1st book of Samuel 3,3b-10.19. Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was. The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am." He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "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." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep." 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." 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." Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
Psalms 40(39) 2.4ab.7-8a.8b-9.10. 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 oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”
“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!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
First Letter to the Corinthians 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. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! 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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 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." 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 he 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 Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).
The Gospel for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (cf. Jn 1:35-42) presents the meeting between Jesus and his first disciples. The scene unfolds along the River Jordan the day after Jesus’ baptism. It is John the Baptist himself who points out the Messiah to the two of them with these words: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (v. 36). And those two, trusting the Baptist’s testimony, follow Jesus. He realizes this and asks: “What do you seek?”, and they ask Him: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (v. 38).
Jesus does not respond: “I live in Capernaum, or in Nazareth”, but says: “Come and see” (v. 39). Not a calling card, but an invitation to an encounter. The two follow him and remain with him that afternoon. It is not difficult to imagine them seated, asking him questions and above all listening to him, feeling their hearts inflamed ever more while the Teacher speaks. They sense the beauty of the words that respond to their greatest hope. And all of a sudden they discover that, as evening was drawing around them, the light that God alone can give was exploding within their hearts. One thing catches our attention: 60 years later, or perhaps more, one of them would write in his Gospel: “it was about four in the afternoon” (cf. Jn 1:39) — he wrote the time. And this is one thing that makes us think: every authentic encounter with Jesus remains alive in memory; it is never forgotten. You forget many encounters, but a true encounter with Jesus remains forever. And many years later, those two even remembered the time. They were unable to forget this encounter that had changed their lives and was so happy and so complete. Then, when they leave from that encounter and return to their brothers, that joy, that light overflows from their hearts like a raging river. One of the two, Andrew, says to his brother, Simon — whom Jesus will call Peter when He meets him — “We have found the Messiah” (v. 41). They left sure that Jesus was the Messiah, certain.
Let us pause for a moment on this experience of the encounter with Christ who calls us to remain with him. Each one of God’s calls is an initiative of his love. He is the one who always takes the initiative. He calls you. God calls to life, he calls to faith, and he calls to a particular state in life: “I want you here”. God’s first call is to life, through which he makes us persons; it is an individual call because God does not make things in series. Then God calls us to faith and to become part of his family as children of God. Lastly, God calls us to a particular state in life: to give of ourselves on the path of matrimony, or that of the priesthood or consecrated life. They are different ways of realizing God’s design, the one he has for each of us that is always a design of love. God always calls. And the greatest joy for every believer is to respond to this call, offering one’s entire being to the service of God and our brothers and sisters.
-->Brothers and sisters, before the Lord’s call, which can reach us in a thousand ways — through others, happy or sad events — our attitude at times might be rejection. No… “I am afraid”… Rejection because it seems to be in contrast to our aspirations; and even fear because we believe it is too demanding and uncomfortable: “Oh no, I will never be able to do it, better not to, a calmer life is better… God over there, me here”. But God’s call is always love: we have to try to discover the love behind each call, and it should be responded to only with love. This is the language: the response to a call that comes from love is only love. At the beginning there is an encounter, or rather, there is the encounter with Jesus who speaks to us of his Father, he makes His love known to us. And then the desire to communicate it to the people that we love arises spontaneously in us too: “I met Love”, “I met the Messiah”, “I met God”, I met Jesus”, “I found the meaning of my life”. In a word: “I found God”.
May the Virgin Mary help us make of our lives a hymn of praise to God in response to his call and in the humble and joyful fulfilment of his will. But let us remember this: there was a moment in each of our lives, in which God made himself present more strongly, with a call. Let us remember that. Let us go back to that moment so that the memory of that moment might always renew that encounter with Jesus for us.
The theme of vocation stands out in the biblical Readings of this Sunday — the Second in Ordinary Time. In the Gospel there is call to the first disciples by Jesus; in the First Reading is the call of the Prophet Samuel. In the forefront of both these accounts is the importance of the figure who plays the role of mediator, helping people to recognize God’s voice and to follow it.
In Samuel’s case it was Eli, a priest of the Temple of Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant had formerly been kept, before it was taken to Jerusalem. One night, while he was asleep, Samuel, who was still a boy and had lived ministering in the temple since infancy, heard his name called three times and ran to Eli. But it was not Eli who had called him. The third time Eli understood and said to Samuel: “if he calls you, you shall say, ‘speak Lord, for your servant hears’” (1 Sam 3:9). So it came to pass and from that time Samuel learned to recognize God’s words and became his faithful prophet.
