(1 Sam 3:3-10, 19; 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20; John 1:35-42)
Samuel was destined to become a great prophet in Israel and therefore, young though he was, he had to come to a p/Personal knowledge of the Lord, and, as you heard, Eli was able to help him make his initial experience of, and give his very first appropriate and personal response to, the Lord God of Israel:
Speak (Lord) for your servant is listening.
There, dear People of God, we are given the one absolutely essential requirement for prophecy in Israel, and for those commissioned by God to proclaim the Word of God (Jesus Himself and His Gospel) in Mother Church: that is, the ability and commitment to silence all clamouring, inner, ‘voices’ in order to listen to the Lord communicating with us – by heart-penetrating words; by happenings even small that re-structure our whole life; or by seemingly passing thoughts that somehow linger-on until we begin to understand them.
The prophet Jeremiah (31:33-34) later extended this need for such listening, not only to chosen prophets but to all God’s Chosen People:
I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
That teaching, dear People of God, is exemplified perfectly in our Gospel reading by two of John the Baptist’s disciples:
John said (in their hearing): ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’
And what did those disciples do on hearing those words? THEY FOLLOWED JESUS.
And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek? They said to Him, ‘Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So, they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day.
Notice how those two disciples silenced all other voices as I said earlier, even the voice of John the Baptist, by immediately following Jesus, remaining with and listening to Him alone, for the rest of that day.
Today it is thought by some that, to hear those wanting to somehow accommodate their evil ‘actions’ with Catholic traditional teaching, is a charitable ‘hearing’! However, we Christians and Catholics are called by today’s very readings, to hear Jesus … which means that we can hear all who are seeking Jesus, but we do not hear those wanting to maintain their un-Christian life style by simply ‘titivating’ it with some ‘Christian-like’ adaptations.
Remember, dear friends, how Our Blessed Lord, though He would not publicly condemn the woman apprehended in the act of adultery, nevertheless did not want to hear any excuses, or ‘extenuating circumstances’, from her. He offered her no comforting, or ‘understanding’ words, for Him sin was sin, and He hated sin. He would not condemn her, but He made quite clear what He expected of her, by telling her, ‘Go, and sin no more!’
People of God, the reason why Jesus established Mother Church is so that in her, and through her, all who would seek Jesus might -- as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold -- learn to know the Lord, each and every one of them, personally. Jesus has endowed Mother Church with the fullness of His own most Holy Spirit so that she can -- beginning at our baptism and continuing throughout our sacramental lives -- gradually bestow upon us ever more of that same Spirit to form us in the likeness of Jesus, and to enable us to follow Him until He leads us into the presence of the Father of all Glory, where, knowing the holiness and beauty, goodness and truth, of the infinite and all Holy God to the utmost of our personal being, will be our consuming delight for all eternity.
The devils whom Jesus cast out of sufferers during His time on earth frequently cried out claiming to know Him, as St. Mark tells us (1:24; 3:11):
What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!
Notice dear friends, that even the demons could understand the folly of trying to religiously ‘titivate’ a sinful life-style, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?’ There we are given a clear picture of the Devil, who, on recognizing the Person and holy power of Jesus, could only react with detestation and fear, and whom Jesus would later describe as a liar, the supreme Liar:
You (Jews) are of your father the devil, and you willingly do the desires of your father. … Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
The devil is, by his very nature, first and foremost, a liar: not a murderer, a fornicator, a paedophile or whatever else, no, he is first and foremost, a LIAR and the FATHER OF LIES; and he generates, encourages, and delights in, all forms of sin because he is the Liar. Therefore, when we find the devil promoting lying imitations of Christian virtues or attitudes, we can be sure that he is at his most dangerous and deadly. For example, he loves to imitate Christian charity, and in doing so spawns on the one hand, sexual lust calling it ‘love’, and, on the one hand, that ‘laissez faire’, ‘let things be’ attitude, characteristic of irresponsible parents who so “love” their children that they can never teach, correct, or discipline them. The devil also delights to imitate the Christian virtue of knowing the Lord and he does this by encouraging many Catholics to be quite content with knowing about the Lord but not knowing Him p/Personally; and accordingly, they are by no means solicitous about doing His will: they hear the gospels but never take them to heart; they attend Mass, at the Lord’s command, but are always looking forward to the time to leave Church. In fact, they know the Lord’s love for them so well that they like to think that receiving Holy Communion is all that matters. In all these corruptions we find a people never seriously seeking to personally know the Person of the Lord: a people content with their own fullness, with the result that they never experience any need to open themselves up to Him, in longing for and need of, Him. Being thus deceived by the devil who is the consummate liar, they are content with that stagnant situation, being, apparently, quite unaware of the words of the Lord:
Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:16)
How different was the attitude of those two disciples of John the Baptist who heard him say, on seeing Jesus pass by, Behold the Lamb of God!
