II SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
OUR VOCATION
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
After having celebrated Christmas, we return to Ordinary Time. This second Sunday of Ordinary Time reminds us of our vocations. We celebrated last Sunday the Manifestation of the Lord, and on Monday, the Baptism of the Lord. Every manifestation requires attention that resolves us to search and follow-up. Baptism consecrates us to the Christian vocation. Both, Epiphany and Baptism are summarized in a call and response.
The first reading tells us Samuel’s vocational history. Before speaking of such a precious calling from God, I will begin by asking and answering: who is Samuel? Samuel was a son of Elkanah and Hannah. Elkanah had two women, Peninnah with whom he had children and Hannah, who was sterile. In that time, barrenness was a sign of a curse from God. Elkanah had a special love for Hannah, which caused rivalry and jealousy on the part of Peninnah. Every year they went up to the temple to pray and make their offerings. It is there, in the temple that Hannah prays and asks God’s mercy, asking for a son, with her promise that the child would be consecrated to Him. God responds by giving her a son, Samuel, and from his childhood Hannah consecrates him to God and leaves him at the service of God in the temple of the Lord, especially with the priest Eli. Eli had two sons, who were also priests but their lives were not consistent with their work, so God, despite having promised Eli all kinds of blessing, was removed because of the lifestyle of his children. Samuel grew and served God faithfully.
“At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.” (1 Samuel 3: 7) I repeat that Samuel was the child that his mother consecrated to God as a pledge for having granted her the gift of motherhood. To be a prophet, a man of God, is not enough that our parents destine us to do it, that it is not a vocation. Vocation is not an inheritance that is passed from generation to generation. A true vocation needs a call and a personal answer to the word of God.
“Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, ‘Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” (1 Samuel 3: 8b-9) Samuel’s vocation is described with its own characteristics, it is the voice of God that is heard in the silence, in the night. It was Eli who understands that it is God who calls him and guides him to answer. He was the teacher who taught to his disciple to say, not as a rite, but as the offering of himself: “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Listening to the voice of God in our personal life is a real challenge, which not everyone knows how to face. Eli, the old priest-prophet, has experience of God and communicates it to someone who is in a position to do so; the opposite of what happens with the children of Eli.
The gospel presents to us a beautiful scene and fulfillment of the mission of John the Baptist. “John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’” (Jn 1: 35-36) John the Baptist has fulfilled the mission that corresponded to him. Saint John the Baptist like Eli, helps to discover the vocation of two of his disciples. Sometimes, someone can discover our vocation; the important thing is to know how to discern and be able to dedicate to it.
“He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ — which is translated Christ —. Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas.’” (Jn 1: 41-42). The fact that Peter receives a new name Cephas (stone), and with it all that it stands for , is also part of the vocational mystery. A new name is a destiny, a path, a new life, a mission. All this is suggested in this vocational scene.
Acceptance of Jesus, of his life, of his ideas and the experience of God, can’t leave us where we were before. Everything will change subtly, and not into dramatic, exaggerated spiritual or moral attitudes. Follow Jesus and his gospel, and feel the need for forgiveness and grace, because weakness always accompanies us. May God, Light of the world, grant us to know and live our vocations.