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INTIMACY WITH THE LORD IS THE CALLING OF EVERYONE - stephenkhoo - 01-15-2012 11:20 AM
15 January, 2012, 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
INTIMACY WITH THE LORD IS THE CALLING OF EVERYONE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 SM 3:3-10.19; 1 COR 6:13-15.17-20; JN 1:35-42
“What do you want?” This question addressed to the disciples of John the Baptist is also addressed to all of us. What is it that we are really seeking for in life? The truth is that like the disciples, we do not want anything. We have enough of things in life. What we are seeking for is a relationship. We want to be in union with our loved ones, our friends, our colleagues and indeed, the whole of creation. However, we also know that our relationships in this world are but a series of broken and bitter relationships. This is because our human relationship is not built on the source of all relationships, which is God Himself.
Indeed, this is what we mean when we say that man is made for God. We are made with the capacity for love and for union. We are called to the mystery of communion. It is because we are made for God, for intimacy with Him that it becomes possible to speak of the lesser forms of communion, namely, with creation, with others and with ourselves. Hence, no real communion can exist between man and man; man and creation, if man is not in real communion with God.
Sin, precisely, is the cause of division among human beings. Sin primarily is the foolish attempt of man to separate himself from God. Sin gives us a false sense of autonomy, like Adam and Eve who thought they could do without God. When God is removed from the human being, he has no ground for life. He has no basis for morality, for ethical living and for love. He is reduced to a beast who is concerned only with his self-survival. Thus, he also separates himself from others and lives as if he is an island. This is an illusion.
However, if we were to be more sensitive to what is in us, we cannot but realize that deep within us, we long for the Mystery, which we Christians call God. We are like the beloved disciple of the Lord not mentioned by name in today’s gospel. His anonymity represents all of us, for he symbolizes every man who seeks intimacy with God. Furthermore, this invitation to encounter the Mystery is not dependent on our physical age, as in the case of Samuel. What then would be the necessary dispositions for us to encounter God who is the Mystery, the Ground and the Foundation of our lives?
Firstly, we must be open and available for the Lord. This is the precondition for any encounter to take place. Samuel, who was given to the Lord from young and being a servant at the sanctuary of the Lord, was always open to the voice of God even when he slept. This too was the same disposition of Paul, Andrew, John and Peter. They were open to the Lord. They did not allow their previous experiences to make them biased against Jesus. Indeed, John and Andrew, who were then disciples of John the Baptist, could have remained skeptical and suspicious of the invitation of Jesus. Peter too, responded positively when Andrew told him that he had found the Messiah. Like the rest, he was willing to verify for himself what others had told him.
Secondly, this openness requires listening. We are told that Samuel was ever ready to listen to the Lord. Indeed, we are told that throughout Samuel’s life, “the Lord was with him and let no word of his fall to the ground.” So too the apostles were ever ready to listen. John and Andrew were ready to listen to the advice of John the Baptist that Jesus was the Lamb of God. John and Andrew stayed with the Lord for almost a whole day, listening to Him and seeing how He lived.
Thirdly, the purpose of listening is in order to make us more sensitive to His voice. Unfortunately, many of us have desensitized ourselves to the voice of the Lord. We can no longer hear His voice in us. Yet we all know that quite often, when we are alone, we can feel the emptiness and the cry in our hearts. This yearning and thirsting is the Spirit of God in us asking for fulfillment. But instead of responding to God’s prompting, we become frightened and nervous of silence. We go for a movie, to the shopping centers, listen to rock music, go for disco or line dancing in order to drown the cry of the Spirit in our soul. This is just the contrast of John the Baptist. This man who lived in the desert could hear the voice of God so loudly that when he saw Jesus, he immediately and intuitively recognized Him to be the Messiah that wsd to come. Hence, he urged his disciples to follow Jesus who is the Lamb of God.
