12-Jan-2015 Dear Friend, Many of us have questions that trouble us from time to time and we seek answers to them from significant people in our lives. Of course there are superficial questions and others that sometimes are a matter of life and death. Have we brought our questions to the Lord and have we ever tried to listen to Him as he answers us? Or would we rather not ask him for fear of the answer? For that matter, have we listened to what the Lord is saying to us, asking of us? Could our prayer be: ‘Speak Lord, I’m really listening!’ Have an attentive weekend, listening to Him! -Fr. Jude Sunday Refl. 2nd Sunday of the year “Here I am Lord! I’m ready! I come to do your will!” 18-Jan-2015 Sam 3: 3-10, 19 1 Corinthians 6: 13-15, 17-20 John 1: 35-42
The first reading narrates the call of young Samuel while he was serving in the temple. Samuel had no way of recognizing the voice of the Lord, and thought it was Eli the High priest that was calling him. But the call of the Lord is persistent and finally Samuel is alert and has been trained to respond: “Speak Lord your servant is listening.” How different from our modern-day prayer which often says: “Listen Lord, for your servant is speaking!” While prayer is a conversation with God, we need to realize that to enter into prayer we have to listen, and our attitude has to be: “Please speak Lord, I want to listen to you.” We cannot command the Lord to speak, and the initiative of prayer is always with God. We cannot tell God when he has to speak. On the contrary we have to humbly wait on him and be available to him. The response psalm of today confirms the same attitude: “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will!” Someone is always listening...In St. Paul’s Cathedral in London there is a circular gallery where any spoken sound bounces back from the hard smooth stone walls. If you put your ear close to the wall, you can hear what is even whispered on the other side of the wall, many meters away. Many years ago a poor shoemaker whispered to his beloved that he could not marry her because he could not afford to buy any raw material for his work and his business was on the verge of ruin. The poor girl wept as she listened to the sad news. A gentleman on the other side of the gallery more than sixty meters away heard the story and the shoe maker’s whispered prayer, and decided to do something about it. The gentleman followed the shoemaker out of St. Pauls and after finding where he lived, had some leather sent to his shop. Naturally the young man was delighted. He made good use of the gift, and his business prospered and he was able to marry the girl of his heart. It was not until a few years later that he learned the name of his unknown friend. It was Prime Minister William Gladstone of Great Britain.From –‘The Sunday Liturgy’ The gospel continues the theme of the manifestation or epiphany of Jesus, as John the Baptist points out and directs his own disciples to Jesus. “Behold the Lamb of God!” John and Andrew, the disciples with their teacher, John the Baptist, were at the Jordan river, where the people had long ago crossed over into the Promised land. When the disciples heard from John the name of the one passing by –The Lamb of God, they understood enough to follow Jesus. Their decision to leave John and follow Jesus must have been a struggle. They followed Jesus respectfully at a distance behind. Jesus turned and asked what they were looking for. Through history, people have come to Jesus for a variety of reasons. People still come to Jesus for a variety of reasons. Why are we looking for Jesus? What do we want from him? Andrew and John followed Jesus asking where he stayed. They were more than curious, they wanted to know him and were attracted to him. Jesus’ answer was a kind invitation: “Come and see.” The experience of staying with Jesus was so memorable that John even adds the time of the day at which they met Jesus –four in the afternoon. Andrew too was so taken up with the encounter that he could wait to come home and share what he had experienced with his brother Simon. “We have found the Messiah” he said, and took Simon to meet the Lord. Jesus looked hard at Simon and called him by name. “You are Simon son of John; you will be called Cephas-meaning the Rock.” The encounter of Simon changed not only his name but his life. “What’s your profession?”A stranger once asked a teacher, “What’s your profession?” The teacher replied, “Christian,” The stranger continued, “No, that’s not what I mean. What’s your job?” The teacher asserted, once again, “I’m a Christian!” Puzzled, the stranger clarified, “Perhaps I should ask, what you do for a living?” The teacher replied, “Well, I’ve a full-time job as a Christian. But, to support my sick husband and children, I teach in a school.” That teacher had certainly understood the meaning of discipleship summarized by the response psalm (40): “Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.”Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ I need a person who is on the alert…Waiting in a steamship office to be interviewed for the job of a wireless operator, a group of applicants filled the room with such a buzz of conversation that they were oblivious to the dots and dashes that began coming over the loudspeaker. About that time another man entered and sat down quietly by himself. Suddenly he snapped to attention, walked into the private office, and a few minutes later came out smiling with the new job. “Say,” one of the group called out, “how did you get in ahead of us? We were here first.” “One of you would have gotten the job,” the successful applicant replied, “if you had listened to the message from the loudspeaker.” “What message?” they askedAnonymous Called by nameYou may remember the story of Helen of Troy. According to legend this beautiful queen was captured and carried away and became a victim of amnesia. She became a prostitute in the streets. She didn’t know her name or the fact that she came from royal blood. But back in her homeland, friends didn’t give up on her return. An old friend believed she was alive and went to look for her. He never lost faith. One day while wandering through the streets, he came to a waterfront and saw a wretched woman in tattered clothes with deep lines across her face. There was something about her that seemed familiar, so he walked up to her and said, “What is your name?” She gave a name that was meaningless to him. “May I see your hands? He pursued. She held out her hands in front of her, and the young man gasped, “You are Helen! You are Helen! Do you remember? She looked up at him in astonishment. “Helen!” he yelled out. Then the fog seemed to clear. There was recognition in her face. The light came on! She discovered her lost self, put her arms around her friend and wept. She discarded the tattered clothes and once more became the queen she was born to be. -God searches for you in the same way. He calls you by name. He uses every method possible to look for you and try and convince you of your worth to him.Brian Cavanaugh in ‘The Sower’s Seeds’ An unfamiliar voiceIn his sermon, “When God Speaks,” Dr. Keith Wagner says the following: “I am sure that everyone has seen the television commercial about E.F. Hutton. There is always a crowd of people and two people are together when one of them says, “Well my broker is E.F. Hutton and E.F. Hutton says…..” At that point there is a huge hush over the crowd and everyone turns to listen. Then the advertisement concludes with the phrase, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” What about when God speaks? Is anyone listening? Does God have the same credibility that E.F. Hutton has when it comes to important messages? God is actually speaking to us all the time. The problem is that we are not listening. It was the same in Samuel’s time. Samuel was a future leader of the faith community. God needed Samuel to listen. No one else was listening at that time as we hear, “for the word of the Lord was rare in those days.” Is the word of the Lord rare in these times? Or is God not heard because no one is listening? Is it difficult to listen to God in these times simply because there is too much noise? Samuel heard the voice of God , only because he slept near the arc of the covenant. When we are willing to stay close to the church, to ‘hang out’ where the word of God is spoken, we give God an opportunity to speak.John Pichappilly in ‘The Table of the Lord’ Two disciples follow JesusA company advertised an opening in its sales force. It received more than one thousand applications for the job. But of all those many letters and resumes, one letter stood out: “I am presently selling furniture at the address below. You may judge my ability as a salesman if you will stop in to see me any time, pretending that you are interested in buying furniture. “When you come in you can identity me by my red hair. I will have no way of identifying you. That way the sales abilities I exhibit will be no more than my usual everyday approach and not a special effort to impress a potential employer.” The sales manager took the applicant up on his challenge and visited the furniture store. You won’t be surprised to learn that the redhead got the job.”Ken Abraham in ‘Designer Genes’ The Quest for JesusAlbert Schweitzer was a concert pianist in Europe who gave up his career in music to become a doctor and work as a missionary in Africa. Albert Schweitzer writes in his book ‘The Quest for the Historical Jesus’. Jesus comes to us as one unknown, as he did long ago to the apostles on the seashore. He speaks to us the same words that he spoke to them: “Follow me!” “And to those who accept his invitation, whether they be wise or simple, young or old, he will reveal himself to them in their toils and sufferings. And they shall learn through their own experiences who he is.”Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ Discovering God’s plan for meCoach Grant Teaff of Baylor University in Texas has written a book called ‘I believe’. In it he describes an incident that happened earlier in his career at McMurry College. One Saturday night he and his team had taken off in a chartered plane to return to Texas. Suddenly the plane developed serious trouble. The pilot announced that he would attempt a crash landing. The plane was loaded with fuel, so an explosion was likely. As the plane sped downwards one of the players called out, “Coach Teaff would you lead us in prayer? We’re all pretty frightened.” Teaff prayed aloud for everyone. Seconds later the plane bellied across the ground. A shower of sparks engulfed it. Miraculously, however, it didn’t explode and no one was hurt. The next night Teaff and his family were in the Church together. Right in the middle of the services Teaff got up and left the church and went to the McMurry Fieldhouse about a mile away. He went directly to the team’s dressing room and knelt down and prayed: “God, I know you have a plan, a purpose, and a will for my life and the lives of these young men. I do not know what it is but I’ll…. try to impress upon the young men I coach this year and forever that there is more to life than playing football; that you do have a purpose for our lives.”Mark Link in ‘Sunday Homilies’ May we discover the hidden purpose of our lives by listening to Him! Fr. Jude Botelho botelhoj...@gmail.com PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