Those two disciples, no longer disciples of John but disciples-in-desire of Jesus the Lamb of God, were now ardently, almost painfully, aware of their own emptiness, need, hope and longing. And to those disciples seeking to know Him as Teacher (Rabbi), Jesus simply said: Come and you will see.
They did just that. They followed Jesus to His dwelling to know about Him, to know Him p/Personally, to hear, be near to, to admire and learn from, Him; quite possibly they would also have taken the opportunity to open up their souls to Him, before darkness came requiring them to leave and go back to their own dwelling.
People of God, what does Jesus say to you coming out of the crowd perhaps to receive Him in Holy Communion? His very first words to Andrew and his companion had been:
What are you looking for, what do you seek?
Could you, queuing in Church to receive Him in Holy Communion, answer such a question? Could you tell Him what emptiness was be forcing you to Him; could you tell Him that you are longing for something He alone could give you?
People of God, we must realize that He, the Lord Himself, is in Mother Church, with her, in order to be contacted, found, there, by us, in a one-to-one-relationship of loving appreciation and obedience, in which we will gradually learn, by His most Holy Spirit, to worship the Father as His true children, in Jesus. Mother Church is our atmosphere, she is indeed the only environment in which we can fully prosper, but she is not our end, she is not our goal.
It is quite legitimate, however, and profoundly true, to take those words of St. Paul in our second reading today, words spoken directly against all forms of sexual immorality:
You have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body,
in a further perfectly relevant, profitable, and fruitful sense. You who belong to Mother Church are all members of the Body of Christ, and therefore, the Body of Christ is, in that sense, your body. Do, then, as St. Paul tells us: Glorify God in your Body.
You members of the Body of Christ, you members of His Church on earth, should never allow yourselves to settle down as an anonymous Catholic; it is not enough just to be in Mother Church, to be merely present at Mass: you should seek above all to personally know, love, and glorify God there, either in your own hearts filled with His praise and thanksgiving, or among His people -- your brethren -- whom you seek to serve and exhort as His disciples, for His glory. Each of you, personally, has been bought at a price, that is your supreme dignity: nobody else, absolutely no one, can thank God, thank Jesus, for you, on your behalf; that is exclusively your own, personal, calling and privilege. And only if you respond to that individual calling, only if you are personally aware and appreciative of that unique privilege, will you come to know what ‘yet more’ God still wants to make of you, individually.
Speak (Lord) for your servant is listening.
There, dear People of God, we are given the one absolutely essential requirement for prophecy in Israel, and for those commissioned by God to proclaim the Word of God (Jesus Himself and His Gospel) in Mother Church: that is, the ability and commitment to silence all clamouring, inner, ‘voices’ in order to listen to the Lord communicating with us – by heart-penetrating words; by happenings even small that re-structure our whole life; or by seemingly passing thoughts that somehow linger-on until we begin to understand them.
The prophet Jeremiah (31:33-34) later extended this need for such listening, not only to chosen prophets but to all God’s Chosen People:
I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
That teaching, dear People of God, is exemplified perfectly in our Gospel reading by two of John the Baptist’s disciples:
John said (in their hearing): ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’
And what did those disciples do on hearing those words? THEY FOLLOWED JESUS.
And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, ‘What do you seek? They said to Him, ‘Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So, they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day.
Notice how those two disciples silenced all other voices as I said earlier, even the voice of John the Baptist, by immediately following Jesus, remaining with and listening to Him alone, for the rest of that day.
Today it is thought by some that, to hear those wanting to somehow accommodate their evil ‘actions’ with Catholic traditional teaching, is a charitable ‘hearing’! However, we Christians and Catholics are called by today’s very readings, to hear Jesus … which means that we can hear all who are seeking Jesus, but we do not hear those wanting to maintain their un-Christian life style by simply ‘titivating’ it with some ‘Christian-like’ adaptations.
Remember, dear friends, how Our Blessed Lord, though He would not publicly condemn the woman apprehended in the act of adultery, nevertheless did not want to hear any excuses, or ‘extenuating circumstances’, from her. He offered her no comforting, or ‘understanding’ words, for Him sin was sin, and He hated sin. He would not condemn her, but He made quite clear what He expected of her, by telling her, ‘Go, and sin no more!’
People of God, the reason why Jesus established Mother Church is so that in her, and through her, all who would seek Jesus might -- as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold -- learn to know the Lord, each and every one of them, personally. Jesus has endowed Mother Church with the fullness of His own most Holy Spirit so that she can -- beginning at our baptism and continuing throughout our sacramental lives -- gradually bestow upon us ever more of that same Spirit to form us in the likeness of Jesus, and to enable us to follow Him until He leads us into the presence of the Father of all Glory, where, knowing the holiness and beauty, goodness and truth, of the infinite and all Holy God to the utmost of our personal being, will be our consuming delight for all eternity.
