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OMELIE / Omelie EN

14 gen 2018
14/01/2018  2nd Sunday of O. T. - B 

14/01/2018  2nd Sunday of O. T. - B 

Reading 1, First Samuel 3,3-10.19  Psalm 39  Reading 2, First Corinthians 6,13-15.17-20  Gospel, John 1,35-42

 

The first reading, very well known by the Christians, who desire to imitate the boy Samuel, prepares us to meet Jesus in the most authentic way, the most becoming Him and the most productive for us. The Gospel speaks about this meeting in a simple and peaceful way, and the second reading opens up a trail in order for us to become aware of the fact that meeting Jesus leaves tangible signs in our life!

Samuel is only a young boy: despite this, God thinks him “able” to listen, so He speaks to him. Even if he is a young boy, however, God wants to be respectful of his freedom! As a matter of fact He calls him without revealing the identity of whom is calling him, testing his obedience! He calls him in the night, testing his generosity and availability! He calls him more than once, testing his constancy and fidelity. He calls him with a man’s voice, testing his humility. The boy is ready, available, demonstrating in this way to be “able” to listen to the God’s voice!

Why does God speak to whom is “able” to listen? Without a doubt, God has things to say to everybody, but His words need to be repeated by men that have been listening to them, have owned them, almost “embodied” them! These men can even be only boys, feeble and fragile people, without particular qualifications that can glorify the man, but they have to be able to listen: God does not want to waste important messages to His people.

Jesus takes God’s behavior as a model. He sees the two disciples of John’s following Him. He asks them: “What do you want?”, almost in order to understand if they are searching for some things, like wealth or ambitions or personal satisfaction, or if they are searching for Him instead, as a person to love and to serve even to the point of suffering! He wants to see if they let themselves to be guided by selfishness or by love for Him. He does not consider them disciples of His yet: first of all they have to “see” where He lives, they have to understand His poverty, His detachment from everything, His decision to live only out of God and for Him!

The two disciples obey John, their first master, that identified Jesus as the Lamb of God, and therefore they stay with Jesus, without putting forward any request or right. We can take them as an example. We can take as an example their way of confiding in Jesus, and their generous way of helping other to do the same. Andrew, in fact, “took to Jesus” his brother Simon, showing him the faith that, meanwhile, has grown in his heart.

Jesus appreciates what Andrew did, and he appreciates also the docility of Simon, to the point of giving him a new name. A new name means a new way to be, a new life. Being with Jesus Simon will have to feel like a newborn child, who needs to learn everything, how to walk, how to speak, how to eat and prey! The name that Jesus gives to Simon is a heavy name, steadfast, sturdy: «Peter»! He will have to stay a long time in Jesus’ company in order to become what Jesus meant in giving that name to him!

We as well, who have adored Jesus when He came among us, who have rejoiced seeing him a baby in His Mother’s arms, now have and want to follow Him. This means for us as well to consider ourselves in the need to learn a new life. We have been trying for years to learn from Jesus, but we always start anew. He Himself wants that we become again and again like children, so humble to accept every time new teachings, corrections, re-directions. Today we receive some from Saint Paul’s attention.

The apostle suggests us the way to consider our life starting from our very body. It is neither to be despised nor to be overrated: it does not have to be a master nor a slave. It is designed to glorify God! Our body is a suitable place for the Holy Spirit to be in, a place in which the Father’s love and light can dwell and show themselves through it. Saint Paul suggests us then not to use the body for fornication, that is to say sexual impurities, for selfish pleasure, hurting ourselves and others in this way. Our body has been ransomed by Jesus, when he had died for our salvation. We will do our best to use our physical life, our energies and our time for His glory, we can say in order to make Him look good, in order for them to be useful for His kingdom, to be tools of His love, of His desire to reach everybody and to be known to everybody, in order for everybody to receive peace and salvation! Our body will be used to say readily and tangibly: “Here I am, I am ready to fulfill your will!”.