Saturday, 16 January 2021

2nd Sunday of Year B, Jan. 17, 2021

                  

  DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(1 Sam. 3,3b-10.19; 1 Cor. 6, 13c-15a.17-20; John 1, 35-42: 2nd Sunday of Year B, Jan. 17, 2021)


The first reading of today's Mass tells us about the first episode of Samuel's vocation as a prophet, and the Gospel tells us about the first meeting of two disciples of John the Baptist with Jesus. The common theme of the readings is, therefore, the beginning of the relationship with the Lord.

Samuel's story is suggestive. The child is lying in the temple of the Lord, because his mother, after birth and weaning, entrusted him to the priest Eli. Samuel is on the temple staff. During the night he hears a voice calling him by name. He, obviously, thinks it was the priest who called him; goes to him and says: You called me, here I am! Here we can see the availability of this child: as soon as he is called, he goes to Eli. And a truly exemplary Samuel. But the priest replies: I didn't call you, go back to sleep! Samuel obeys and goes back to sleep. But again, he hears the voice calling him; again, he goes to Eli and tells him: You called me, here I am! I didn't call you, go back to sleep! Eli replies. The author explains that Samuel had not yet known the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. Samuel still has no experience of God's voice, of the divine call. Therefore, he needs Eli’s words, who the third time understood that it was a mystical experience and said to him: Go to sleep and, if he calls you again, you will say: Speak, Lord, because your servant is listening. When Samuel goes to bed again, he hears the voice calling him by name again, he answers with the words suggested by Eli. For Samuel, it is a question of availability towards God which is the beginning of his great prophetic mission. The text says: Samuel acquired authority since the Lord was with him.  This episode speaks to us of a mysterious encounter with God, a simple encounter which gives a person’s life new orientation. 

In the Gospel it is no longer a question of a voice without any figure, but of a person who sees himself: Jesus. He is designated by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God. The two disciples of the Baptist feel attracted by him, they followed him, and Jesus turned around and asked them: What are you looking for? They answer: Rabbi, where are you staying? Jesus extends an invitation to the two disciples: Come and see. They go and see where Jesus dwells, and that day they dwell with him. Here we can see that the Gospel is very discreet, it doesn't give much information, it doesn't say where Jesus lives - in a house? Or in a tent? -, but it only says: [The two] went and saw where he was staying and that day they stayed with him. Thus, the Evangelist expresses the theme of an encounter with the Lord that lasts over time.

All of us must want to know where Jesus dwells and stay with him. The Christian life consists of a continual desire to dwell with him, and a continual search for the place where he dwells. The Gospel of John will then give us some clarifications in this regard. He will say that Jesus abides in the Father, and the Father abides in him (cf. 14,10-11). Jesus abides in the will of the Father, he always tries to do the will of the Father (cf. 3,34; 6,38; 8,29). Between Jesus and the Father there is a vital union and a mutual abiding. Jesus’ whole life takes place in this divine abode. Jesus then invites his disciples to abide in him, saying: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, lives in me now, and I in him (John 6,56). Our participation in the Eucharist must be this profound, intimate encounter with the Lord, which is a mutual abiding between us and him. We are part of the vine, which is Jesus (cf. 15,1.5). He is the vine, and we the branches; we abide in him, and his life abides in us. In every moment of life, we should ask ourselves where Jesus dwells, where we can meet him. And the answer is: in the will of the Father. We meet Jesus, if we do the will of the Father. Jesus also dwells in love. If we live in love - love of God and love of brothers - we abide in him and he abides in us. There are many possible ways of living in love; in each circumstance there is a different way; The essential thing is to keep this intimate relationship with Jesus, this mutual abiding between us and him. Prayer helps us a lot to live this mutual relationship with Jesus, but it is not enough: our whole life must be an intimate union with him. This mutual moment between Jesus and us, which is indicated to us so many times in the Gospel, is truly a marvellous reality. In the second reading, Paul says to the Corinthians: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Christians abide in Christ, because they are his members; Christ abides in them, because they are his members. Paul draws the conclusion that the Christian life must be a pure life, which shuns any kind of impurity, especially any disorder in the field of sexuality. He affirms: Whoever gives himself to shame, sins against his own body, which is part of Christ, temple of the Holy Spirit. We must respect our body, because it abides in Christ, and Christ in it. We must have a very great sense of our dignity, which comes, precisely, from this intimate union with Jesus. It is a wonderful gift that we receive, but also a great commitment that is required from us. This gift constitutes a responsibility for us, which we must assume with great generosity. In the Eucharist we receive Jesus, He abides in us, and we abide in him. So, let us therefore, ask the Lord that this reality transform our whole life. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by chukwubike)

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