"Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening"
(1 Samuel 3: 9)
With the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord we finished the
beautiful Christmas season.
Our family gatherings and parish meetings are
over and the many resolutions for the New Year
are being worked on. Now, we are back to the Ordinary Time
and we have returned to the regular activities of our daily lives.
However, the Church wants us, through the Scripture readings
and liturgy, to find the Lord
Jesus in our daily lives and Jesus himself is willing to talk to us if
only we open our hearts to Him.
The protagonist of the first reading is the young Prophet Samuel.
He doesn't even know that he is called by the Lord. It is with the
help of the older prophet Eli that the young man opens his ears
to listen to his Lord.
Therefore, we should not despair if we do not listen to God from
the very beginning. The attitude of
the believer is to be constantly open in prayer to let
God speak. Discipleship is walking in search of a God who is
often revealed in ordinary things and especially in quiet prayer.
The Gospel both this week and next, tells us of
Jesus calling his disciples. This
Sunday it is John the Baptist who points out that Jesus is "the
Lamb of God."
Andrew and John followed the Master of Nazareth. So, it should
be that each one of us follows the Lamb of God on our lives.
This first encounter with
Jesus transformed his disciples. They found a reason to live and
they began to communicate their good news to others. Andrew
introduced Jesus to his elder brother Simon. Since God's ways
are different from ours, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter
that is the "rock" that became the foundation of his Church. Peter
will have a long way to go to be faithful to
this call. Let ourselves be transformed by Jesus who wants to be
with us not only at the beginning of this New Year but through
all our lives. Let us be disciples in charity and service to our
brothers and sisters like the first disciples who followed
to the Lamb of God.
Today is a good day to pray for our beloved Pope Francis,
successor of St. Peter.
May he be faithful to the service of Jesus Christ and his Church.
We ask God to continue Pope Francis’ life of leadership in
service to the poor, immigrants, prisoners and all marginalized
people as an example for all of us to follow.
Fr. Hernán, S.J.