January 18, 2015

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

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.”
Samuel 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 Eli 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.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
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.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
“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!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Reading 2 1 Cor 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?
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.

Alleluia Jn 1:41, 17b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
We have found the Messiah:
Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 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 Jesus 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 Christ —.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.

From: 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

God Calls Samuel (Continuation)

[3b] Samuel was lying down within the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God
was. [4] Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” [5]
and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not
call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. [6] And the LORD called again,
“Samuel!” And Samuel arose 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.” [7] Now Samuel did not
yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
[8] And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to
Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD
was calling the boy. [9] Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he
calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for thy servant hears.’” So Samuel went
and lay down in his place. [10] And the LORD came and stood forth, calling as
at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said “Speak for thy servant hears.”

[19] And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall
to the ground.

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Commentary:

3:1-21. The account of Samuel”s vocation is a good example of a divine calling
to perform a special mission: it shows both the attitudes that the person called
should have and the demands that the divine call implies. Firstly (vv. 1-3), we are
introduced to the protagonists (the Lord, Eli, Samuel) and the circumstances in
which the action occurs—night-time when everyone is asleep, the temple, the ark,
and the lamp of God still burning; all this shows that something exceptional is
going on and God is behind it.

The second scene (vv. 4-8) is a charming dialogue between the Lord and Samuel,
and between Samuel and Eli, at the end of which comes an unforgettable asser-
tion of readiness on Samuel”s part, “Here I am, for you have called me” (v. 8).
“This young boy gives us an example of the highest form of obedience. True obe-
dience does not question the meaning of what is commanded, nor does it judge,
since he who decides to practise perfect obedience renounces his own judgment”
(St Gregory the Great, “In Primum Regum”, 2, 4, 10-11).

In the third scene (vv. 9-14) we can see the dual role of every prophet from Sa—
muel onwards—listening carefully to God (vv. 9-10) and faithfully passing on the
message received, even if his listeners find it harsh (vv. 11-14; cf. v. 18). “Greatly
blessed is he who hears the [voice of the] divine whispering in the silence and
who often repeats that phrase of Samuel”s: “Speak, Lord, your servant is liste-
ning’” (St Bernard, “Sermones De Diversis”, 23, 7).

The last scene (3:19-4:1) is a summary of what will be Samuel”s future work as
a prophet. A new stage is beginning in the life of the people of God; now God will
make his will known through prophets who speak on God”s behalf to the people,
the priests and even the king himself.

3:9-10. “Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.” This prayer marked the start of Sa-
muel’s life as a prophet called by God, and it epitomizes the way he acted: he
cultivated his relationship with God assiduously and pleaded with him on behalf
of the people. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2578, suggests, he
learned all this from his mother from infancy onwards: “The prayer of the People
of God flourishes in the shadow of God”s dwelling place, first the ark of the co-
venant and later the Temple. At first the leaders of the people — the shepherds
and the prophets—teach them to pray. The infant Samuel must have learned from
his mother Hannah how ‘to stand before the Lord’ (cf. 1 Sam 1:9-18) and from the
priest Eli how to listen to his word: ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening’
(1 Sam 3:9-10). Later, he will also know the cost and consequence of interces-
sion: ‘Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by
ceasing to pray for you; and I will instruct you in the good and the right way’ (1
Sam 12:23).”

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20

Respect for the Body (Continuation)

[13c] The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the
body. [14] And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

Offense to Christ and to the Holy Spirit

[15a] Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? [17] But he who
is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. [18] Shun immorality. Every
other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins
against his own body. [19] Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; [20] you
were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

12-14. “All things are lawful for me”: the Apostle may have used this expression
himself to explain Christian freedom as opposed to the prescriptions of the Je-
wish law on matters of legal impurity, food, sabbath observance, etc.; and to
stress the freedom which Jesus Christ won for men by dying on the cross (cf.
Gal 4:31); this freedom means that the Christian is no longer a slave of the devil
or of sin, and—by sharing through Baptism in Christ’s kingship has obtained do-
minion over all the things of the earth. But some people were misinterpreting this
and were using their freedom as an excuse for living without reference to the com-
mandments of God. St Paul makes it clear that everything which is not opposed
to God’s law is permissible, and that everything which goes counter to that law
means falling again into the old slavery: “It cannot happen that the soul should
go its way without anyone to direct it; that is why it has been redeemed in such
a way that it has Christ as its King—his yoke is easy and his burden light (cf. Mt
11:30)—and not the devil, whose rule is oppressive” (Origen, “In Rom. Comm.”,
V, 6).

