{"id":2625,"date":"2018-01-14T09:13:25","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T07:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=2625"},"modified":"2021-01-16T16:31:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T21:31:22","slug":"2nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2018\/01\/14\/2nd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-cycle-b\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s readings teach us that the Lord not only calls us to help him in his mission, but also calls to something greater.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s First Reading Samuel, with the priest Eli\u2019s help, gradually realizes that the Lord is calling him to be his prophet. Samuel\u2019s mother was so grateful for having him after entreating the Lord to bless her with a child that she entrusts him to the Lord in the Temple. Samuel is precious in the Lord\u2019s eyes too, and the Lord starts calling him, but Samuel is too young and inexperienced to understand what is going on. He turns to the priest Eli and, at first, Eli doesn\u2019t understand what is going on either. We can imagine him groggily sending Samuel away the first time, then perplexed when the boy returns a second time. His advice to Samuel on the second occasion is good advice for any situation: listen for the Lord and tell him his (or her) servant is listening. Today\u2019s readings conclude by saying no word of Samuel\u2019s was \u201cwithout effect\u201d for the rest of his life. That was because Samuel became the Lord\u2019s prophet. The Word of God has an effect, whether we accept it or not.<\/p>\n

Paul in today\u2019s Second Reading reminds us that, in Christ, we are already part of something greater, and what we do or don\u2019t do influences more than just ourselves. Through Baptism we are joined with Christ and our fellow believers in a communion of life and love. Our sins not only have repercussions on ourselves, but on everyone with whom we are in communion. They hurt Our Lord and they hurt our fellow believers. Is serious enough they can even break that communion. However, on the flip side, the good we do not only helps Our Lord, but others as well. We are members of the Mystical Body of Christ, so what we do is for the good or ill of the entire body. We are also temples of the Holy Spirit. We bear something precious in us that must be cherished and nurtured.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel two disciples of the prophet John the Baptist, at his encouragement, check out a Rabbi (a.k.a. the Lamb of God) and become not only his disciples, but his friends, and must share the good news. Two disciples of a prophet go looking for a Rabbi and find not only a Rabbi, but a friend and much more. Andrew and the \u201cother disciple,\u201d whom we presume to be John the Evangelist, don\u2019t start grilling Our Lord when they meet him. Rather, they want to hang out with him. They don\u2019t address him as the \u201cLamb of God\u201d as John the Baptist did, just as \u201cRabbi,\u201d an expression of respect and an acknowledgment that he has something to teach them.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t try to impose any preconceived notions on them in response; he simple says, \u201ccome and see.\u201d It is not just learning from him, but living with him. Andrew, as the Gospel recalls, \u201cheard John and followed Jesus.\u201d If he hadn\u2019t listened to John he would not have found Jesus either. In following Jesus Andrew discovers that he has met the Messiah, and that\u2019s not something he can keep to himself, so he shares it with his brother, Simon. The minute Jesus meets Simon he gives him a nickname\u2014Cephas\u2014and from that friendship a great mission would soon be born. Cephas\u2014Peter\u2014would not undertake that mission alone; he would follow Christ and share in his mission.<\/p>\n

Take the \u201cSamuel\u201d challenge this week: not just once, but three times, take a few minutes of silent prayer this week and say, \u201cSpeak, Lord, for your servant is listening,\u201d then listen. Listening here does not just consist of processing information, but of being ready to do what he tells you, even if it is hard. He may give you an entirely new mission in life, he may simply tell you to get your act together, but he will tell you something. If you think he is trying to tell you something, but don\u2019t quite get it, seek someone who can give you good spiritual advice.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a01 Samuel 3:3b\u201310, 19; Psalm 40:2, 4, 7\u201310; 1 Corinthians 6:13c\u201315a, 17\u201320; John 1:35\u201342.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s readings teach us that the Lord not only calls us to help him in his mission, but also calls to something greater. In today\u2019s First Reading Samuel, with the priest Eli\u2019s help, gradually realizes that the Lord is calling him to be his prophet. Samuel\u2019s mother was so grateful for having him after entreating … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,45,29,15],"class_list":["post-2625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cycle-b","tag-ordinary-time","tag-second-week","tag-sunday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-Gl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2625\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}