Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19
Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20
Jn 1:35-42

Hello, I'm Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the "Sunday Soundbite" for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Despite all the slick, hi-tech forms of advertising around today, "word of mouth" is still an effective way to find out about things. Take movies, for example. If people are talking about a film around the water cooler at work, you can be sure the weekend attendance figures for that movie will increase.

Today's Gospel depicts the effectiveness of word of mouth in spreading the news about Jesus. John the Baptist points out Jesus to two disciples, who meet the Lord and then in turn begin to share what they've found with others. Their early "evangelization" efforts continue beyond the verses we read in today's selection. One disciple after another invites a friend to "come and see" Jesus. Each new disciple shares what he has discovered. Eventually a small circle of disciples gathers around Jesus—all through word of mouth.

Catholics don't often consider themselves "evangelizers." We may see other Christian denominations making more aggressive efforts to acquaint people with Jesus. But perhaps we should take a cue from John the Baptist, Andrew and the other disciples portrayed in John's Gospel. What might we tell others about Jesus today? How has he changed our lives? Can we confidently invite others to "come and see"—and perhaps find the new life that flows from him?

Scripture:

•“…Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

•Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. (Psalm 40:7a)

•Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? (1 Corinthians 6:15a)

•“where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” (John 1:38)

Reflection:

•Where is Jesus staying in your life? Have you answered His invitation to “Come and you will see”?

•Do you recognize your capacity to be another Christ for others to receive Jesus through you?

•Do you take time to stop and listen to hear the message the Lord is speaking to you?

•Do you have time to simply "be” and not to always “do”?

We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have—for their usefulness. When man is reduced to his function he is placed in a servile, alienated condition. He exists for someone else or even worse for some thing else. Hence he cannot enjoy life. The ethos of our society certainly places an enormous emphasis on “having fun,” but our whole concept of joy is mendacious because it is servile. Even the fun that we have is for a purpose. It is justified not by its gratuity, its simple celebration of the gift of life, but by its utility.…

Why then aren’t we happy? Because of our servility. The whole celebration is empty because it is “useful.” We have not yet rediscovered the primary usefulness of the useless. From this loss of all sense of being, all capacity to live for the sake of living and praising God, all thankfulness, all “Eucharistic” spirit, comes the awful frustrated restlessness of our world obsessed with “doing” so that even “having fun” becomes a job of work, an operation, a veritable production, even a systematic campaign.