Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

               

DISCERNING THE VOICE OF GOD

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Readings: 1 Samuel 3:3-10, 19, 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20, John 1:35-42

 

In the readings of this second Sunday, the first and the gospel readings share some similarities. The first reading speaks about the call of Samuel while the gospel reading speaks about the call of the first disciples.

In the Old Testament times, God spoke to his people in different ways and one of them is through dreams as in the case of Samuel. In the call of Samuel, the first thing we note is that Samuel was not able to recognize the voice of one that was calling him. He heard the voice clearly but was not able to identify it as God’s. On three occasions, he ran to Eli his master thinking he was the one calling him (1 Samuel 3:2-10). From time to time, God also calls us and speaks to us but like Samuel, we are not always able to identify the voice of God. This is either as a result of our inattentiveness or because of other distractions. In order to hear and identify the voice of God and his plans for our life, we need to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit and in most cases, we need a spiritual guide like Eli.

Also, it was God that called Samuel to serve him. Samuel did not call himself neither did he assign any duties to himself. God speaks and we listen. But what we find today is that instead of telling God to speak that we his servants are listening, we rather command God to listen that we are speaking. We need to listen more to God in prayer and allow him to speak to us and to reveal his wishes to us as he did to Samuel. Also, God calls and our duty is to respond. But in our time, we have many people, men and women of God, who call themselves and respond to the call themselves. Such people do not wait to be called by God.

We all long to have an encounter with God. But in our time, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish the voice of God from that of the world. In our time, everybody wants to be a seer. That is why we have many people giving out prophecies in God’s name. One of the problems that this creates is that it makes it difficult for us to know when God himself is speaking or when the voice is that of the human instrument.

When God calls us, the idea is for us to work for him. Jesus calls us to bring people to him. This is exactly what Andrew did in the gospel reading. When Andrew had found the Messiah, he went in search of his brother, Peter and when he had found him, he brought him to the Lord (John 1:41-42). What we however find in most of those who call themselves is that instead of bringing people to God, they take souls away from God. They work for their own gain.

Finally, let us ask God to grant us an attentive and discerning spirit so that we can hear him whenever he calls us and be able also to distinguish between his voice and that of the world. Going from one house of prayer to the other in search of God’s voice can make us vulnerable. When we like Samuel are willing to put our ears in the mouth of God, we give God the opportunity to speak to us.