanging, noisy nature of our world.
Next week!
Jonah and Ninevah in R1, and the calling of the rest of the disciples in the Gospel.
Banquet of the Word 