January 14, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily readings: 1 Samuel 3: 3b-10. 19, 1 Corinthians 6: 13c-15a. 17-20, John1: 35-42
Diligence is one of the qualities required to love someone passionately. When it comes to loving God and following Him closely, intimately and personally, we need someone to guide us. Eli perfectly plays this role in Samuel's life in the first reading. The same function is done by John the Baptist in the lives of Andrew and the other disciple in today’s Gospel Reading. Samuel was young and ignorant of many things.
When the Lord God calls Samuel, the boy does not recognize the owner of the voice. He runs to the priest, Eli. He is the right man. He is an elder, much more experienced and, more importantly, a priest. Eli teaches him how to respond: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”. Eli’s role was to prepare the boy for the service of the Lord. That is why the response to the responsorial Psalm says, “See, I have come, Lord, to do your will”. God created humans so that we might love Him and do His will.
The first reading concludes with an important statement about Samuel: “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground”. Samuel is the best example of what St. Paul says in the second reading of today: “But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him”. Diligently uniting with the Lord is an expectation for every disciple of Jesus.
When John the Baptist declared Jesus the Lamb of God, Andrew and the other disciples understood the messianic tone in that expression. In the Jewish tradition, the people of God slaughter a lamb as a sacrificial victim. Jesus is the Lord’s chosen one to be offered as a victim on behalf of the people. They left their master, John the Baptist and set forth to pursue Jesus. The abode of Jesus became a center of God-experience.
Call to Action for Catholic Living: Samuel and the first two disciples of Jesus were diligent and steadfast in responding to their call. Let us pray that we, too, may receive the gift of diligence and possess an open mind and heart.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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