Another sophism was to present impurity as a natural need of the body, in the
same way as food is natural. St Paul rejects this argument by showing that the
relationship between food and the stomach is not parallel to that of the body and
fornication: the body is not even necessarily orientated to marriage, for although
marriage is necessary for the spread of the human race, it is not a necessity for
every individual (cf. “St Pius V Catechism”, II, 8, 12). The Apostle places the
body on a much higher plane: “the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the bo-
dy”, and it is God’s will to raise it up to live again in heaven (cf. Rom 8:11),
where there will be no longer any need for bodily nourishment.

From this orientation of the whole person—body and soul—to God arises the emi-
nently positive character of the virtue of purity, which tends to fill the heart with
love of God, who “has not called us for uncleanness but [to live] in holiness” (1
Thess 4:7). “We belong to God completely,” St. J. Escriva reminds us, “soul
and body, flesh and bones, all our senses and faculties [...]. If one has the spi-
rit of God, chastity is not a troublesome and humiliating burden, but a joyful
affirmation. Will-power, dominion, self-mastery do not come from the flesh or
from instinct. They come from the will, especially if it is united to the Will of
God. In order to be chaste (and not merely continent or decent) we must sub-
ject our passions to reason, but for a noble motive, namely, the promptings of
Love.

“I think of this virtue as the wings which enable us to carry God’s teaching, his
commandments, to every environment on this earth, without fear of becoming
contaminated in the process. Wings, even in the case of those majestic beds
which soar higher than the clouds, are a burden and a heavy one. But without
wings, there is no way of flying. I want you to grasp this idea clearly, and to de-
cide not to give in when you feel the sting of temptation, with its suggestion that
purity is an unbearable burden. Take heart! Fly upwards, up to the sun, in pur-
suit of Love” (”Friends of God”, 177).

15-18. St Paul here explains how gravely offensive this sin is to Jesus Christ. The
Christian has become a member of Christ’s body through Baptism; he is meant
to live in an intimate relationship with him, sharing his very life (cf. Gal 2:20, to be
“one spirit with him” (cf. Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:27). Sexual immorality is as terrible
as to hack oneself off from the body of Christ, to become one body with a prosti-
tute. Hence the gravity of this sin, a sin against one’s own body, which is part of
the mystical body of Christ.

“Shun [sexual] immorality”: this is the route one must take when tempted against
chastity. Temptations against other virtues can be overcome by putting up resis-
tance, but in this case “one does not win by putting up resistance, because the
more one thinks about the thing, the more influenced one becomes; one wins by
fleeing—that is, by avoiding unclean thoughts completely and by avoiding all occa-
sions of sin” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on 1 Cor, ad loc.”). A Christian
has all kinds of resources he can use to practise chastity in a very refined way:
“The first is to be very vigilant about what we look at, and what we think and say
and do; second, to have recourse to prayer; third, to frequent the sacraments wor-
thily; fourth, to fly from anything which might tempt us to sin; fifth, to have great
devotion to the Blessed Virgin. If we do all that, then, no matter what our enemies
do, no matter how frail this virtue be, we can be quite sure of holding on to it” (St
John Mary Vianney, “Sermon on the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost”, II);
see also the note on Mt 5:27-30.

19-20. Fornication is not only a profanation of the body of Christ but also of the
temple of the Holy Spirit—for God dwells in the soul, through grace, as in a temple
(cf. note on 1 Cor 3:16-17).

“Contemplative prayer will rise within you whenever you meditate on this impres-
sive reality: something as material as my body has been chosen by the Holy
Spirit as his dwelling place.... I no longer belong to myself.... My body and soul,
my whole being, belong to God.... And this prayer will be rich in practical conse-
quences, drawn from the great consequence which the Apostle himself proposes:
‘glorify God in your body’ (1 Cor 6:20)” (St. J. Escriva, “Conversations”, 121).

