Sunday January 14, 2024

“We find what we’re seeking when we give it to others.”

Good News Reflection for:

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 14, 2024

Today’s Prayer:

Your calling, Jesus, is irresistible. When You show Yourself and come to meet me, Your love exceeds everything else and I cannot resist You. Thank You for calling me by name! Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
gnm.org/SaintQuotes/

Today’s Readings:

1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19
Ps 40:2, 4, 7-10
1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20
John 1:35-42
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011424.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-january-14-2024

What are you looking for?

Like Jesus did to Andrew, who became one of his first disciples, in this Sunday’s Gospel passage, he says to you and to each of us: “What are you looking for?” When you pray, and when you look at a crucifix, or when you see a picture of Jesus, what exactly are you looking for?

Jesus says: “Come and see!” Come and see what? His love? His healing power? His supernatural ability to answer our prayers? Whatever we’re looking for, the reason we’re seeking it is because we don’t yet have it.

Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise by God the Father. Jesus is the fullness of love, the provider of mercy, the divine healer, the perfect mediator of all our prayers and concerns and everything else we truly need. So, why does it feel like something is still missing? Why do our lives feel incomplete? Why do our prayers seem unanswered?

The answer is revealed in what happened after Andrew began to follow Jesus. We read about it in Samuel’s response to God’s invitation. We proclaim it in the Responsorial Psalm: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”

Andrew, his brother Simon Peter, and the other disciples were privileged to witness first-hand the wondrous miracles of Jesus. They personally experienced God’s love through the gentle eyes of Jesus, the tone of kindness in his voice, and the forgiveness that was visible in his smile.

Yet with all of this, they did not really find all that they were looking for (remember how easily Peter felt afraid or confused or uncertain) until they were on the giving end of it. They didn’t discover the fullness of Jesus until Jesus was no longer present in the flesh and they accepted their calling to continue Christ’s earthly ministry.

The same is true for us who have never seen Jesus’ actual eyes or heard his actual voice. We find what we’re seeking when we give it to others. Why? Because then we discover that we really had it all along! This is the miracle of “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”

Questions for Personal Reflection:
What do you need from Jesus that he doesn’t seem to be providing yet? At the core of your prayer requests, what is it you’re really seeking? How can you find it by doing the will of God? Contemplate this question until you figure out something to do. Then do it and see what happens.

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Describe a time when you gave away what you thought you didn’t have. Perhaps it was money or time. Perhaps it was patience or hope or love itself. How were you doing the will of God? What happened to your own needs afterward?

Reflect further on this issue with our Faith Booster: “Your God-given mission” @ https://wordbytes.org/faith-booster-minis/your-god-given-mission/

© 2024 by Terry A. Modica

Access more in our new Calendar of Reflections.

 To distribute the Good News Reflections in your church bulletin or in RCIA or faith sharing groups, please contact us.

 You can also receive this & more faith-builders by text message on your phone.

 Keep it going! This reflection reached you thanks to benefactors. Please support this ministry today.

 Post your prayer request.

 How else can we serve you today? Visit our homepage.

Search more reflections in our continually growing database.

Homebound, Prison & Hospital Ministers are invited to print and distribute them without further permission.

Continue your prayer time with these:
Pray with Saints | Pray the Rosary | Other Prayers | Random Quotes.

Order and share Terry Modica's books

Socialize with us at:
        

Please share this with others by inviting them to visit this page. You may also print this for your personal use and you may share the print-out with others.