In the case of Jesus’ disciples, the mediator is John the Baptist. John, in fact, had a vast circle of disciples among whom were also the two pairs of brothers, Simon and Andrew, and John and James, fishermen from Galilee. It was to two of them that the Baptist pointed out Jesus the day after his Baptism in the River Jordan. He pointed Jesus out to them saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:36), which is equivalent to saying: “Behold, the Messiah”.
And the two disciples followed Jesus, spent some time with him and became convinced that he truly was the Christ. They immediately told the others, and in this way the first nucleus of what was to become the College of the Apostles was created.
In the light of these two texts, I would like to stress the crucial role of the spiritual director in the journey of faith and, in particular, in the response to the vocation of special consecration for the service of God and of his People. The Christian faith already in itself implies proclamation and witness. Indeed, it consists in adherence to the Good News that Jesus of Nazareth has died and risen, that he is God. And so it is that the call to follow Jesus more closely, giving up the formation of a family of one’s own so as to dedicate oneself to the great family of the Church, normally passes through the witness and introduction of an “elder brother”, who is usually a priest. This is so but we should not forget the fundamental role of parents who, with their genuine and joyful faith and their conjugal love, show their children that it is beautiful and possible to build the whole of life on God’s love.
Dear friends, let us pray to the Virgin Mary for all educators, especially priests and parents, that they may be fully aware of the importance of their spiritual role in order to encourage the young not only in their human growth but also to respond to God’s call, to say: “Speak Lord, for your servant hears”.
S. ANSELME - O my heart, say now with all thyself, say now to God: I seek Thy face. ' Your face, O Lord, I seek ' (Ps. 26:8). Now therefore. Lord my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You, where and how to find You. Lord, if You are not here, where shall I seek You absent? If then You are everywhere, why is it that I do not see You present? But You certainly dwell in inaccessible light. And where is the inaccessible light, or how shall I approach it? Who will lead me, who will guide me to it so that in it I may see You? Moreover with what signs, with what face shall I seek Thee? O Lord my God, never have I seen You, I do not know Your face. Teach me to seek You and show Yourself when I seek You: I cannot seek You unless You teach me, nor find You If You do not show Yourself. Let me seek You by desiring You and desire You by seeking You, let me find You by loving You and love You by finding You."
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1st book of Samuel
RispondiElimina3,3b-10.19.
Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."
He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "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." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."
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." 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."
Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
Psalms 40(39)
2.4ab.7-8a.8b-9.10.
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 oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
“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!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
First Letter to the Corinthians
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.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not!
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.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint John 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."
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 he 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 Anointed).
Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS , 17 January 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Gospel for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (cf. Jn 1:35-42) presents the meeting between Jesus and his first disciples. The scene unfolds along the River Jordan the day after Jesus’ baptism. It is John the Baptist himself who points out the Messiah to the two of them with these words: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (v. 36). And those two, trusting the Baptist’s testimony, follow Jesus. He realizes this and asks: “What do you seek?”, and they ask Him: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (v. 38).
Jesus does not respond: “I live in Capernaum, or in Nazareth”, but says: “Come and see” (v. 39). Not a calling card, but an invitation to an encounter. The two follow him and remain with him that afternoon. It is not difficult to imagine them seated, asking him questions and above all listening to him, feeling their hearts inflamed ever more while the Teacher speaks. They sense the beauty of the words that respond to their greatest hope. And all of a sudden they discover that, as evening was drawing around them, the light that God alone can give was exploding within their hearts. One thing catches our attention: 60 years later, or perhaps more, one of them would write in his Gospel: “it was about four in the afternoon” (cf. Jn 1:39) — he wrote the time. And this is one thing that makes us think: every authentic encounter with Jesus remains alive in memory; it is never forgotten. You forget many encounters, but a true encounter with Jesus remains forever. And many years later, those two even remembered the time. They were unable to forget this encounter that had changed their lives and was so happy and so complete. Then, when they leave from that encounter and return to their brothers, that joy, that light overflows from their hearts like a raging river. One of the two, Andrew, says to his brother, Simon — whom Jesus will call Peter when He meets him — “We have found the Messiah” (v. 41). They left sure that Jesus was the Messiah, certain.
Let us pause for a moment on this experience of the encounter with Christ who calls us to remain with him. Each one of God’s calls is an initiative of his love. He is the one who always takes the initiative. He calls you. God calls to life, he calls to faith, and he calls to a particular state in life: “I want you here”. God’s first call is to life, through which he makes us persons; it is an individual call because God does not make things in series. Then God calls us to faith and to become part of his family as children of God. Lastly, God calls us to a particular state in life: to give of ourselves on the path of matrimony, or that of the priesthood or consecrated life. They are different ways of realizing God’s design, the one he has for each of us that is always a design of love. God always calls. And the greatest joy for every believer is to respond to this call, offering one’s entire being to the service of God and our brothers and sisters.
