Boy, how time flies. It seems that we have just finished the Christmas Season and celebrated the New Year and already, Lent is looming. Ash Wednesday and Lent begin in just four weeks from this coming Wednesday. January is almost half over; tomorrow is the 15th of January – can you believe it!?! As we return to Ordinary Time over these next few weeks, we are reminded that God has ordered time for our salvation. Our lives have a purpose – each of us has a sacred calling from God and we are called to respond. Today’s readings tell the story of two men – Samuel and John the Baptist – and their call from God and their willingness to respond. I’m sure you’re familiar with these stories, so let me just point out some of their more significant aspects. Both Samuel and John the Baptist come from mothers – Hannah and Elizabeth – who are longing for a child. Both give birth in their old age. And, both Hannah and Elizabeth are aware that their sons are special. Of course, whose child is not special? And, although I’m sure both would have wanted to dote on their child, they both dedicated them to God. Hannah left Samuel in the temple under the care of the priest, Eli, shortly after he was weaned, and John was dedicated after his birth with a special vow.
The part of the story about Samuel and John the Baptist that we hear today relates their special calling. Samuel receives the call from God to become a prophet and, as we hear at the end of today’s first reading, every word of his was fulfilled – that’s one of the signs of a true prophet. And, in today’s Gospel, we hear that John the Baptist, whose vocation was to point to the Messiah, directed his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus.
These two calls and responses are offered for our reflection today for at least two reasons. First, they lead us to remember, once again, how God continued to lead his people back to him. It was Samuel, after all, who anointed David as king of Israel. This is important because, as you surely know, Jesus was to be born of the line of David, as we just celebrated at Christmas. And, it was John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament, who prepared the people of Israel for Jesus as he began his public ministry.
Second, these readings remind us, as we begin another year in God’s grace, that we, too, are called by God and like Samuel, we should always be ready to listen to his call. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” Eli instructed Samuel to respond after he understood that it was God who was calling him. Every day, in our time of prayer, we need to spend time to listen to God as he directs us, day by day, to follow his son’s way back to him. And, like John the Baptist, we are called to lead others to our Lord.
Every day, God orders our lives, offering us opportunities to listen to his will, follow his son and be prophetic, that is, speak his truth. By your patient care of your children, you parents are speaking the truth of God’s love for the ones he has put in your care. Every time you avoid fighting with your brother or sister, you children are speaking the truth that God loves us all and, as he forgives each of us, he calls us to forgive those who hurt us. Every time you help a neighbor in need, or call on someone who is lonely or comfort someone who is afraid, you are speaking the truth that God, in his mercy, accompanies us in our trials.
We find ourselves in a world where so many want to live in their own truth. Like Adam and Eve, they have rejected God and tried to create their own reality. They redefine marriage, created by God as an intimate, life-giving union between man and woman. They defy science and decide for themselves when human life begins. They have even denied that God made us male and female. There are now countless gender labels that disregard our true human nature. Most of us find ourselves struggling with these issues in our families or among our friends.
We know, however, that there is only one author of life and of truth: God. Let us make sure that we remember, each day, that we have been saved by the Lamb of God who has offered himself to the Father for our salvation. He is truly God who, for our sake, has become man. He speaks the eternal truth. And, he has called us to follow him. He invites us to get to know him, because he wants us to work with him in this vital task of building up his kingdom in our midst. That’s why we hear about Jesus every time we come together to celebrate the Eucharist. For it is only in the personal, intimate knowledge of Jesus – the Son of God – that we come to be one with God and that we can help to bring others to him. As we return to Ordinary Time, time through which the Church helps us to understand God in an orderly way, let us listen carefully to his eternal Word, Jesus of Nazareth, who reveals God’s plan for us – his plan to lead us all back to himself.