2nd Sunday OT (B)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Our Lady of the Rosary, NOLA
God
calls. He calls us to service, to sacrifice. He calls us to
surrender. Do we hear His voice when He calls? Are we like John the
Baptist who while still in his mother's womb recognizes his Lord's
presence and leaps with joy? Or, are we more like Samuel who doesn't
recognize the voice of the God calling him in the night? What's the
difference btw John the Baptist's and Samuel's encounter with God?
Both are called to serve. Both answer the call – eventually. The
difference btw the two is that Samuel doesn't immediately recognize
God's voice b/c “at that time [he] [is] not familiar with the Lord,
because the Lord had not revealed anything to him as yet.” From
Elizabeth's womb John knows the Lord. Nothing more was necessary than
Christ's nearness. Samuel needed a leap of faith; he needed to
believe before he heard God's voice as
God's voice, calling
him to serve. To hear the Lord Samuel had to put aside confusion,
doubt, and fear. He had to say: “Speak, for your servant is
listening.” Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. That's a
confession, a profession of faith, an invitation from a servant to
his Master to teach him. Do you have the courage to say to God,
“Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”?
Before
you too eagerly agree that you have the courage to invite God's call,
consider the consequences. Hearing the Lord's call and listening to
Him could mean a revolution, it could mean an upheaval in your life
like you have never experienced before. It could mean becoming a
different person, a new person, one led by an all-consuming desire to
do God's will, a person fired up to preach and teach the Good News, a
person born anew in the power of the Spirit — forgiving, loving,
merciful, peaceful, prophetic. Inviting God's call into your life
could be the end of your life as you know it. Sin becomes heavier;
absolution all the more refreshing. The need to speak the truth
becomes unbearable. Look at John the Baptist! He leaps for joy in his
mother's womb at the mere presence of the Christ Child. He knew
before he was born that his life would be forever bound to Christ's.
He lived in the wilderness most of his life, and his head landed on a
platter for speaking the truth to a king. Invite God's call into your
life. If you dare. The only we can do more dangerous than saying to
God – Speak, Lord! – is to say, “Leave me alone, Lord, your
servant is busy with other things.”
If
it takes courage to invite the Lord's call into your life, it
takes something like suicidal recklessness to dismiss Him from
your life. As a followers of Christ vowed to bear witness to the
Father's mercy in the world, we cannot function w/o the constant
attention of God's energizing grace. We cannot be anything near who
and what we need to be w/o constantly drawing in His glory, w/o being
constantly perfected in His love. To dismiss God's voice from our
lives is more than just spiritual suicide. It's a betrayal of
everything we have pledged to be and to do in the world for the
world. This might all seem to be a little out-there. I'm not
suggesting that any of us actually say to God, “Nope. Not working
for you, Lord.” But what we might say is something like, “I'll
get to your work after I've done mine.” Or “I've got a thousand
things to get done today. One of those things is your work.” God's
work goes on the To Do List along with grocery shopping, picking up
the kids, and paying the bills. In the chaos of daily-getting-by our
vow to God to be His living witnesses to the world becomes another
mundane task, another chore to check off a list. How do we remember
that those groceries, those kids, that job; everything, including
this life is His freely given gift to us? We belong to God. 100%
wholly owned by the Father. Our lives are His.
How
do we remember this basic truth? When Jesus walks past John and two
of his disciples, John announces, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
John's disciples leave his side and follow Christ. Jesus asks them,
“What are you look for?” They could've said eternal life, pardon
for our sins, a place to get some good gumbo. What do they actually
say? “Rabbi,
where are you staying?” Where Jesus is staying is not all that
important here. What is important is that they address Jesus as
“Rabbi,” Teacher. They are looking to Christ to be their teacher,
to be the one who shows them the Way. After spending an afternoon
with Jesus, Andrew, one of John's former disciples, goes to Simon,
his brother, and tells him, “We have found the Messiah.” They
find a teacher and a savior. And what do they do? They go out and
bring others in. The gospel says that Andrew brings Simon to Jesus.
How do you remember – day in and day out – that your job, your
kids, your friends, your very life are all freely given gifts from
God? And that you are His servant? You bear witness to God's mercy
everyday and bring to Him a student, a disciple, someone in need of
being taught the Way. Even if – especially
if – that someone
is yourself. You get out of bed every morning, saying, “Speak,
Lord, your servant is listening.”
That
takes courage. Because – as I've said – hearing the Lord's call
and doing His will can be revolutionary. Nothing remains the same.
Samuel grows into a great prophet. Andrew and the other disciples
grow into apostles. Simon becomes Peter, the Rock, the foundation
stone of Christ's Church on earth. That small band of men and women
cowering in the Upper Room at Pentecost become the longest surviving
human institution on the planet. Who will you become when you invite
the Lord's call and listen to His voice? You will become exactly who
and what He needs you to be right where you are. More faithful, more
loving, more hopeful, stronger, more courageous, wiser, more just.
You will become – in Christ – exactly who and what you have vowed
to be and do: a
powerful witness to the mercy of God.
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