THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – January 15, 2012
The First Book of Samuel 3:3b-10, 19
Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20
With the celebration of the Second Sunday we enter Ordinary Time. The Christmas Season concluded last Sunday with the celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. There is a risk we take if we make this journey through the Liturgical Year and listen to the proclamation of the full cycle of readings. The possibility is that we might not be at all the same at the conclusion as we were at the start. Perhaps that is stating the obvious. The fact of the matter is, conversion is the risk we run each time we gather to celebrate Eucharist.
It always amazes me how casually and nonchalantly people come together for Liturgy. What is the action works this time? What if the Spirit rushes through the assembly this time and accomplishes the same transformation of them that happens with the bread and the wine? Of course it happens, even if those assembled are unaware. The faithful are ready to venerate the Body and Blood of Christ present in the Eucharist. Are they ready to be the Body of Christ? Then shouldn’t they have the same reverence for the Christ present in the Assembly? If it works, the Liturgy, that is, then Christ is present in those who have gathered, who have eaten and drunk, and who are then sent. Maybe the realization takes time. But how long? If it works, about the same length of time it takes to transform the Bread and the Wine.
The human experience is on of awareness gradually unfolding and growing in clarity. The potential plant is contained in the seed. Watch that seed sprout and the plant grow and the blossom burst forth and you know that your understanding and appreciation has grown as well through each stage of the plant’s development. That’s what happens when we journey in faith and yield to the Spirit’s influence. Our understanding grows with each step we take, with each celebration of Eucharist, and we come to an increased awareness of what it means to be the Body of Christ, that is, if we respond. We have to allow it to happen.
Hear the first reading from the First Book of Samuel and marvel. It is an account of growing awareness on the part of the boy Samuel and of his teacher, the priest and leader Eli. Samuel is sleeping in the temple where the ark of God was. The ark is a concentrated presence of God, if you will. God’s presence is universal, but is especially so where the ark is. Samuel, young, perhaps 13 years old, was given to God’s service from infancy by his mother, Hannah. He is awakened by the sound of his name on the night air. Samuel. Samuel. Was it a whisper? Was it a shout? That doesn’t matter. The response matters. Here I am. Twice the boy will wake Eli thinking it was the teacher calling. The third time Samuel awakens him, Eli understands who it is who calls, that it is the Lord. One wonders if Eli suffered pangs of jealousy that one so young had an encounter that Eli had always longed for. Regardless, Eli told Samuel that the next time he heard the voice he was to say: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. For Samuel it will be an invitation from the Lord to prophecy and the beginning of a relationship with the Lord that will bring him to anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. Alas, Eli will hear the first prophecy from Samuel, the promise of the coming destruction of Eli and his family for their lack of fidelity to the Lord. The word of God is a two-edged sword.
When Samuel obeyed Eli following the third calling of his name, how much did he understand? Certainly not nearly as much as he did at the twilight of his life and after the years of service and openness to the Lord. At the beginning of each person’s faith walk, s/he is called by name by God as the seed of faith is planted in the human heart. It is the role of the more experienced, the seasoned veterans in the faith, to help the neophyte understand who it is that is calling and to exemplify what it means to respond.
The Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA) process is meant to provide the atmosphere and means for those awakening to faith the call to Baptism. Along the way, through the experience of faith in the witness and action of the catechists and the parish assembly they come to understand what believers do and how they worship. It is a process that entails journeying with Jesus through the full cycle of readings in a Liturgical year. Sometimes it takes even longer. They come to understand who it is that is calling, what it means to follow, and so find the courage and the faith to say: Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Their faith is dawning as they stand at the Font’s edge and take their first steps into the waters. As they emerge on the other side, reborn in Christ, they will come to understand that they have only just begun and that they will continue to grow, to be transformed, until, in the fullness of time, Christ comes to full stature in them.
Faith in Christ is a growing process. No one knows and understands at once. Even Paul, after his blazing encounter on the road to Damascus, had to be led by the hand back into the city where he would be instructed and so learn how much he would have to suffer for the Name.
The two in the gospel this Sunday are seekers. They thought that John the Baptist was the one they sought. But John, like Eli, like the RCIA catechist, points them in another direction as Jesus walks by: Behold the Lamb of God. Notice the question Jesus asks the two of them as he becomes aware that they a following him. What are you looking for? Notice that they have no answer to the question because they know so little; but they know that something is here. They hope that they will know better after some time and exposure to him. So, they address Jesus as Rabbi and ask him where he lives. Jesus’ response is: come and see. Do you remember that later bitter confrontation between Jesus and Peter when they are coming down the mountain after the Transfiguration, what Jesus says to him when Peter tries to dissuade Jesus from going to Jerusalem to suffer, to die, and on the third day rise again? Remember what Jesus said then? Get behind me, you tempter, and learn from me! The words are harsh, but what he commanded Peter to do was to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, watch over his shoulder and observe what he does so that he can do the same and come to understand. That is the same thing, in gentler words, that Jesus says to the two seekers. And they stayed with him that day. That is the only way to come to know Jesus, by being with him and then doing what he does.
The next thing we hear is that Andrew, one of the two, goes to his brother Simon and tells him: We have found the Messiah – which translated means Christ. Meeting Christ, believing in Christ, means bringing others to Christ. Bring others to Christ and let Christ do the rest. See how Simon is changed. Jesus gives him a new name that in turn gives him a new significance. You are Simon, the son of John; you will be called Cephas – which translated is Peter. And Peter is translated Rock.
So, the faith journey of this year begins. Maybe the Lord asks you at the outset: What are you looking for? There may be many things you think you seek. Ultimately, though, it is Christ you seek and your ongoing transformation in Christ. So he says to you, Come and see. Listen as you stand at the Table of the Word. Observe as you fully, actively and consciously participate at the Table of the Eucharist. Be transformed as you take and eat. And if it works, you will be transformed and newly convinced that you are sent to be the continuation of Christ’s presence in the world until all have eaten and drunk and come to know.
Sincerely,
Didymus
