Wednesday January  12

Wednesday of 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Hear God and Answer       

        

Introduction

Today’s first reading tells us the beautiful story of Samuel’s vocation. He is the man attentive to the signs of God’s presence, hearing the inaudible, seeing the invisible, where others do not hear or see anything. He is in contact with God, like also Jesus withdrawing in a lonely place to pray. We hear God best when all is silent in us.

The Gospel shows this compassion of Jesus to those afflicted with all sorts of ills and the brokenhearted. He is committed against death and misery. Isn’t it that this is the mission he entrusts also to us today?

 

Opening Prayer

Lord, our God and Father,
you call us to listen
to the word of love and mission
which you speak to us in this Eucharist.
Make us receptive to your word
and let it stir our hearts.
Attune us also to your voice
speaking in people and events.
And make us also attentive to your silence.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Reading 1 1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20

During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli,
a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent.
One day Eli was asleep in his usual place.
His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.
The lamp of God was not yet extinguished,
and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was.
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”

Samuel ran to Eli and said, “Here I am. You called me.”
“I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.”
So he went back to sleep.
Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli.
“Here I am,” he said. “You called me.”
But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”
At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD,
because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.
The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time.
Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am.
You called me.”
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
So Eli said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'”
When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before, “Samuel, Samuel!”
Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
Thus all Israel from Dan to Beersheba
came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the LORD.

 

Responsorial Psalm Ps 40:2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

(8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
who turns not to idolatry
or to those who stray after falsehood.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me.
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

 

Allelluia Jn 10:27

Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord.
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel Mk 1:29-39

On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of Galilee.

 

Intercessions:

–       That we may bring our pains and problems before the Lord and talk them over with him in trusting prayer, we pray:

–       That disappointments and failures may not embitter us, but help us to grow closer to the Lord and grow as human persons, we pray:

–       That our own sufferings may help us understand people better when we see them in trouble, and dispose us to offer them our discreet help, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
we are here before you
with gifts of bread and wine
to share the table of your Son.
Help us to see his veiled presence
in our midst
and to hear his call
to commit ourselves to one another.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
as we leave this place
of silence and prayer,
we ask you to create within us
islands of peace and silence.
Do not allow us to lose and forget
you and ourselves
in the bustle and stir of our works,
but help us to return always to you,
the center of our being,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing

There are so many ways in which God keeps speaking to us in life. Be aware of his presence; learn to see him, to hear him, to be close to him. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary:

Everyone Needs a Guru

God called boy Samuel by name. But Samuel had no idea it was God who was calling him. He needed the spiritual wisdom and discernment of an elder—Eli—to help him recognize God’s call and respond to. Everyone needs a guru. Even Jesus. We find Jesus working throughout the day, but then spending the night or early morning all alone in prayer, in conversation with his Father. Such daily bread of discernment helps him remain focused and not be swept away by people’s adulation born out of needy love. Hence, when the disciples tell him that everyone was looking for him, Jesus tells that he has to move on, to other people and places. With all his compassion and love for people, Jesus is not emotionally enslaved to them. His capacity for healthy detachment comes from the discernment born of daily consultation with his Guru—God the Father. Who is your Guru?

 

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF