First Reading - 1 Samuel 3:3-10,19
Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 6:13-20
Gospel - John 1:35-42
A stranger once asked a teacher, “What’s your profession?” The teacher replied, “Christian,” The stranger continued, “No, that’s not what I mean. What’s your job?” The teacher asserted, once again, “I’m a Christian!” Puzzled, the stranger clarified, “Perhaps I should ask, what you do for a living?” The teacher replied, “Well, I’ve a full-time job as a Christian. But, to support my sick husband and children, I teach in a school.” — That teacher had certainly understood the meaning of discipleship summarized by today’s Responsorial Psalm (40): “Here I am, Lord, I come to do Your will.”
The main theme of today’s readings is Divine vocation – that everyone is called by God to be a witness for Christ by doing something for others with his or her life, using his or her unique gifts and blessings. Hence, today’s readings remind us of our personal and corporate call to become witnesses for Jesus, the Lamb of God, by leading lives of holiness and purity.
The first reading describes how Yahweh called Samuel to His service and how the boy Samuel responded to Him, saying, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Hence, God blessed him in the mission entrusted to him, and Samuel became an illustrious figure, ranking with Moses and David as a man of God.
The Refrain for today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 40), has us sing, “Here am I Lord! I come to do Your Will!” indicating that our vocation is to obey, to do what God commands us to do.
In the second reading, St. Paul explains to the Corinthians that their Divine call is a call to holiness. Hence, they need to keep their bodies pure and their souls holy, because by Baptism they have become parts of Christ’s Body and the temples of the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel, John the Baptist claims that his vocation is to introduce Jesus to two of his own disciples as the “Lamb of God,” suggesting Jesus’ vocation to become a sacrificial lamb to atone for our sins. The disciples followed Jesus to his residence, accepting his invitation to “come and see.” They stayed with him that day. Then Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus, presenting him to Jesus as the Messiah. Thus, today’s Gospel also describes the call or vocation of the first apostles and challenges us to invite others to Christ by our Christian witnessing.
Dear friends, our Christian vocation is to live and die like the Lamb of God. We live like the Lamb of God: a) by leading pure, innocent, humble, selfless lives, obeying Christ’s commandment of love; b) by appreciating the loving providence and protecting care of the Good Shepherd for his Church; c) by partaking of the Body and Blood of the Good Shepherd in the Holy Eucharist and deriving spiritual strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the Sacraments.
We are called to die like the Lamb of God: a) by sharing sacrificially our blessings of health, wealth, and talents with others in the family, parish, and community; b) by bearing witness to Christ in our illness, pain, and suffering through our graceful acceptance of all of it; c) by offering our sufferings for God’s glory, as penance for our sins, and for the conversion of sinners.
Our call is to bear witness to the Lamb of God. Doing this requires a personal experience of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. a) We get this personal experience of Jesus in our daily lives through the meditative reading and study of the Bible, through personal and family prayers, and through our active participation in the Eucharistic celebration. b) Once we have experienced the personal presence of Jesus in our daily lives, we will start sharing with others the Good News of love, peace, justice, tolerance, mercy, and forgiveness preached and lived by Jesus.
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