Second Sunday of OT

Sitting in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass this past Sunday was a rather interesting experience for me because I noticed that the readings and the Gospel were an extension of what I had previously written about Millennial Evangelization. I found myself connecting the dots with what I had said and with what I believe the Lord was placing on my heart through the Word today.

First, we have a reading from the First Book of Samuel 3:3B-10, 19. Here we find Samuel sleeping in the temple of the Lord, and the Lord calls him several times. Samuel at first thought it was Eli calling, but through the wisdom of Eli, Samuel finds out that it is the Lord who calls. There are two points that connect with what I had written about evangelization.

• Samuel is called by the Lord, but he does not realize that it is Him. This is the same as to how we are all called by the Lord, but some of us fail to recognize that it is the Lord. Remember, according to the Catechism, all peoples are called for reconciliation into the Father’s Kingdom. It isn’t until Samuel approached Eli that Samuel finds out what to do in order to respond to God. This is similar to what I have said in regards to the lack of need to be Bible Bashers. Eli is not pushing the matter that Samuel needs to find the Lord (“At that time Samuel was not familiar with the Lord”), but when Samuel comes for advice, Eli leads him to God. This emulates what we must do to evangelize. We prepare ourselves for the Lord and in turn, others will eventually present themselves to us because they will recognize the Wisdom of the Lord in us. That is when we lead them to God.
• Evangelization is not about forcing someone to do something. God does not force Himself upon us, rather He waits for us to respond. We need to recognize that once a person responds to God, we need only walk with our brother or sister, we are not the ones who need to push them (maybe give them some loving correction, but not pressure). As soon as Samuel responds, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” the Lord gives Himself to Samuel and Samuel is then guided for the rest of his life.

I believe that following in suit with Eli, we can share our wisdom with our brethren and help them to see the Lord’s call. That is what evangelization is after all.

Moving on to Psalm 40, I really only have one little interesting point that I thought of during my reading of this psalm. That is how this psalm’s voice seems to change between two people. The first voice I find in the psalm, is the voice of us. We express our desire for the Lord and our desire to serve the Lord. It reflects Samuel and it opens with the verse, “I have waited, waited for the Lord, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.” This is our very cry to the Lord and we await His glorious coming. But then we receive an answer from someone else (not that I think this psalm is meant to have two voices, it was just a small meditation that popped up in my mind), we receive the answer of Christ and how He is going to do the Will of the Father. Just briefly, I hear the voice of Christ when it says, “Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, ‘Behold I come.'” It is rather interesting if this were to point to us being the voice speaking, because yes, we are to present ourselves to the Lord and offer our lives; but there is something more behind this phrase. It mentions holocausts (sacrifices) and how God did not seek these, but the voice then says that “I come.” Why is this mentioned in the same sentence as the sacrifices? I believe that we hear the voice of Christ speaking and offering Himself as the perfect Sacrifice (Behold the Lamb of God, you know, from the Gospel today?). I don’t know, perhaps I am reading too far into the psalm, but I just thought it was an interesting thought.

So finally we come to the Gospel (I know I am skipping over St. Paul . . . whoops), in the Gospel according to St. John, we hear of Jesus’s first disciples and how they came to follow him. In the previous weeks, we have been experiencing how the Way of the Lord Christ had been prepared, but now the Lord has come. We had Epiphany in which the magi and the shepherds were drawn to the Child Jesus, but now we have a whole new account about people being drawn to the Faith. Just as how I was talking about how people must be drawn to us in order for us to lead them to Christ, we find how John drew people to himself, only to immediately “hand them off” to Christ. John, upon watching Jesus, he makes such a simple statement, “Behold the Lamb of God.” John, himself a holy man, suddenly points to Jesus and says, “That’s the guy!” He does nothing other than point the way and the first disciples then follow Jesus. How is this? Jesus said nothing, but the disciples recognized the substance of Christ and they followed Him, no questions asked. But then we find also that Andrew, brings his brother Simon, to Christ. Peter follows and well, the rest is history as they say. What does this have to do with Millennial Evangelization? Everything! As I have said before, we provide the way to Christ, and He provides the Substance. We need not force anyone to follow, just bring them to Him and they will. It is rather easy as long as we remain strong in the Lord.

Well, I hope that there was something good in this little reflection, and I hope that we can find strength to pave the way to Christ.

~John Paul