20180114
USE YOUR BODY FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
14 JANUARY, 2018, Sunday, 2nd Week, Ordinary Time
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Samuel 3:3-10,19 ©
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Samuel was lying in the sanctuary of the Lord, where the ark of
God was, when the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ Then
he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli said, ‘I did not
call. Go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down. Once again the Lord
called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am,
since you called me.’ He replied, ‘I did not call you, my son; go back and lie
down.’ Samuel had as yet no knowledge of the Lord and the word of the Lord had
not yet been revealed to him. Once again the Lord called, the third time. He
got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, since you called me.’ Eli then
understood that it was the Lord who was calling the boy, and he said to Samuel,
‘Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is
listening.”’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The Lord
then came and stood by, calling as he had done before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel
answered, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’
Samuel grew
up and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 39(40):2,4,7-10 ©
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Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
I waited, I waited for the Lord
and he stooped down to me;
he heard my cry.
He put a new song into my mouth,
praise of our God.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do your will.
My God, I delight in your law
in the depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
Your justice I have proclaimed
in the great assembly.
My lips I have not sealed;
you know it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians 6:13-15,17-20 ©
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The body is not meant for fornication: it is for the Lord, and the
Lord for the body. God, who raised the Lord from the dead, will by his power
raise us up too.
You know,
surely, that your bodies are members making up the body of Christ; do you think
I can take parts of Christ’s body and join them to the body of a prostitute?
Never! But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
Keep away
from fornication. All the other sins are committed outside the body; but to
fornicate is to sin against your own body. 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. That is why you should
use your body for the glory of God.
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Gospel Acclamation
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1S3:9,Jn6:68
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn1:41,17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
We have found the Messiah – which means the Christ –
grace and truth have come through him.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 1:35-42 ©
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As John stood with two of his disciples, Jesus passed, and John
stared hard at him and said, ‘Look, there is the lamb of God.’ Hearing this,
the two disciples followed Jesus. Jesus turned round, saw them following and
said, ‘What do you want?’ They answered, ‘Rabbi,’ – which means
Teacher – ‘where do you live?’ ‘Come and see’ he replied; so they went and
saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day. It was about the
tenth hour.
One of these
two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew,
the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother and said
to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ – which means the Christ – and he
took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of
John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.
USE YOUR BODY FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1 SAM 3:3-10,19; 1 COR 6:13-15,17-20; JOHN 1:35-42
]
“Here I am,
Lord! I come to do your will. You do not ask for sacrifice
and offerings, but an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and
victim. Instead, here am I. In the scroll of the book it stands
written that I should do your will. My God, I delight in your law in the
depth of my heart.” Indeed, these words of the psalmist explain to us
what it means to do the will of God. Doing God’s will is more than just
offering sacrifices, coming for mass every Sunday, or even giving charity to
the poor.
Doing God’s
will is to offer our body as a living sacrifice to God. This is what the Lord
did and this is what St Paul is asking of us. Although the second
reading is in the context of sexual promiscuity, it must be understood in a
broader sense. The basis for purity in sexual relationship is founded on
the fact that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Fornication is a
sin simply because we sin against our own body, which is not our own. St
Paul said, “You are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for.
That is why you should use your body for the glory of God.”
Our body,
therefore, must be used to give glory to God and for His service. God gives us good health and
the ability to work not simply for ourselves, our enjoyment, but so that we can
give glory to Him in our service to others. Using our body for the
glory of God means that we will not do anything with our body that will bring
disrepute to Him. We do not want others to see and despise us for the
wrong things that we do. Rather, in all that we say and do, we want to be
God’s glory, praise and presence to them.
Regardless of
what we do, we must do all things for the greater glory of God. This is the motto of
St Ignatius. Indeed, St Ignatius teaches us that it is important for us
not just to do the right things or do good works, but to do it for the right
motives. The truth is that we can do good work for ulterior motives;
money, fame, recognition, approval or drawing attention to
ourselves. We might, out of sloth, postpone less glamorous or hard work
and responsibilities that we should be doing. St Paul also urges us to
use our body for the glory of God. “So, whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)
“I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but
that of many, so that they may be saved.” (1 Cor 10:33)
Indeed, following St Ignatius, let us begin our work with the ultimate end in
mind, which is for the greater glory of God. Anything lesser will mean
that we seek for lesser goals in life. This, then, is the way to give
glory to God in our body as individuals and as His Church.
