SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME January 14th, 2018

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1 Contributed by Brother John Cline C.R. Bro. John has ministered for twenty-six years in the spiritual care program within two hospitals. Historically, he has participated in ministries within Scollard Hall High School and two of our C.R. parishes. He has an active retirement. Presently, Bro. John is on our Provincial Council and resides at Resurrection Manor in Waterloo. Bro. John manages and maintains our community cottage and his interest for Social Justice takes the form of volunteering at St. John s Kitchen. SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME January 14th, 2018 GATHERING TIME (10-15 minutes) Introduction to the Word: As you begin our exercise for this Sunday, I invite you to let your imagination go for a moment. Imagine you have received a very fancy invitation, in a gilded envelope, it has come from across the ocean. The actual invitation is framed by fancy scrollwork, gold embossed, on weighted paper. What is your reaction as you feel this delivery and view its appearance? As you begin to read, its message slowly sinks in. An invitation to a wedding! How do you feel? Again, imagine, in a very different time and space, that you experience a hint of something. It s a very faint, vague, almost imperceptible something. But it occurs at another time again, or simply stays with you and later fades. What do you think or feel about it? Is it curious, unsettling, of no consequence? Do you ponder it, question it? Do you follow up or act on it? We have all received an invitation from God. Originally, in the form of our baptism, it is a call to live a Christian life. This living out our Christian life our vocation is an important call and choice. We are charged to follow the Lord and imitate His love; we have the choice to hear God s word, to witness faithfully, to make the Lord s truth known through our words and actions. Jesus never forced Himself on others. Jesus invited, gently and by attraction. He noticed the needs of others and acted with compassion. How do we hear God s invitation today, God s ongoing invitations? Are we alert in our varying circumstances of our ordinary days? In our readings today we are presented scenarios of two different hearings of God s word, one a gentle whisper and the other an explicit invitation. We encounter different players, circumstances, and different reactions. Is a situation familiar to you; can you identify with anyone? 1

2 Warm-up Activity (about 8-10 minutes): Jesus asks a question in the gospel and asks us today, What are you looking for? The answer for his soon-to-be disciples was life-changing. Talk about your own life path. Has your journey been long and steady or changing? Has it been exciting or arduous? Is it perhaps a life-long process? In your small group, speak to your experience and address the question that haunts you most. The Table of the Word Leader: Come and see where the Lord is staying! Lord Jesus, offered for the sake of all people, Christ Jesus, Teacher of all truth and the Way to life, Lord Jesus, Anointed ruler of the coming Kingdom, Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Let us pray Father, You have called us by name and you await our response. Give us attentive ears and a listening heart so that we may hear your Word today and make it our own. This we ask in Jesus name. Amen. SCRIPTURE REFLECTION TIME (45 minutes) (As Christians we believe that the WORD of God we hear proclaimed each Sunday is an empowering Word, and that God is present in the Word proclaimed. This is the Word that God wants us to hear today. The dynamic of the Small Christian Community, namely, reflecting on our life story within the context of this Word, and sharing the insights of these reflections, is such that God s Spirit becomes present, and the gifts of the Spirit are experienced as empowering and life giving. Because it is a privileged time it is incumbent on us in the small group to proclaim God s Word with due reverence, to be attentive to this proclamation, and respectful of the communal interaction). FIRST READING (1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19) Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, Samuel! Samuel! and he said, Here I am! Samuel ran to Eli, and said, Here I am, for you called me. But Eli said, I did not call: lie down again. So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, Samuel! Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for you called me. But he said, I did not call, my son: lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for you called me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down: and if he calls you, you shall say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening. As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 2

