Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the second Sunday of Ordinary Time.

“What are you looking for?”

January 17, 2021

 “What are you looking for?”Jn 1:36

With this question, Jesus calls our attention to the choices we make and the motivation underlying them: the choice made by the Prophet Samuel when he was a teenager, the choice made by Andrew and the choice by his brother Simon Peter. These choices changed forever their lives; and they fulfilled the hopes for which they were looking.

Consider the choice of Samuel in our First Reading. Four times in one night, Samuel was awakened from sleep by someone calling his name. Thinking it was his master, Eli, calling, he jumped up, went to Eli and said, “Here I am, you called me.” Eli responded, “I did not call you. …Go back to sleep.”

The same thing happened two more times, but after the third time, Eli realized what was happening and explained to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called again, reply, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’.” That’s how Samuel chose to listen to God. From that night onward, this teenager was never the same.

Before he died, many years later, the whole nation of Israel was a better place because of the leadership of Samuel, a leadership built on listening to the voice of the Lord. What would your life be like if you told the Lord every day, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”? Our lives are shaped by the voices we listen to. Only one voice always shapes them according to truth and love, the voice of the Lord.

St. Benedict knew this well. So, when he wrote his famous Rule of Life for monks to help them become saints, he began with these words, “Listen, my sons…” St. Benedict also structured the daily rhythm of monastic life so that every activity helped the monks listen to the word of God and put it into practice and, thereby, to grow in their love of Jesus and His Kingdom.

Today’s Gospel passage (John 1:35-42) tells how Andrew and his brother Simon Peter decided to follow Jesus. As with Samuel, they were helped to listen to God by another person. For Andrew, it was John the Baptist who pointed out the Lord as He was passing by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” At once, Andrew began to follow Jesus. Later, after spending the whole day in the presence of Jesus, Andrew rushed off to tell his brother Simon, “We have found the Messiah.” Then, he brought him to Jesus. These choices dramatically changed the lives of Andrew and Simon Peter, eventually leading them to be numbered among the Twelve Apostles, who laid down their lives for Jesus.

In our Second reading today, St. Paul uses the word “body” seven times in a brief passage. The Apostle corrects false notions about the body that were prominent, 2000 years ago and are, sadly, still prominent today. He writes, “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord.” Many in Corinth looked at sexual activity as recreation, nothing more. For them, our bodies are of little value, so sexual acts are of no consequence. To them, fornication, adultery, contraception, infidelity, and so forth did not matter, because the body is worthless anyway. What a corrupt understanding of the body. So, Paul writes,

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? …whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with Him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body.”

The body really matters. It has a dignity that is sacred from the moment of conception. That is what Jesus taught us by becoming a man, by His incarnation in Mary’s womb, by offering His precious Body and Blood to us in the Eucharist, by offering His body in sacrifice on the Cross to redeem the world, and by rising 3 days later – body and soul – from the dead.

If the body does not matter, then why did Jesus become a man? Why was the Resurrection such a great victory? Why is the self-gift of Christ in the Eucharist so sacred? Jesus has redeemed the body, given it inviolable dignity, and made it central to the great Mysteries and Sacraments of the Church. Because Jesus suffered death on the Cross and then rose again bodily from the dead; we can say with jubilation:

“Christ is risen from the dead! By death He trampled Death, and to those in the tombs He granted life!”

Thus, St. Paul writes, “Did you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you… and you are not your own. For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.” What an amazing vocation from God! The world’s view of the body and sexuality is upside down. It sees the body in a way far too cheap and trivial. What Jesus has done by becoming human is to give a Trinitarian foundation to the body and to sexual ethics. All the choices that we make entail both soul and body: the choice to listen, the choice to be a disciple of Jesus, the choice to take up our cross each day and follow Him. All that we are and do belongs completely to Christ.

In this Liturgy, Jesus asks us several questions, which deserve prayerful consideration. Let us carry those questions with us in our hearts: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? What are you looking for?  Let these questions rest in your mind and heart, trusting that the Lord will lead you, by means of them, to deeper knowledge and love of Him.