​ Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B - Sunday, January 14, 2024 (EPISODE:458)

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B - Sunday, January 14, 2024

(EPISODE:458)

Readings for Sunday, 14 January 2024
FIRST READING: 1 Sam 3:3b-10, 19
Ps 40:2+4, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10. "Here am I Lord; I come to do your will."
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 1:41+17b). Alleluia, alleluia! We have found the Messiah. Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.
GOSPEL: John 1:35-42

Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock Vector ID: 2305332479 - Jesus teaching disciples watercolour vector illustration. Vector Formats. Vector Contributor: Evoke City.
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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers, and homily), for Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B - Sunday, January 14, 2024 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-the-second-sunday-of-ordinary-time-year-b-episode-458/s-GIG7uSWhtXU  
(EPISODE:458)
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Prologue: The first reading is that beautiful and really famous scene of Samuel hearing a voice in the night..  and not knowing the meaning of it or how to answer….  It is delightful.  It makes sense that if you heard a voice in the night, you might go and check to see if the other person in the house had called out to you. Eli initially thinks it is a dream and tells him a few times to go back to bed…  but then realises …  it is, in fact, God calling Samuel!!

Sometimes, it takes a mentor or guide, a holy and wise person, like the prophet Eli, who realises that this experience was an encounter with God and tells Samuel to invite God to speak… and then to listen to what God has to say…..

It is a reminder of how important it is to have a listening heart…….   To listen to the presence of God in our midst……..  and to listen to one another…
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The gospel this weekend is fascinating. John the Baptist is speaking with two of his own disciples and says: LOOK, THERE is the Lamb of God! (Which, we now know is shorthand for… Look!... There is the one who is to come; and who will be the perfect, unblemished sacrifice to take away the sins of the world and restore our right relationship with God as not only God's people but as sons and daughters of God).

The two disciples immediately take off and follow Jesus and he invites them to stay with him. To really become disciples and followers of Jesus, we must be close to him, and live with him, and learn from him; how he thinks, what he values, what he does not approve of, and so on. We need to "walk his walk and not just talk his talk." It took years of walking and living in Jesus' community, for the disciples to even begin to understand who he was and what his message was about. They often got it wrong or half-right, and thank goodness they had Jesus there, as the teacher, to set them straight and deepen their learning.

It would seem hard to comprehend to us that someone might see what Jesus has to offer and not accept it, but there were many people in Jesus' time who were affronted by Jesus and rejected him because his message was too challenging and too radical and at other times, not what they expected the messiah and the chosen one to be LIKE. So, it's a reminder, Many are invited but not all accept. Jesus understood this difficulty because he witnessed people stopping following him. He warned his followers to count the cost of their discipleship and not be wishy-washy because there is no time to "umm and ahh" when the work of the Kingdom is urgent!!

Jesus calls us all to the primary vocation of being servants and disciples of Christ in our daily lives and work. We achieve this by staying very close to Jesus in prayer, in scripture reflection, in reading about the teachings of Christ, in worshipping regularly in union with the Christian community and learning from the teachings of our church. Christ must live in and with us, as we with him! It is a deep and wonderful connection that we are invited into.

Each one of us today is still called by Jesus. And our response, like Samuel, is 'Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will!"

Just as Jesus received opposition, misunderstanding and rejection, so too, can we expect this for Christ's Church. But we keep persisting in this life-giving message. 

Inspired by today's second reading, - we recognise that Christ and his church, have a rather powerful and different view of the human person and the human body than do some sectors of the world. St Paul sums up this gospel-focused understanding: "You know, surely, that your bodies are members making up the body of Christ; anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. ……. Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received him from God. You are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for (by Christ's life, death, and resurrection). That is why you should use your body for the glory of God."

At its essence, this is extremely positive and encouraging teaching. To put ourselves: mind, body, and spirit, at the service of God and God's vision. Our lives are to be lived with attention to not so much "rights," but "responsibilities." 

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this world sometimes makes too much of different aspects of the mystery of humanity, to the point where people and actions are turned into commodities, valued for what another can get out of them, or be used as a "thing" to be traded. This leads, at its worst to "commodification" and extreme utilitarianism- people and actions valued by what practical use, or what benefit can be obtained from them. Staying close to the message of Christ, though, is simply being honest to God's vision, and lovingly open to the profound reality that we are each, truly unique, loved and sacred temples of the Holy Spirit, and individually members of the Body of Christ and, with God's grace, we aim to abide in these living temples, according to everything that builds up, (not the "kingdom of me," or the kingdom of consumerism or commodification), but rather promotes the true and life-giving Kingdom of God. … …
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References:

Fr Paul W. Kelly

Image Credit- Shutterstock Licensed. Stock Vector ID: 2305332479 - Jesus teaching disciples water-colour vector illustration. Vector Formats. Vector Contributor: Evoke City.


Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B  (Sunday, January 14, 2024)  (EPISODE:458 )
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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{{Greetings}} welcome everyone, we gather -  Pondering with reverence, God's word. On this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B

As we prepare to celebrate the great Sacramental feast of God's love, let us pause, recall our sins, and trust in God's infinite mercy.
Lord Jesus, you were lifted up to draw all people to yourself: Lord, have mercy//You shouldered the cross, to bear our suffering and sinfulness: Christ, have mercy// You open for your people the way from death into life: Lord, have mercy//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
3. Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.
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Ps 40:2+4, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10. "Here am I Lord; I come to do your will."

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 1:41+17b). Alleluia, alleluia! We have found the Messiah. Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.
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PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary I
Euch Prayer One

(theme variation: 4 )

(post version: v2-long)

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{Thanks for joining us for this time of prayer and reflection}

Go forth, the Mass is ended.

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Archive of homilies and reflections:  http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email:  paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to the weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here:  https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:

"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993). (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass in Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria,  Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

"Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - In memory of William John Kelly (1942-2017) - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time."  Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

"Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly.  Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer.  Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly.

Microphones: - Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser.

Editing equipment:    -- MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software v10.49 (NCH Software).

NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 17.63 (NCH Software)

Sound Processing:  iZotope RX 10 Audio Editor (Izotope Inc.)

[ Production -  KER -  2024]

May God bless and keep you.

 

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