Once we are open, docile and sensitive to the work of the Lord in our lives, we will be ready to enter into that experience. In the final analysis, the whole purpose of listening is to prepare us for that personal encounter with the Lord. Hence, the invitation of Jesus to His disciples and to “Come and See” is exigent and indispensable. When Jesus invites us, as He did the disciples, to “come and see” He is telling us all to come and experience the unconditional love, the presence and the forgiveness of God in Him. He is asking us to experience God in a real and tangible manner in His being. Only when we give ourselves to Jesus by experiencing Him in person, His teaching, His thoughts, His words, His deeds, His very being, that faith can mature. Thus, what is required of faith ultimately is a personal relationship with the Lord. Without this personal encounter, we would not be able to confess with Andrew and John, “We have found the Messiah.”
Unfortunately, because we never cultivate a personal relationship with the Lord, our faith is founded on sand and cannot withstand the trials of life. But with a deeper relationship with the Lord, our lives will never be the same again. We will see life not simply from a human and earthly or worse still, from a worldly perspective. Rather, we will see life from the deeper dimension of humanity in the Spirit.
Like Samuel and the psalmist, we would want to say, “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.” A person who has encountered the Lord lives only for the Lord, just as lovers live for each other. Yes, our only concern will be to please the Lord, to offer our bodies and ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord. This precisely was the attitude of Jesus, St Paul and the apostles. When we have experienced the Lord in our lives, that experience of being with Him can never be exchanged for anything. For when we realize, as Paul did, that we “have been bought and paid for”, then we would in gratitude want to offer our whole being for the glory of God, delighting in His law, listening to Him in the depth of our hearts.
This link between faith and life implies that a real intimacy with the Lord not only brings about a new way of life but also always brings about a calling. One who has encountered the Lord is given a new role and a missionary calling as well. This was certainly the case of Simon Peter who was given a new name, symbolizing a new role. So too was Samuel, who was prepared by God to be the prophet, the Judge or administrator of Israel.
Like Peter and the apostles, we have been given a new vocation, which is to lead others to intimacy with the Lord. Eli helped Samuel to hear the calling of the Lord; John the Baptist encouraged his disciples to follow Jesus; Paul urged us all to surrender our body and spirit to the Lord since we have been paid for by the blood of Jesus. We are called to be witnesses and pointers to Christ.
Those of us who have been privileged by the Lord must now be like John the Baptist to lead others to Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God!” We do this of course by living a worthy Christian life; testifying to others what Christ has done for us, and the joy we experience in our relationship with Him.
However, if we find ourselves lacking zeal and enthusiasm in bringing others to Christ, then surely this is an indication that we have not yet met the Lord and seen Him with the eyes of faith and love with Him with our hearts. For if Jesus were truly our Messiah, the Christ, the one who has given us life and light, then it is obvious that we would want to share Him with our loved ones, our friends and with everyone we meet. The lack of enthusiasm simply shows that we are hardly convinced that Christ is our Lord of life and love.
But we can do all these only provided we have experienced a deep intimacy with the Lord. When we have a deep love for the Lord, we will have the strength to do everything and overcome the trials and temptations of life. It is the lack of love and intimacy with the Lord that make us feeble in our love for Him and thus unable to surrender our lives completely to Him. But when we love the Lord, we share in His Spirit so that we become the living temple of the Holy Spirit. As the living temple of the Holy Spirit, we will want to witness Christ to all.
Thus, if our personal relationship with the Lord is still weak, then we need to renew our communion with Him. We must be aware of our inner poverty and come to Him to be basked in His love. Jesus is inviting and appealing to us once again, “Come and see.” Yes, we must take the time, the opportunity and the courage to stay with Jesus long enough to experience His love and intimacy. Let us learn from Andrew and John who stayed with Jesus the whole day. We must pray for such a conversion experience like that of the apostles so that built on that foundation of love and trust; we will always live a life in union with Him. Only a deep communion with the Lord will empower us to bring others into communion with each other and with Him.
RE: INTIMACY WITH THE LORD IS THE CALLING OF EVERYONE - stephenkhoo - 01-15-2012 11:36 AM
Today's reading Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!
Are we ready for the Lord?
Yes we do not hear the words reverberating in our ears but do we then listen to the Lord in the silence of our hearts?