The devils whom Jesus cast out of sufferers during His time on earth frequently cried out claiming to know Him, as St. Mark tells us (1:24; 3:11):
What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are -- the Holy One of God!
Notice dear friends, that even the demons could understand the folly of trying to religiously ‘titivate’ a sinful life-style, ‘What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth?’ There we are given a clear picture of the Devil, who, on recognizing the Person and holy power of Jesus, could only react with detestation and fear, and whom Jesus would later describe as a liar, the supreme Liar:
You (Jews) are of your father the devil, and you willingly do the desires of your father. … Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
The devil is, by his very nature, first and foremost, a liar: not a murderer, a fornicator, a paedophile or whatever else, no, he is first and foremost, a LIAR and the FATHER OF LIES; and he generates, encourages, and delights in, all forms of sin because he is the Liar. Therefore, when we find the devil promoting lying imitations of Christian virtues or attitudes, we can be sure that he is at his most dangerous and deadly. For example, he loves to imitate Christian charity, and in doing so spawns on the one hand, sexual lust calling it ‘love’, and, on the one hand, that ‘laissez faire’, ‘let things be’ attitude, characteristic of irresponsible parents who so “love” their children that they can never teach, correct, or discipline them. The devil also delights to imitate the Christian virtue of knowing the Lord and he does this by encouraging many Catholics to be quite content with knowing about the Lord but not knowing Him p/Personally; and accordingly, they are by no means solicitous about doing His will: they hear the gospels but never take them to heart; they attend Mass, at the Lord’s command, but are always looking forward to the time to leave Church. In fact, they know the Lord’s love for them so well that they like to think that receiving Holy Communion is all that matters. In all these corruptions we find a people never seriously seeking to personally know the Person of the Lord: a people content with their own fullness, with the result that they never experience any need to open themselves up to Him, in longing for and need of, Him. Being thus deceived by the devil who is the consummate liar, they are content with that stagnant situation, being, apparently, quite unaware of the words of the Lord:
Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:16)
How different was the attitude of those two disciples of John the Baptist who heard him say, on seeing Jesus pass by, Behold the Lamb of God!
Those two disciples, no longer disciples of John but disciples-in-desire of Jesus the Lamb of God, were now ardently, almost painfully, aware of their own emptiness, need, hope and longing. And to those disciples seeking to know Him as Teacher (Rabbi), Jesus simply said: Come and you will see.
They did just that. They followed Jesus to His dwelling to know about Him, to know Him p/Personally, to hear, be near to, to admire and learn from, Him; quite possibly they would also have taken the opportunity to open up their souls to Him, before darkness came requiring them to leave and go back to their own dwelling.
People of God, what does Jesus say to you coming out of the crowd perhaps to receive Him in Holy Communion? His very first words to Andrew and his companion had been:
What are you looking for, what do you seek?
Could you, queuing in Church to receive Him in Holy Communion, answer such a question? Could you tell Him what emptiness was be forcing you to Him; could you tell Him that you are longing for something He alone could give you?
People of God, we must realize that He, the Lord Himself, is in Mother Church, with her, in order to be contacted, found, there, by us, in a one-to-one-relationship of loving appreciation and obedience, in which we will gradually learn, by His most Holy Spirit, to worship the Father as His true children, in Jesus. Mother Church is our atmosphere, she is indeed the only environment in which we can fully prosper, but she is not our end, she is not our goal.
It is quite legitimate, however, and profoundly true, to take those words of St. Paul in our second reading today, words spoken directly against all forms of sexual immorality:
You have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body,
in a further perfectly relevant, profitable, and fruitful sense. You who belong to Mother Church are all members of the Body of Christ, and therefore, the Body of Christ is, in that sense, your body. Do, then, as St. Paul tells us: Glorify God in your Body.
You members of the Body of Christ, you members of His Church on earth, should never allow yourselves to settle down as an anonymous Catholic; it is not enough just to be in Mother Church, to be merely present at Mass: you should seek above all to personally know, love, and glorify God there, either in your own hearts filled with His praise and thanksgiving, or among His people -- your brethren -- whom you seek to serve and exhort as His disciples, for His glory. Each of you, personally, has been bought at a price, that is your supreme dignity: nobody else, absolutely no one, can thank God, thank Jesus, for you, on your behalf; that is exclusively your own, personal, calling and privilege. And only if you respond to that individual calling, only if you are personally aware and appreciative of that unique privilege, will you come to know what ‘yet more’ God still wants to make of you, individually.
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