Readings:

1 Sm. 3:3b-10, 19; Ps. 40; 1 Cor. 6:13c-15a, 17-20; Jn.1:35-42

(Audio recorded live, 17 January 2021)

Today’s readings are about listening and transcendence. Listening to the voice of God, and following that voice to transcendence. In order for any of us to grow in the spiritual life, we must discipline ourselves to listen and allow ourselves to be open to transcendence.

Let’s start with listening. Webster offers us three definitions of listening: 1) to pay attention to sound, 2) to hear something with thoughtful attention, and 3) to be alert to catch an expected sound. The first definition captures what Samuel did in the first reading. As the Lord called out to him, he paid attention to the sound, but he was mistaken in thinking it was Eli calling him rather than the Lord. This, we might say, is basement level listening: Hearing something and relating to it on the ground floor, or an earthy way. Upon hearing the Lord’s voice, Samuel responded as someone not yet open to a transcendent reality, going rather to Eli, in a reality he already knew.

There are two other definitions of listening worth exploring: To hear with thoughtful attention, and to be alert to catch an expected sound. These latter two definitions are what Eli taught Samuel to do the next time he heard the Lord calling. In other words, Eli, acting as a kind of spiritual director for Samuel, opens him up to the possibility of transcending reality by not only listening attentively, but also by responding to the Lord: “Speak, for your servant is listening!”

Our psalm echoes this very sentiment, saying, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” The thrust of both readings is to show us that the Lord is calling us, and for those of us who are listening attentively, awaiting our response. And what is our response?

St. Paul tells us that our response is to become one Spirit with the Lord. He warns us that our body is not for immorality, not for sin, but is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Whatever sins we personally commit are sins against ourselves. Why? Because when we commit sin, we fail to listen attentively to the voice of the Lord calling us out of sin. It is as if to say, God telling us to wake up, snap out of it, be attentive and ready to respond. Therefore, St. Paul’s command is to glorify God in your body.

What does it mean to glorify God in your body? Well, for starters, none of us is God. And we must acknowledge that His ways are so far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. Yet, St. Paul encourages us to glorify God in our body. What does he mean? Well, I would like to suggest that glorifying God in the body is not something that we do at all, rather, it is entirely an act of God. None of us can glorify ourselves, let alone God, however, if we were to listen to his voice and respond, as Samuel does, “Speak, for your servant is listening,” we begin to transcend time and space to be with the Lord. And in this moment of prayerful communion with the Divine—God’s speaking to us and our active listening—we are glorifying God in our body. In that moment, there is no immorality; in that moment, there is no individuality; in that moment, there is only God. So, glorify God in your body.

St. John understood the power of listening. In our Gospel, he shows us a similar pattern to what we heard in the Book of Samuel. Andrew and the other disciple were listening to John the Baptist—the voice of one crying out in the desert make straight the way of the Lord. We might say listening to John was a bit like the first definition of listening: to pay attention to a sound. In this case, the sound of the Baptist’s voice. But, as soon as the baptist pointed out Jesus, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” Andrew and the other disciple were curious. So, they went and followed Jesus. Notice Jesus says nothing for a time. What was he waiting for? Could it be that Jesus was waiting for them to listen with thoughtful attention? And when they were ready, he turned and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They asked him, “Where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” In this passage, John the Baptist acts like Eli from the Book of Samuel. He shows Andrew and the other disciple the way. And since they were listening attentively to what Jesus was going to say, they were able to respond. St. John tells us that they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Through their listening and response to the Lord, they were able to be where he was.

So, today, as we pray, let us listen attentively to the Lord, may we be open to his voice, and may the communion we share as one Body, lift our hearts and minds to the transcendent reality that awaits us all: the True Presence of Jesus.

Given during the COVID-19 pandemic.