Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Daily Missal January-February 2024

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
2nd week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the First Book of Samuel (1 Sam 3:3b-10, 19)
In those days, Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called: “Samuel!” and he answered: “Here I am,” then ran to Eli and said: “You called me; here I am!” He answered: “I did not call you; go back to sleep!” He went back and lay down. The Lord called again: “Samuel!”; Samuel got up and ran to Eli, saying: “You called me; here I am!” But he answered again: “I did not call you, my son; go back to sleep!” In fact, Samuel had not yet come to know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again for the third time; he got up again and ran to Eli, saying: “You called me; here I am!” Then Eli understood that the Lord was calling the young man. Eli said to Samuel: “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” Samuel went to sleep in his place. The Lord came and stood beside him, and called as at the other times: “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered at once: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. - The word of God.

Commentary on the First Reading

The Lord is not content to give us laws to follow, then withdraw into heaven and wait for us after death to see whether or not we have put those laws into practice and give us a grade. No: on Sinai he gives the Law, then enters into a relationship with each individual person. This will be truer and more evident in the New Testament, with Pentecost, but even in the Old Testament there are some to whom God speaks directly in order to entrust them with a special mission. Samuel’s vocation takes place entirely in the utterance of his name. Let us not think this is a small thing. God exclaims: “Samuel!” and waits. He says the name; he knows us. We are not indistinct people in a crowd, because God does not love humanity in the abstract, but individual people, making them “capable of him.” A young man does not fall in love with the female sex, but with one particular girl; he wants to live for her and make her happy. So it is with God: by saying our name, it is as though he already gives us a mission, that of being loved and known by him and of loving him in return with all our heart. If we are in God, love is our destiny.

SECOND READING

From the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20)
Brothers and sisters, the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God, who raised the Lord, will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Whoever unites himself with the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Keep away from immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body! - The word of God.

Commentary on the Second Reading

What, in reality, is our body? Is it the good through which we possess the world and things, the means and instrument by which we relate to others? No, it is much more. It is even the dwelling place and temple of God. If we have received the Holy Spirit, we must believe that God is no longer isolated in the heights of heaven, nor is he merely an idea to which one may or may not adhere, but is the divine presence itself within us: if we are one with Christ, we are also objects of the Father’s continuous and irreversible love. We are in the light of grace; we are happy, good, and generous, because we share in divine graces. But if we cast away this greatness by giving our body over to immorality, we ruin ourselves, because we profane the divine presence of God within us, which we will no longer be able to perceive. But how can we live without the supreme Good? And it is beautiful to know that we do not belong to ourselves, but have been “bought”! The one who possesses us is the One who created us; the one who bought us is the One who died out of love for us. The body therefore becomes an instrument of grace when it is guarded as the Lord’s holy temple.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John (Jn 1:35-42)
At that time, John was standing with two of his disciples and, looking intently at Jesus as he passed by, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them: “What are you looking for?” They said to him: “Rabbi” - which translated means Teacher - “where are you staying?” He said to them: “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. One of the two who had heard John’s words and followed him was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his brother Simon and said to him: “We have found the Messiah” - which is translated Christ - and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said: “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” - which means Peter. - The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

Today in the Gospel we read about the first meeting of the first two apostles with the Lord Jesus. No one knew him yet. The Baptist points him out: “It is he!” but no one is shaken, no one is moved. This revelation should have immediately emptied the Baptist’s discipleship and filled the “classroom” of Christ’s school. But no, only two set out, and even they do not really know what to do or say. They simply follow him, so much so that Jesus turns and asks them what they are looking for, what they want. Therefore, let us not be surprised if those who follow the Lord seem few. In time, these men, instructed by divine grace and filled with the friendship of God, will convince the world. Everything rests, however, on that timid initial step, on the firm decision to leave the old teacher, who has fulfilled his role, and draw near to the new one, who is not merely a teacher, but the Savior from every evil. “For twenty centuries, all of man’s nobility,” writes Domenico Giuliotti, “has consisted in gaining freedom by making oneself a slave of the Lord Jesus.” To make oneself a slave paradoxically means to gain freedom. Strange, but that is precisely how it is: it is the truth, in fact, that sets us free.