Homily for 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B 2021
1 Samuel 3:3-10,19; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20; John 1:35-42
Introduction
How do people like Drew Brees and Michael
Jordan become sports stars? How do people
like Denzel Washington or Meryl Streep become great actors? How do people like Nelson Mandela and Martin
Luther King whose legacy of working for human dignity and equality we celebrate
this week, become great leaders?
I think that we often forget that they were
not always the celebrities we know. We
forget that they have a back story, one that involves much preparation, back-breaking
hard work and tonnes of sweat, even suffering.
To fully appreciate their success, we must first understand how they
achieved it.
Scripture and Theology
Today’s readings also provide us with
celebrities of sorts, people who God gives great responsibilities.
·
Samuel was called to be a
prophet of God, a king-maker who chose and anointed both Saul and David, the
first two kings of Israel;
·
Andrew and his brother Simon
were called to be disciples and later become Apostles of Jesus. In fact, Simon would have his name changed to
Cephas, or Peter, which means rock and would captain the ship we call the
Church. In a rags-to-riches kind of
story, the fisherman became pope.
But all these men have a back story, which
I would like us to reflect on today. While God can call anybody he wants, any time
he wants and make them prophets or apostles overnight, that is not how he
usually operates. Often, like he did with
Samuel and the two brothers, he takes his time working on them in the
background, usually through the mediation and help of other people.
Let's start with Samuel. He was the only son of Hannah his
mother. She had been unable to give her
husband a child for many years and had suffered the taunts of the other
wife. But after hearing her repeated
cries, God intervened and she gave birth to Samuel. You would think that such a woman, when she finally
got a son, would cling to him. But
Hannah in gratitude instead gave the boy back to God, giving him to the priest
Eli, to raise him for the service of the Lord.
The boy grew up in the house of the Lord, a kind of apprenticeship. In his case the trade he learnt was not
carpentry or plumping, but the work of the Lord.
Eli would play an even more important role
in the calling of Samuel as we just heard.
Three times Samuel does not know it is God calling him, thinking that it
is Eli, his teacher, calling. Only after
conferring with Eli does Samuel realize that it is God calling. He needed the help of Eli who told him:
"Go to sleep, and if you are called,
reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." Eli was an essential hearing-aid, who enabled
Samuel hear the voice of the Lord.
Similarly, with Andrew and Peter, God used
other people to prepare them for their calling.
As we saw already, Andrew and another disciple, were followers of John
the Baptist. These men had heard
everything that the Baptist had taught them about the coming of the Messiah,
about the need to prepare the pathways, about the Kingdom being at hand! It is likely they had also undergone John's
baptism of repentance, a sign of converting from a life of sin to a life of
righteousness as they awaited the coming of the Messiah. And then as we heard today, John literally
pointed Jesus out to them saying “Behold,
the Lamb of God.” In other words, he
was saying, "guys, the man I have been telling you about is right there;
go to him." John prepared them to
become disciples of Jesus.
But there was more preparation in store for
these new disciples. They went to Jesus and
asked him: “where are you staying?” That was their way of saying, “Sir, we want
to live with you and learn from you.”
And Jesus responded “come and you will see.” And they stayed with him for three years to
learn from him.
In addition, what John the Baptist did for
Andrew and his friend, preparing and nudging them towards Jesus, Andrew would
do that for his brother Simon. He would
go to him and tell him, "We have
found the Messiah." He would bring him to Jesus, and as they say, the
rest is history.
Christian Life
The Lord continues to call people
today. There is the basic call for us
all to be disciples, to be Christians.
And within this wider call, each of us is called to a specific vocation,
such as the priesthood, the religious life, marriage and for some the single
life. We need to be the instruments God
uses to call people today. Can we be Eli
to the Samuels of today? Can we be John the Baptist to the Andrews of
today? Can we be Andrew to the Simons of
today?
In my vocationak journey, I have had many
Elis, John the Baptists and Andrews. I
have had the privilege of attending many good schools and had many great
teachers. These nuns and brothers,
priests and deacons, catechists and teachers, gave me the skills and knowledge,
so that I could hear the voice of the Lord and respond appropriately, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening."
And yet, I would say that despite all the
help I received in school and seminary, the real journey that led to my
ordination nearly twenty-three years ago begun at home in my family. Mom set me on this journey, when she taught my
siblings and me, the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be to the Father; when she
told us Bible stories in a way that we could understand, many of which stories
I still remember today; when she took us to church on Sunday, even when that
meant walking five miles to church. She
made it possible for me to know Jesus, fall in love with Jesus and be ready when
he called me to be a priest, to say, “Yes, Here
am I, Lord; I come to do your will."
Similarly, perhaps many of you have also
responded to your calling, because first you attended that all-important school
of mom and dad. At a conference about vocations
a few years ago one anxious young father asked the speaker: “What is the best
way for me to inspire vocation in my children?”
The nun who was giving the talk told him: “start by loving and caring
for your wife.” When the children see
the love between mom and dad, they will learn too how to be good husbands and good
wives, how to be good priests and good deacons, good nuns and brothers.
Besides our teachers in school, besides our
families, there is one more group that is crucial in fostering vocation: you
the ordinary parishioners. Do you
encourage fellow parishioners to pursue their vocations of marriage, religious
life or the priesthood? Have you come up
to a young man and said: “You look like one who would make a darn good priest?”
Have you come up to a young couple that is dating, or that is newly married but
having some problems, encouraging them in their commitment, giving some advice
from your experience? Have you been Eli,
John the Baptist and Andrew to others outside your family?
Conclusion
Today we have a shortage of priests,
religious, even lasting marriages. Some might
think that the Lord has stopped calling people to vocations, like he did in the
past. But I think God is still calling
people; it is we who have stopped serving as his intermediaries. We need to step up to the plate to prepare and
help people to hear his voice.
Can you imagine the feelings of the high
school coach of Drew Brees watching him play in the Superbowl? Can you imagine the feelings of the high
school drama teacher of Meryl Streep watching her win an Oscar? Can you imagine
the feelings of the religion teacher of Martin Luther King seeing him give his
“I have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial”?
Can you imagine yourself having similar
feelings, when one of your proteges follows God’s call to their vocation? And when you will arrive at heaven’s gate,
can you give an account to God, of how many vocations you have fostered?
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