January
17, 2021 Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
We are grateful to
people who opened doors for us in life. Perhaps at a crucial moment in our
lives, a friend pointed us in the right direction. Maybe someone shared with us
some DIY wisdom they possessed from an experience they had. We appreciate these
people because they had the generosity to give something worthwhile away for
our benefit, rather than keeping it to themselves.
That is how John
Baptist is portrayed in the gospel reading next Sunday. He had come to
recognize Jesus as a very special revelation of God’s love. Far
from keeping that discovery to himself, he shared it with his own disciples,
even though he knew that in doing so he would loose them to Jesus. He pointed
two of his closest disciples in the direction of Jesus. He opened a door for them.
A short while later, one of those two disciples, Andrew, did for his brother,
Simon, what John the Baptist had done for him. Andrew led Simon to Jesus. In
the first reading, Eli did something similar for Samuel, helping him understand
God’s call. The readings for the 2nd Ordinary Sunday put before us three
people, Eli, John the Baptist and Andrew, each of whom, in different ways,
pointed others towards the Lord.
We might be aware of
a John the Baptist or an Andrew or an Eli in our own lives, men or women who,
in some way or another, brought us to the Lord, or helped us to recognize in
our heart the voice of the Lord. We might think first of our own parents who
brought us to the baptismal font as infants. As early as possible they wanted
to say to us what John the Baptist said to his disciples, “Look, there is the lamb of God.” In the
following years, they may have helped us to grow in our relationship with the
Lord by bringing us to the church, praying with us, reading stories from lives
of the saints. We might also have had good religion teachers, who enabled us to
“come and see.” Looking back, there
were many people who helped open us up to the person of Jesus.
Samuel, who was led
to the Lord by Eli, is described in the first reading as a boy. In the gospel
reading, the two disciples who were led to the Lord by John the Baptist, and
Simon who was led to the Lord by Andrew, were adults. It was as adults that
they allowed themselves to be directed towards the person of Jesus. In our
adult years, we too may have met people who helped us to grow in our
relationship with the Lord. There can come a time in our adult life, when we
are open to a reawakening, a deepening, of our faith. We may find ourselves
searching for something more than we presently experience. The first words of
Jesus to the disciples of John the Baptist took the form of the question, “What do you want?” or “What are you searching for?” Jesus sought to
engage with those who were searching. The Lord is always drawing near to us in
response to our searching. In our searching we can meet someone or some group
who helps us to recognize the Lord’s nearness, who
opens a door for us into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Through them the
Lord can reach us and touch our lives in a way he had never done before.
At any time in our
adult life we can meet a John the Baptist who says to us, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.” and that
can happen to us over and over again, right up to the very end of our lives.
The Lord never ceases to call us through others. On the other side, there can
come a time when the Lord may be asking us to become a John the Baptist or an
Andrew or an Eli for somebody else. Jesus may be prompting us through the Holy
Spirit to open a door to the Lord for others. Our response to such a call can
take many different forms. For Eli it took the form of helping the younger
Samuel to find the right words for his prayer. For Andrew, it took the form of
sharing a significant experience with his brother. The readings this Sunday
invite us to be open to the many ways the Lord draws us to himself, and also to
the ways that he may be calling us to help him in drawing others to himself.
Fr. Don, C.P