January 18, 2015 - Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 65

Reading 1 1 SM 3:3B-10, 19

This story recounts the first time that Samuel heard the voice of God as a child.  Samuel grew up to be a man powerful in the Lord.  He is the son of Anna, a childless woman who prayed to God for a child and by the intercession of Eli, the High Priest of God, was given Samuel.  In return, as soon as the boy could walk and talk, Anna gave him back to God.  Read about it.

Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was.

The child was sleeping in the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant was housed.

The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”

God called Samuel's name.  And the boy immediately responded thinking that it was Eli who called to him.

Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”
“I did not call you, “ Eli said. “Go back to sleep.”

But Eli had not called him and told him to 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.”

So the boy obeyed.  But, again, God called him.  And again, he ran to Eli.

But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”

And again, Eli sent him back to bed.

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.”

But again, God called him.  And again, not being accustomed to the voice of God, he ran to Eli.  But this time, Eli, being a man who was accustomed to the Lord's ways, figured it out and said:

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.”

And this is how Samuel first became acquainted with God's voice.  

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

Samuel would grow up to become a man formidable in the grace of our Lord.  Unfortunately, though, Eli fell from grace.  Eli had two sons and they were priests of God.  But they used their position to take advantage of God's people and did many abominable things in the name of God.  And since Eli turned a blind eye to his sons' activities, the three died on the same day.  Read about it.

Responsorial Psalm PS 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

This is what we do when we come to the fountain of grace in Baptism.

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.

Waiting and hoping are the same thing.  We must always place all our hope in God and wait with confidence the salvation which is promised to all who love Him and do His Will.

R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

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.”

Jesus Christ died for us in order to give us an example to follow in His steps.  When we partake of the Holy Eucharist, we unite ourselves to Christ's sacrifice.

R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”

The Commandments of God are His written will.  Nothing is more important than keeping the Commandments of God.

R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

We must not miss the Mass.  It is in the Mass that we publicly make  our proclamation of faith in God.  To miss the Mass is to insult the Body of Christ and blaspheme the Blood which He poured out for us.

Reading 2 1 COR 6:13C-15A, 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.

We were created, from all eternity, to do the will of God and walk in the works which He prepared for us that we must do.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.

When we are baptized, we are joined to the Body of Christ and become one with Him.

Avoid immorality.
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body,
but the immoral person sins against his own body.

I believe this is a reference to sexual immorality.  When people use their own bodies for monetary gain or for pleasure, they deface the image of God which is stamped into our bodies.

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.

We are bought with the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who died, upon the Cross, that we might be saved to eternal life.

Alleluia JN 1:41, 17B

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

We have found the Messiah:
Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

This is what Sts. Andrew and John proclaimed to St. Peter when they brought him to see Jesus.  Let us imitate the two Apostles and bring as many as we can to Christ.

Gospel JN 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.”

St. John the Baptist was standing with two of his students who would become two of Christ's Apostles.  St. John Zebedee, brother of James and St. Andrew barJonah, brother of St. Peter.

St. John pointed to Jesus and revealed that this is the Messiah. 

The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.

Hearing this, the two young men left John and sought Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”

Jesus asked them what they were seeking.

They said to him, “Rabbi” — which translated means Teacher —,
“where are you staying?”

They responded by asking Him where He was staying.  I interpret this as meaning that they wanted to accompany Him where ever He went.

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”

Apparently, He did also because He asked them to follow Him.

So they went and saw where Jesus was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.

They stayed with Him til about four in the afternoon.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.

One of the two was St. Andrew and when he left, he called his brother.  This is the one whom Jesus would call, Cephas, the Rock.  Read about it.