3 SECOND READING (1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20) Brothers and sisters: The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. GOSPEL (John 1:35-42) A reading from the holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord. John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, Look, here is the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he 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 see. They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, We have found the Messiah (which is translated the Christ). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas (which is translated Peter). The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Pause for a brief reflection on the scripture readings Group Activity: This activity is a modification of the African Model for scripture reflection. The group members are invited to scan briefly the three readings of the day, looking for a word or phrase that touches you in some fashion. Then identify for your group the word or phrase and add a comment stating why you chose it (note that there is no dialogue here). Each person simply states his/her thought, word or phrase, adding a very brief comment as to why it was chosen. COMMENTARY: Old Testament reading: Eli is the high priest in the sanctuary at Shiloh and is the second-to-last Israelite judge. He held the highest and most responsible position among the people of God. As a parent, he fails, as his sons are abusive and evil. Eli and his family are supposed to be an example to the Israelites. But Eli does point Samuel in the right direction, to respond and to listen. Samuel was the son of Hanna, who had prayed that God would give her a child. When her prayer for a child was answered, she left her son at the shrine of the Ark of God. Samuel is brought back and he is dedicated to the Lord, to be trained by Eli. In the carefree time of youth during a quiet relaxed time of ordinary sleep, the boy hears his name called. And it is for Eli to discern what is occurring and provide guidance. Samuel can hear the call because of his welcoming disposition: Speak, Lord, for 3

4 your servant is listening. It was the beginning of a call which would lead Samuel to become the future priest, prophet, and judge and influence biblical history. In the gospel, the disciples need John the Baptist to point them in the right direction. While they are businessmen engaged in fishing and supporting their families, I wonder if deep down they experienced a longing, a restlessness for something more. Why else would they drop their activities to follow Jesus? They responded to His question by asking where He was staying. Teachers taught a lifestyle and not just a lesson; so the disciples were interested in staying with Jesus and being immersed in his message. Jesus invitation and response, Come, and you will see, takes on a depth of meaning for a deeper kind of seeing with the eyes of faith. Come and see! Today's readings show the diverse ways in which the call to discipleship can come. We have evidence of God speaking to us at ordinary points on our life s journey: the very young, like Samuel, who probably struggled to find a sense of direction in life to follow; older folks, like Peter, who may have been thinking of retiring. Our stories may differ but it is the same God who edits our story lines. Samuel s words Speak Lord, for your servant is listening express a fundamental attitude of the soul which is really intent on communicating with God, knowing, through faith, that God wants to communicate with us. In ordinary time, when life seems uneventful, we are called to discern the call to action, respond and get on with God s mission. It is ordinary time which reminds us that we are ordinary people with ordinary life to live fully. Whatever you are called to do, you point to Christ ultimately by who you are; and in the concrete this means you point to Christ in the measure that you are Christ-like. (W. J. Burghardt, Lovely In Eyes Not His). We are invited to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. We are called to see the ordinary in the extraordinary and see extraordinary things in the ordinary realities of life. Being ordinary people means we come with our weaknesses and fragility. Just as the early disciples were not perfect people, Jesus wanted them just as He calls us today. I am mindful of our weaknesses and attraction to sin, and we Resurrectionists respect this reality. Our Congregation s Principles of Spirituality recognize that evil attracts (prin. #3) and that we succumb to sin (prin. #4). But despite our clay feet, God loves us unconditionally (prin. # 1) and calls us to discipleship (prin. #7). My inspiring example of this ordinariness and a call is our founder, Bogdan Janksi. A former superior general of our congregation wrote of him after Bogdan's renewed fervour in the faith, we find him both an evangelist and still a sinner It is the confession of a man who trusts in the unconditional love of God (S. MacDonald, C.R., foreword, Bogdan Janaki s Diary, ). In whatever way the call to discipleship comes, Paul reminds us that we do not encounter the Holy as disembodied spirits. Rather, our bodies are sacred, a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. That Jesus took on human flesh, and that God raised Him bodily, underscore the importance of the body. The spirituality focused on the body teaches respect and teaches us to avoid any exploitation: in the sex trade, or overexposure in the manner of dress, or the battering of bodies with abuse or torture, or the devaluing of aging bodies, or disrespecting another by harassment. It is through our bodies that we experience godliness, and it is in them that we glorify God. Also, for God to manifest Himself in the ordinary is a key to an environmental theology. All things and all persons are potentially sacred and are to be cared for with infinite tenderness. If we treat creation like a throwaway, we will lose our indispensable ecosystem. It is our staircase to eternity. But if we see all the rich diversity of creation as the bearer of God s infinite Glory, then we will attend to the ecosystem so that it, and we, can flourish into eternity. This is the incarnational understanding of nature. (Allow about 5 10 minutes for the participants to react to the Commentary to identify a newly discovered insight or an idea newly described.) 4