“You were bought with a price”: the Redemption wrought by Christ, culminating
with his death on the cross, is the price paid to set mankind free from slavery to
the devil, to sin and to death. “You know that you were ransomed from the futile
ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver and
gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or
spot” (1 Pet 1:18-19; cf. Eph 1:7). That is why “you are not your own”: you now
belong to God; the Christian is part of Christ’s body, and a temple of the Holy
Spirit. Reflection on this wonderful truth should lead the Christian always to live
in accordance with his new status. “Christian, remember who you are; you have
been given a share in God’s very nature; do not, therefore, even think of reverting
by unworthy conduct to your earlier evil ways. Remember who your head is and
whose body you are part of. Do not forget that you were set free from the power
of darkness and brought into the light, to the Kingdom of God. Thanks to the sa-
crament of Baptism, you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit: do not think
of turning out so noble a guest by evil deeds; do not think of subjecting yourself
to the slavery of the devil: for the price paid for you was the blood of Christ” (St
Leo the Great, “First Nativity Sermon”).

20. “So, glorify God in your body”: this follows logically from what the Apostle
has been saying. “Purity as a virtue, that is, an ability to ‘control (one’s) own
body in holiness and honor’ (cf. 1 Thess 4:4), allied to the gift of purity as the fruit
of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the ‘temple’ of the body, makes for such dig-
nity in interpersonal relationships that “God himself is glorified in the body”. Purity
is the glory of the human body in God’s sight. It is the glory of God in the human
body” (Bl. John Paul II, “General Audience”, 18 March 1981).

In commenting on this passage, St John Chrysostom recalls what our Lord says
in Matthew 5:19 “that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father
who is in heaven”—to show that a Christian’s chaste life should lead those around
him to God. “When they see a holy man practising the highest virtues, they feel
obliged to reflect and they blush to see the difference between their life and that
of a Christian. For, when they see someone who shares their own nature being so
much above them (a great deal more than heaven is above each) do they not feel
obliged to believe that a divine power is at work to produce such sanctity]?” (”Hom.
on 1 Cor, 18, ad loc.”).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 1:35-42

The Calling of the First Disciples

[35] The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; [36] and he
looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” [37] The two
disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. [38] Jesus turned, and
saw them following, and said to them,”What do you seek?” And they said to Him,
“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?” [39] He said to them,
“Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed
with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. [40] One of the two who heard
John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. [41] He first
found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah’ (which
means Christ). [42] He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So
you are Simon, the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means
Peter).

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Commentary:

35-39. Through these words of the Baptist, these two disciples are moved by
grace to approach the Lord. John’s testimony is an example of the special gra-
ces God distributes to attract people to Himself. Sometimes He addresses a
person directly by stirring his soul and inviting him to follow Him; at other times,
as in the present case, He chooses to use someone close to us who knows us,
to bring us to meet Christ.

The two disciples already had a keen desire to see the Messiah; John’s words
move them to try to become friends of our Lord: it is not merely natural curiosity
but Christ’s personality which attracts them. They want to get to know Him, to
be taught by Him and to enjoy His company. “Come and see” (John 1:39; cf. 11:
34)—a tender invitation to begin that intimate friendship they were seeking. Time
and personal contact with Christ will be needed to make them more secure in
their vocation. The Apostle St John, one of the protagonists in this scene, notes
the exact time it took place: “it was about the tenth hour”, roughly four in the
afternoon.

Christian faith can never be just a matter of intellectual curiosity; it affects one’s
whole life: a person cannot understand it unless he really lives it; therefore, our
Lord does not at this point tell them in detail about His way of life; He invites
them to spend the day with Him. St Thomas Aquinas comments on this pas-
sage saying that our Lord speaks in a lofty, mystical way because what God is
(in Himself or in grace) can only be understood through experience: words can-
not describe it. We grow in this understanding by doing good works (they im-
mediately accepted Christ’s invitation and as a reward “they saw”), by recollec-
tion and by applying our mind to the contemplation of divine things, by desiring
to taste the sweetness of God, by assiduous prayer. Our Lord invited everyone
to do all this when He said, “Come and see”, and the disciples discovered it all
when, in obedience to our Lord, “they went” and were able to learn by personal
experience, whereas they could not understand the words alone (cf. “Commen-
tary on St John, in loc”.).

