2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

God desires to have a relationship with each of us.  The Lord knows us and loves us more than we can imagine and wants us to know and love Him in return.  Each day God reaches out to us in ways that we may miss if we are not expecting them or watching for them.

In today’s first reading, young Samuel has had not yet experienced God speaking to him.  Eli is older, but has not maintained a relationship with the Lord God, and instead is lazy and drowsy in God’s presence, no longer listening for or expecting God to speak.  He is so lacking in a relationship with the Lord that when God call out to Samuel, it takes Eli a while to realize what is happening.  But he tells Samuel what to do when he next hears the call, and Samuel is obedient and replies to the voice of God, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” We need to do as Samuel did.

In the second reading, Paul assures the new Christians in Corinth that they belong to God in every way; in fact, even their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, although they live in a place saturated with sexual immorality and promiscuity, they are to shun all that.  Rather than lower themselves, they are to glorify God with their bodies, for their union with the Lord is total: spirit, mind, and body.

In the gospel reading, Jesus sees two of John the Baptist’s disciples, and offers them an invitation to come with him, and their lives are changed forever.  Andrew, one of the two who spent the day with Jesus, then goes and finds his brother Simon to bring him to meet Jesus as well.  When Jesus sees Simon, He looks at him, and gives him a new name and a new identity. 

We too can trust that the Lord will call us, and we need to be as docile and open as young Eli was.  Like the Christians at Corinth, we too belong to the Lord totally, for we also have been purchased at a price: the Body and Blood of Jesus offered on the Cross.  Our lives then need to glorify God in every way as well, for we belong to the Lord: spirit, mind, and body.

Finally, we need to seek Jesus, aware of what we are looking for and eager to discover where He is present in our lives.  This requires time in prayer, allowing Jesus to look at us and offer us an invitation and an opportunity to change our lives.  Reading the Scriptures, sharing our faith with other believers, and participating fully in the sacramental life of the Church are other ways that will reveal Jesus alive and active in our world and our lives.

God knows, loves, and serves each of us, with much delight and desire.  Loved as we are, we are to respond with the same delight and desire, holding nothing back.  When we do, God is glorified and our lives are filled with a peace that nothing and no one can ever take away from us.  The Holy Spirit will fill us with grace and power and we will know the presence of Jesus in our lives.  May we come to know and believe in the love God has for us each and every day.