This is true
even for those of us who are sickly or suffering due to old age. Until our sickness,
we thought we could do great things for Christ and His Church. But with
health failing, there are many things we cannot do. We have to live with
many constraints and humble ourselves to depend on people for our
needs. Many of us who are elderly do not like this feeling of
dependence on others. We are so used to doing things ourselves. But
now we feel bad that we have to trouble people. Sometimes our caregivers
are not so patient and are irritable. We have to tolerate their moods and
occasional harsh words and their impatience at our slowness. Yet, this is
the glory of God that we are called to manifest to others through the way we
carry our crosses in our illness. When we do not lament or grumble but
faithfully and willingly accept God’s will for us, in cheerfulness and
patience, we show the love of God even to our caregivers.
Indeed, it is
not how many achievements we make at the end of our lives but how we have
consecrated our life to God according to the circumstances we are in. Success in life
is not measured as in the world, by numbers. It is not the number of
trophies we have earned, the number of people we have helped; or the number of
talks and inspiring things we have done. Rather, it is how we give
ourselves in doing the will of God concretely, according to the talents and
opportunities and the constraints that we face. God does not look at our
works but our heart.
This is what
holiness is all about! Doing His will as Jesus did. This was what all the
great saints did as well. St Theresa of the Child Jesus wanted to be a
great missionary for Christ but she was sickly and had to remain in the
convent. She died at the young age of 24. So too the two seers at
our Lady of Fatima. Francisco and Jacinta died at the tender age of 11
and 10 from illness. Not all are called to be St Ignatius or St Francis
Xavier who were great missionaries. In the final analysis, it does not matter.
It is how we live a life of devotion to God’s will in the situation He calls
us.
But to do His
will, we must listen to Him. Like Samuel, before we can say, “Here I am,
Lord!”, we must first listen. This calls for discernment of the spirit as
what St Ignatius also asks of us. The secret is to listen to the Word of
God. God speaks to us not because of our rank, position or wisdom in
life. He did not call Eli but He called Samuel. So when the Lord
calls us, we must say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
Listening to the Lord is the key in which we do God’s will and find the
strength to offer our body for His greater glory.
Indeed, we
read, “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to
the ground.” We
too must always be grounded in the Word of God so that we will walk the way of
truth and not be deceived by our own spirit or the spirits of the world.
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who
belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:16f)
Again, St Paul exhorts us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach
and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word
or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through him.” (Col 3:16f)
This was the
way of the apostles. In today’s gospel, Jesus invited the disciples of
John who were seeking the truth to “come and see.” And “so they went and saw
where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day.” Jesus did not
teach them merely by words but by His life. Indeed, that day spent
with Jesus left an indelible impression on them. It was such a
significant event in the lives of the disciples that the evangelist noted the
time. “It was about the tenth hour.” In His very life, Jesus
manifested the love and mercy of God. It was not what He said or did but
how He lived his life that made them conclude who Jesus was. “Early next
morning, Andrew met his brother and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ –
which means the Christ – and he took Simon to Jesus.”
Today, if we
want to be the glory of God for others, we too must come to Jesus. If we allow ourselves
to be loved by Him and be saturated with His presence, then we too will be the
presence of God to others. Being with Jesus is the key to ministry
and being His apostles. We read that the two disciples could reach out to
the others to tell them about Jesus, first to Simon Peter and later to
Nathaniel, only because they stayed with Jesus,. The desire to bring
others to Jesus presupposes that we have encountered Him deeply. Without
this prior encounter and personal discovery of who Jesus is for us, we cannot
share with others what Jesus had done for us.
What happens
when we meet Jesus? We are given a new identity and a new image. This was true for
Simon Peter. “Jesus looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of
John; you are to be called Cephas’ – meaning Rock.” In encountering
Jesus, we come to realize our true identity and calling in life. Jesus is
the One who offers us the fullness of life. Meeting Jesus changes us, our
perspective in life, our meaning in life. This transformation from our
encounter with Jesus is also seen in the conversion experience of the skeptical
Nathaniel. “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, ‘Here
is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi,
you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” (Jn 1:47, 49)
Indeed, when
we know Jesus and are baptized into Him, we become members of His body. This is what St Paul
says in the second reading. “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.” We are no longer just an individual but we are members
belonging to Christ. For this reason, as an individual and together as a
community, we are the Church. We are called to be the Sacrament of Jesus,
to edify Him as an individual and as a community. We too must bring
others to Jesus as the apostles did after encountering Him.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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