5 Questions for Reflection and Discussion: What are you really looking for in this brief life? 1. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening (1 Samuel 3:10) a. Do these urgings stop as you get older, or do they continue during life s journey? How important is it that you respect them and listen to these urges? b. Do you think that every person has a predetermined vocation known only by God and that one must follow it? Share your views. c. Do young people seem hesitant to respond to the call of Christ? 2. Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Corinthians 6:19) a. What evidence or experience do you have that attests to the fact that a person is a temple of the Holy Spirit? b. Do you believe your body is a holy place where you and God meet? Share your opinions. c. Relative to the important concept of self worth, what are some of the current commercial messages that you find especially distasteful? 3. What are you looking for? ( John 1:38) What are some factors that have influenced your attraction to Jesus? a. Persons, or a cause or a movement I have come to value. b. My own yearnings or decisions I am faced with. c. In regard to my faith I keep getting this sense that there is more than what I am presently experiencing. d. Many of my friends are ill; some have already died. CARING-PRAYING TIME: (15-20 minutes) Word for the Week: Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. Suggestion for the week: (an exercise in listening for the Lord s call) Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, That my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, That my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, That I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, To defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, That I always may be holy. St. Augustine Listening for the Lord s call is a spiritual art, and like any talent, needs to be developed with training and patience. Discerning one voice from another (i.e. self? or parent? or God?) requires time and patience. It requires a conviction of the presence of the Lord, as well as a dialogue with the Holy Spirit. This listening skill also requires a determined effort to listen to God s voice in all our encounters. 5

6 Activity: Take five minutes at the end of each day to review the many encounters you engaged in that day. Try to discern which of these might have represented the voice of the Lord. A clue: the situations we engage in that are most frustrating for us are more than likely those connected with God s presence and Spirit and demand our special attention. Intercessions: (Response: Lord, help us to seek and find you.) Leader: Gathered at prayer in the temple of the Lord, let us offer our intercession to the God who has called us by name. On this World Day for Migrants and Refugees, that leaders of nations would hear the demand for justice and that citizens would extend welcome and hospitality, we pray For church leaders: that they be aware of the Holy Spirit guiding the church and that they listen to the Spirit s voice and direction, we pray That the commercial media and consumer culture would experience a change of heart and adopt life-giving values, we pray For ourselves: that we may hear today s prophets calling to an openness of heart and be free of what is merely familiar and comfortable, we pray That those who are seeking meaning and purpose for their lives may come and see, and find in Christ the Teacher for whom they search, we pray For the married couples of our community: that they may be blessed by God with deepening love and steadfast fidelity, we pray That educators may inspire our young people to embrace the beauty of chastity and develop relationships marked by mutual respect, we pray We have heard the good news and followed Jesus; may we find others who are in search of truth and bring them to Jesus, we pray For those whom God has called to eternal life, especially in recent disasters, that they may rejoice and remain forever with the Teacher they heard on earth, we pray How can we help you in prayer this week? Let us pray (together) God of mystery, whose voice whispers our name God in our midst, whose Lamb walks among us unknown: In every generation, you reveal yourself to those who long to know your dwelling place. Speak now, Lord, for your servants are listening. Draw us to you that we may always remain with you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever. Amen With hand and hearts united in gratitude for God s favour son us today, we pray that all those in our influence be moved to be open to your Word and your Spirit, while we pray as one, OUR FATHER... Celebrating the Word, Resurrection Ministries of the Congregation of the Resurrection Ontario-Kentucky Province (including the former Resurrection Centre), 265 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G7. (Celebrating the Word was founded by Father Frank Ruetz, C.R., now deceased). theword@resurrectionists.ca website: The Scripture version used in this commentary is the New Revised Standard Version (copyrighted by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA). 6