GOD CALLS ME BY NAME
Today’s readings conclude the feast of Christmas and begin the new season of Ordinary Time. In the First Reading we hear the Lord’s dramatic call of Samuel, and how Samuel fails to hear and discern it properly at first. The young Samuel might well have grown up praying with words like those in today’s Psalm. We can easily imagine him, in the Temple, offering a prayer of commitment to follow the Lord’s will.
In the Second Reading, St Paul, writing to the Church at Corinth, reminds the people that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. All that they have and all that they are is gift, a gift purchased at great price. The Gospel continues the story of Jesus’s Baptism. John the Baptist, having recognised Jesus as the Lamb of God, points two of his own followers to Jesus.
The scripture texts of today’s liturgy depict stories of call and response. During the coming week, let’s ponder God’s call in our own lives, and reflect both on the level of our attentiveness and on the depth of our response.
Source: Excerpted from the Gospel reflection at https://www.sacredspace.ie/