A Call to Companionship
The Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021
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January 17, 2021
1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; John 1:35-42
Last Sunday, we listened to the call of Jesus to being his ministry. Today, we hear about Samuel’s call and then we hear about the call of the first disciples in the Fourth Gospel. It makes us reflect upon our own call to a relationship with Jesus and our call to act rightly in the world and to be a person who serves the interests of others above our own.
This call narrative is different from the Synoptic Gospels because it involves a conversation and an invitation, and dialogue is a way of uncovering the truth. It reveals to us that being inquisitive is a way of obtaining essential information before we make our choices, and then we can be open the invitations that are set before us. A Christian is one who seeks to know more fully about fundamental questions in life. A person with wisdom will seldom speak about certainties because there is always something more to learn. Christians are those who and are open to the possibilities that arise from the answers and are comfortable in those places of ambiguity that do not have readily available answers.
We find ourselves walking on eggshells these days because we might not be sure where someone falls on the political divide. The politically tense times have people bottling up their emotions so they can publicly act to keep the tensions low, but as we were called deeper into ministry last week at the Baptism of the Lord, our work is now just beginning. We are disciples of Christ before we are anything else, and our mission is to bring Christ to the world through our actions and our words, which have to make people feel safe first and foremost.
Work to affirm the relationships around you by engaging in polite small talk, smiling, and making kind gestures. Speak words that make the person feel secure with dignity and respect by saying something like, “I’m glad to see you today,” or “It is good to be with you.” You are not there to change someone’s mind. You are not there to convert someone. You are there, like Andrew, to bring someone, through your words and actions, to Jesus. Andrew didn’t convert his brother Simon; he simply brought him to Jesus, who stopped and looked at him. After seeing who Simon was, Jesus renamed him Peter, and Peter’s conversion began.
Our words are extremely powerful and we have to be cautious and sensitive about how we speak, and we have to be diplomatic about learning to keep silent for the benefit of the other person. The world is in flux, it is constantly changing, and we have to be adept at maneuvering potential minefields in the world so that we do no damage to another person’s stability. We have to learn more and to be open to change based on the world before us. We are continuously emerging and becoming.
When Jesus looks upon us, as he did Simon, something good emerges, and his work of salvation begins. When we look upon those around us and behold their goodness, Jesus’s work of salvation begins. This is a beautiful and essential ministry to which we are called. This is the essential work we are called to do in this most difficult of times. It is an awesome and exciting endeavor, and I’m glad to do it with you. Jesus did not call us into discipleship as much as he called us into companionship.
Scripture for Daily Mass
First Reading:
Monday: (Hebrews 5) Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.
Tuesday: (Hebrews 6) God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones. We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of hope until the end.
Wednesday: (Hebrews 7) Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. His name first means righteous king,
and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.
Thursday: (Hebrews 7) Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.
Friday (Hebrews 8) Now our high priest has obtained so much more excellent a ministry as he is mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second one.
Saturday (Hebrews 9) A tabernacle was constructed, the outer one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,
he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Gospel:
Monday: (Mark 2) “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Tuesday: (Mark 2) As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath,
his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
Wednesday (Mark 3) Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up here before us.”
Thursday (Mark 3) Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
Friday (Mark 3) Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles,
that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve
Saturday (Mark 3) Jesus came with his disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Saints of the Week
January 17: Anthony, Abbot (251-356), was a wealthy Egyptian who gave away his inheritance to become a hermit. Many people sought him out for his holiness and asceticism. After many years in solitude, he formed the first Christian monastic community. Since he was revered, he went to Alexandria to encourage the persecuted Christians. He met Athanasius and helped him fight Arianism.
January 20: Fabian, pope and martyr (d. 250), was a layman and stranger in Rome during the time of his election as pope. A dove settled on his head, which reminded people of the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove during the baptism. He served for 14 years until his martyrdom.
January 20: Sebastian, martyr (d. 300), was buried in the catacombs in Rome. He hailed from Milan and is often pictured with many arrows piercing his body. Much of what we know about him is legend.
January 21: Agnes, martyr (d. 305), is one of the early Roman martyrs. Little is known about her but she died around age 12 during a persecution. Because of her names connection with a lamb, her iconography depicts her holding a lamb to remind us of her sacrifice and innocence.
January 23: Marianne Cope (1838-1918), was a German-born woman who settled with her family in New York. She entered the Franciscans and worked in the school systems as a teacher and principal and she helped to establish the first two Catholic hospitals. She went to Honolulu, then Molokai, to aid those with leprosy.
This Week in Jesuit History
- Jan 17, 1890. Benedict Sestini died. He was an astronomer, editor, architect, mathematician, and teacher at Woodstock College.
- Jan 18, 1615. The French Jesuits began a mission in Danang, Vietnam.
- Jan 19, 1561. In South Africa, the baptism of the powerful King of Monomotapa, the king's mother, and 300 chiefs by Fr. Goncalvo de Silveira.
- Jan 20, 1703. At Paris, the death of Fr. Francis de la Chaise, confessor to Louis XIV and a protector of the French Church against the Jansenists.
- Jan 21, 1764. Christophe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, wrote a pastoral defending the Jesuits against the attacks of Parliament. It was ordered to be burned by the public executioner.
- Jan 22, 1561. Pius IV abrogated the decree of Paul II and kept the life term of Father General.
- Jan 23, 1789. John Carroll gained the deed of land for the site that was to become Georgetown University.
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