January 15, 2006
Sunday, 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
(For Special Philippine Feast - Sto. Niño click here)

A. Here Am I, Lord
B. Come and See
C. We Too Are Called

Readings:
1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19; Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
1 Cor 1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34

Commentaries / Gospel Reflections from:
Daily Gospel • Preaching the Word • A Certain Jesus

Greeting (See Second Reading)

Your bodies are members making up the body of Christ.
Anyone who is joined to the Lord
is one spirit with him.
Use your body for the glory of God.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction by the Celebrant

A. Here Am I, Lord

Perhaps we don't realize enough how hard it is to listen to one another. We are so busy with ourselves and with our affairs that we don't hear others or listen to them. How much harder it is for us to hear God and to listen to him! He loves us; he speaks to us, mainly through his written word in the scriptures, in the voice of the Church, in his commandments, in other people, especially in prophets and the poor, in the events of life. Pay attention, try to hear him and say: "Speak, Lord, your servant listens."

B. Come and See

Have we Christians really encountered the Lord? Certainly, we believe in him, we pray to him, we hear his message proclaimed Sunday after Sunday, and have perhaps read the gospels in private. But affecting us much more deeply is encountering the Lord in person. It is only then that a deep understanding, a warm relationship with him and a real sense of our mission in life can be born and develop. Come, let us accept his invitation to "come and see" what he has to offer us and what he is asking of us. He is here with us in the eucharist. Let us ask Jesus to show us where he lives, who he is, and what he expects of us.

C. We Too Are Called

Before we could even know him God called us by name when we were baptized. He called us to be his sons and daughters and gave each of us a task in the Church. Vocation is not restricted to priests and nuns but a call given to us all. This call came not only once, when we became God's children in baptism. God keeps calling us day after day to live as his children and to work for his kingdom. The readings that we hear in this eucharistic celebration are God's word and call to us today. The sacrifice that we offer with Jesus our Lord commits us to give a generous answer to God's call of love.

Penitential Act

If only we had heeded more the word of the Lord!
We ask him now to forgive us.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you speak to us
when you let your Spirit prompt us
to do what is good and be just to people.
Make us listen to your voice:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Jesus Christ, you speak to us
when our shepherds and prophets remind us
how we can serve you and our neighbor.
Make us listen to your voice.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you speak to us
when people appeal to our sense
of justice, mercy or compassion.
Make us listen to your voice:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Forgive us, Lord,
that we have turned a deaf ear to you
when you spoke to us.
Dispose us to listen to you
and lead us to everlasting live. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

A. Witness to Jesus Christ
B. Come and See

Let us pray
that we may be aware of Jesus' call
(PAUSE)
God our Father,
we believe in your Son Jesus Christ.
Open our ears to listen to his word.
Open our hearts
that we may experience his message
as a call addressed personally to each of us.
And may each of us say,
"Here am I, Lord;
I come to do your will."
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

C. We Too Are Called

Let us pray that we may always be open
to God's word and call
(PAUSE)
Father, you know us
and called us by our name
even before we could know and love you.
May we hear and heed your word
to follow Jesus your Son.
Let him become close and familiar to us,
that we may learn from him
how to live for you and for people.
Help us to live with him and in him,
for he is our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction: Speak Lord, Your Servant Listens
       Young Samuel responds to God's mysterious call to put himself entirely in God's service.

First Reading: 1 Sam 3:3b-10, 19

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 he 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.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

R. (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.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.
R. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R. (8a and 9a) 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. (8a and 9a) 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. (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Second Reading Introduction: Your Body is the Temple of the Spirit
       To the Corinthians, living in a port city with much sexual immorality, Paul says: your body is sacred for God, for it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: 1 Cor 6:13b-15a, 17-20

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
and Sosthenes our brother,
to the church of God that is in Corinth,
to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy,
with all those everywhere who call upon the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Introduction: Come and See
       Two disciples of John encounter Jesus and he calls them to stay with him. Once they know him better, they will follow him.

Gospel Reading: Jn 1:35-42

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
'A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.'
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel."
John testified further, saying,
"I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God."

Commentary

What child is this? This child is light dawning in the darkness of death. This child is joy in freedom from bondage. This child is peace in being liberated from war and destruction. This child is Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This child is mighty God. And this child makes us look differently at every human person as a child of God. In Jesus' time a child was not just a young human being under the age of 12, it was anyone who was without power, without recourse, slaves, outsiders/strangers, the sick, the shunned, the sinner, the poor and it is they who swarm to the presence of Jesus the beloved Child of God. The kingdom belongs to them first and unless we become like them, needing, having no power but God's and reveling in the presence of God we will not know either God or the kingdom among us..

General Intercessions

In baptism God our Father has called us to belong no longer to ourselves but to live for God and for people. Let us pray to our Father in heaven that we may always respond to his call in the concrete circumstances of life and let us say: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- To those called in the Church to lead the people of God, that they may have the courage to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth without compromise or fear, let us pray: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- For those who seek God, that the Lord may enlighten their minds and stir their hearts to accept and love him through the inspiring life of dedicated Christians, let us pray: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- For those responsible for others through their positions of leadership, that they may promote justice and love among those entrusted to them and that they may be open and accessible to people in their concrete needs, let us pray: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- For all of us, that we may recognize the voice of Christ to those who appeal to us in their poverty and difficulties, let us pray: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- For this community gathered around the word and the table of the Lord, that we may hear his word as a call and find strength in the eucharist to help one another on the way to God, let us pray: R/ Speak, Lord, your servants listen.
- Father in heaven, when you call us in the events of everyday life let your Spirit give us the insight and the strength to say: "Lord, here I am. I am ready to do your will," together with Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer Over the Gifts

Father in heaven,
you have called us together,
saints and sinners alike,
at the table of your Son.
With him we offer you our willingness
to carry out in everyday life
the tasks you entrust to us.
Let your Son give us the courage
to be your new people
and to be open to the prompting of your love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

We now join Christ in his praise of the Father. As God's people and the body of Christ, let us become signs of his saving love to all.

Invitation to the Lord's Prayer

In Jesus' words
we pray to our heavenly Father
that we may always respond to his love
by seeking and doing his will. R/ Our Father...

Deliver Us

Deliver us, Lord, from every evil
and give your needed peace to our time.
Make us attentive to every call
from you and from anyone who appeals to us.
Set us free from all sin,
for it destroys our dignity
of being your children and image.
Be our strength in temptation and trials
and lead us forward in hope and joy
toward the full coming among us
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...

Invitation to Communion

This is the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world.
Come and see how good is the Lord:
Happy are those who rely on him. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

Loving Father,
you have let us encounter Jesus your Son
in the word and call he spoke to us
and in the bread of himself he broke for us.
We thank you for trusting us so much,
notwithstanding our weakness,
that you loved us and called us by name
to be the sign to all
of your goodness and unfailing mercy.
Let all that we think and say and do
be a grateful answer of love to you.
Grant this in the name of Jesus the Lord . R/ Amen.

Blessing

In this eucharist we have encountered the Lord;
we have heard his voice calling us
to be the community of his Church.
Each of us has his or her own gifts
to answer that call.
May you do so
with the blessing of almighty God:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Go in the peace of Christ
and let him be your companion in life. R/ Thanks be to God.

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Additional Resource Material for this Sunday

Ideal for catechetical and liturgical dramatization of today"s gospel.

The Broken Bamboo
(Jn 1:35-42)

(taken from the book A Certain Jesus, Vol. 1)
Click here for other Readings --> Index of A Certain Jesus