40-41. The Evangelist now gives us the name of one of the two disciples involved
in the previous scene; he will mention Andrew again in connection with the multi-
lication of the loaves (John 6:8) and the last Passover (John 12:22).

We cannot be absolutely sure who the second disciple was; but since the very
earliest centuries of the Christian era he has always been taken to be the Evan-
gelist himself. The vividness of the account, the detail of giving the exact time,
and even John’s tendency to remain anonymous (John 19:16; 20:2; 21:7,20)
seem to confirm this.

“St John the Apostle, who pours into his narrative so much that is first-hand,
tells of his first unforgettable conversations with Christ. ‘”Master, where are you
staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They went and saw where He was
staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.’

“This divine and human dialogue completely changed the life of John and Andrew,
and Peter and James and so many others. It prepared their hearts to listen to
the authoritative teaching which Jesus gave them beside the Sea of Galilee” (St.
J. Escriva, “Christ is Passing By”, 108).

Those hours spent with our Lord soon produce the first results of apostolate.
Andrew, unable to contain his joy, tells Simon Peter the news that he has found
the Messiah, and brings him to Him. Now, as then, there is a pressing need to
bring others to know the Lord.

“Open your own hearts to Jesus and tell Him your story. I don’t want to genera-
lize. But one day perhaps an ordinary Christian, just like you, opened your eyes
to horizons both deep and new, yet as old as the Gospel. He suggested to you
the prospect of following Christ earnestly, seriously, of becoming an apostle of
apostles. Perhaps you lost your balance then and didn’t recover it. Your com-
placency wasn’t quite replaced by true peace until you freely said ‘yes’ to God,
because you wanted to, which is the most supernatural of reasons. And in its
wake came a strong, constant joy, which disappears only when you abandon
Him” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 1).

42. What was it like when Jesus looked at someone? From what He says here,
He seems both imperious and tender. On other occasions His glance is enough
to invite a person to leave everything and follow Him, as in the case of Matthew
(Matthew 9:9); or He seems to be full of love, as in His meeting with the rich
young man (Mark 10:21), or He seems angry or sad, because of the Pharisees’
unbelief (Mark 2:5), or compassionate, towards the widow of Nain (Luke 7:13).
He is able to move Zacchaeus’ heart to conversion (Luke 19:5); and He Himself
is moved by the faith and generosity of the poor widow who gave in alms every-
thing she had (Mark 12:41-44). His penetrating look seems to lay the soul bare
to God and provoke one to self-examination and contrition — as happened to the
adulterous woman (John 8:10) and to Peter who, after denying Christ (Luke 22:
61) wept bitterly (Mark 14:72).

“You shall be called Cephas”: naming something is the same as taking posses-
sion of the thing named (cf. Genesis 17:5; 22:28; 32:28; Isaiah 62:2). Thus, for
example, Adam when he was made lord of creation, gave names to creating
things (Genesis 2:20). “Cephas” is the Greek transcription of an Aramaic word
meaning stone, rock: therefore, St. John, writing in Greek, has to explain the
meaning of the word Jesus used. Cephas was not a proper name, but our Lord
put it on Peter to indicate his role as His vicar, which He will later on reveal (Mat-
thew 16:16-18): Simon was destined to be the stone, the rock, of the Church.

The first Christians regarded this new name as so significant that they used it
without translating it (cf. Galatians 2:9, 11, 14); later its translation “Peter”
(Petros, Petrus) became current, pushing the Apostle’s old name—Simon—into
the background. “Son of John”: ancient manuscripts include variants, such as
“son of Jona”.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Samuel 3:3-10,19 ©

Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord, where the ark of God was, when the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli said, ‘I did not call. Go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down. Once again the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ He replied, ‘I did not call you, my son; go back and lie down.’ Samuel had as yet no knowledge of the Lord and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Once again the Lord called, the third time. He got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli then understood that it was the Lord who was calling the boy, and he said to Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The Lord then came and stood by, calling as he had done before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel answered, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’

Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground.

Psalm

Psalm 39:2,4,7-10 ©