-->Brothers and sisters, before the Lord’s call, which can reach us in a thousand ways — through others, happy or sad events — our attitude at times might be rejection. No… “I am afraid”… Rejection because it seems to be in contrast to our aspirations; and even fear because we believe it is too demanding and uncomfortable: “Oh no, I will never be able to do it, better not to, a calmer life is better… God over there, me here”. But God’s call is always love: we have to try to discover the love behind each call, and it should be responded to only with love. This is the language: the response to a call that comes from love is only love. At the beginning there is an encounter, or rather, there is the encounter with Jesus who speaks to us of his Father, he makes His love known to us. And then the desire to communicate it to the people that we love arises spontaneously in us too: “I met Love”, “I met the Messiah”, “I met God”, I met Jesus”, “I found the meaning of my life”. In a word: “I found God”.
EliminaMay the Virgin Mary help us make of our lives a hymn of praise to God in response to his call and in the humble and joyful fulfilment of his will. But let us remember this: there was a moment in each of our lives, in which God made himself present more strongly, with a call. Let us remember that. Let us go back to that moment so that the memory of that moment might always renew that encounter with Jesus for us.
BENEDICT XVI
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 15 January 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The theme of vocation stands out in the biblical Readings of this Sunday — the Second in Ordinary Time. In the Gospel there is call to the first disciples by Jesus; in the First Reading is the call of the Prophet Samuel. In the forefront of both these accounts is the importance of the figure who plays the role of mediator, helping people to recognize God’s voice and to follow it.
In Samuel’s case it was Eli, a priest of the Temple of Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant had formerly been kept, before it was taken to Jerusalem. One night, while he was asleep, Samuel, who was still a boy and had lived ministering in the temple since infancy, heard his name called three times and ran to Eli. But it was not Eli who had called him. The third time Eli understood and said to Samuel: “if he calls you, you shall say, ‘speak Lord, for your servant hears’” (1 Sam 3:9). So it came to pass and from that time Samuel learned to recognize God’s words and became his faithful prophet.
In the case of Jesus’ disciples, the mediator is John the Baptist. John, in fact, had a vast circle of disciples among whom were also the two pairs of brothers, Simon and Andrew, and John and James, fishermen from Galilee. It was to two of them that the Baptist pointed out Jesus the day after his Baptism in the River Jordan. He pointed Jesus out to them saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:36), which is equivalent to saying: “Behold, the Messiah”.
And the two disciples followed Jesus, spent some time with him and became convinced that he truly was the Christ. They immediately told the others, and in this way the first nucleus of what was to become the College of the Apostles was created.
In the light of these two texts, I would like to stress the crucial role of the spiritual director in the journey of faith and, in particular, in the response to the vocation of special consecration for the service of God and of his People. The Christian faith already in itself implies proclamation and witness. Indeed, it consists in adherence to the Good News that Jesus of Nazareth has died and risen, that he is God. And so it is that the call to follow Jesus more closely, giving up the formation of a family of one’s own so as to dedicate oneself to the great family of the Church, normally passes through the witness and introduction of an “elder brother”, who is usually a priest. This is so but we should not forget the fundamental role of parents who, with their genuine and joyful faith and their conjugal love, show their children that it is beautiful and possible to build the whole of life on God’s love.
Dear friends, let us pray to the Virgin Mary for all educators, especially priests and parents, that they may be fully aware of the importance of their spiritual role in order to encourage the young not only in their human growth but also to respond to God’s call, to say: “Speak Lord, for your servant hears”.
S. ANSELME - O my heart, say now with all thyself, say now to God: I seek Thy face. ' Your face, O Lord, I seek ' (Ps. 26:8).
RispondiEliminaNow therefore. Lord my God, teach my heart where and how to seek You, where and how to find You. Lord, if You are not here, where shall I seek You absent? If then You are everywhere, why is it that I do not see You present? But You certainly dwell in inaccessible light. And where is the inaccessible light, or how shall I approach it? Who will lead me, who will guide me to it so that in it I may see You? Moreover with what signs, with what face shall I seek Thee? O Lord my God, never have I seen You, I do not know Your face.
Teach me to seek You and show Yourself when I seek You: I cannot seek You unless You teach me, nor find You
If You do not show Yourself. Let me seek You by desiring You and desire You by seeking You, let me find You by loving You and love You by finding You."
RispondiEliminaHÄNDEL DIXIT DOMINUS PSALM 110 (3-4-5 )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjlhscTR9-Q