Jan. 14: 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Your servant is listening 

1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19; Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10; 1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20; Jn 1:35-42

In his message for the World Day of Peace on Jan. 1, Pope Francis invited us to develop a “contemplative gaze,” using our eyes of faith to enable us to see reality and to hear God’s voice in a deeper and truer way. The pope was speaking specifically of seeing the plight of so many refugees today, realizing that they are not strangers to be avoided but our brothers and sisters in need of acceptance and support.

The biblical roots of the exhortation to develop a “contemplative gaze” are echoed in the readings for today. The First Book of Samuel presents the dramatic call of God coming as a voice in the night to the young prophet as he was asleep in the temple. (His mother, Hannah, so grateful that her long barrenness had been lifted, dedicated her son Samuel to the temple under the protection of Eli, another prophet who lived within temple precincts.) 

When he first hears this mysterious call, the boy Samuel thought it was Eli calling him. After the third call, Eli realizes that it is God who is calling the young prophet by name and he instructs Samuel that if the call returns he should reply, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” This captivating scene concludes: “Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.”  

As we will see in next Sunday’s readings, the Gospel of Mark (as well as the parallel accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke) presents the inaugural encounter of Jesus with his disciples along the shore of the Sea of Galilee as a dramatic calling story. Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John — all fishermen — are called to follow Jesus and become fishers of people. 

But this Sunday, as the liturgical season of Ordinary Time gets underway, we have the Gospel of John’s version of the disciples’ first encounter with Jesus. Typically, John’s Gospel travels a different path than the other Gospels. Here, the encounter takes place in the desert where John the Baptist was preaching.  
Jesus passes by and John calls out, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two disciples of the Baptist are captivated by this brief glimpse of Jesus and start to follow him. John’s account includes two provocative statements of Jesus that will draw these would-be disciples into a deeper relationship with their Master. Jesus asks them, “What are you looking for?” and, later when the disciples ask Jesus where he abides, he answers, “Come, and you will see.”

“What are you looking for?” The question echoes down the centuries. What are we looking for in our lives? What do we really seek? There are some quick and common-sense answers: good health, a loving and happy family, a roof over our heads, freedom from financial worries, and so on. But the question can also lead us deeper into the kind of ultimate questions faith prompts: How do we find lasting happiness? What or who can give us deep peace and meaning in our lives? What about the possibility of life beyond death? Is this all there is?  

The same Gospel passage from John points us toward the answers to these questions. “Come, and you will see,” Jesus promises his disciples. The Gospel points us toward the reality of a loving God who will never abandon us, toward that ultimate source of peace who can give our lives true meaning and abiding hope, toward a future of abundant life.

From time to time, we need to sink beneath our tensions and, in a spirit of prayer, think more deeply about God’s presence in our lives. We need a “contemplative gaze” in order to understand what our hearts are truly seeking. For most of us, finding time to contemplate is a great challenge. But, like oxygen itself, we need prayer and meditation to keep our faith alive.