Homily 1-14-2012 All in.

Last week, with the contrasting reactions to the infant-king Jesus expressed by King Herod and the Magi, we discussed how our year should be focused on putting to death that part of ourselves that want to rule itself, the old man within us, so that we can put on the new man, Christ. The big question of who Jesus is, and what he demands of us as our king, is present again in today's Gospel. After his baptism, he receives his first followers from two men who are zealous disciples of John the Baptist, and he turns on them with his first words in the Gospel, words that all of us must hear Him asking us: What are you looking for? What do you seek? What do you want? Their response is perfect. They do not ask for something of this world, even to an absolute degree, like power, liberty, wealth, or freedom from pain (In fact, the typical, implicit answer of our society, based on what we do with our free time is entertainment to be distracted from the important things of life.) They don't even ask for something supernatural: peace, justice, holiness, and the like. No, they have noticed in the witness of John that Baptist that Christ contains, in His very person, far more than all of those things, because He is the Messiah, God-in-the-flesh. And so they respond perfectly: they want Him, to be with Him, because in that one thing, they have all. But notice, that isn't the end, they must come, and see, as Christ recounts. The Christian life, even after our commitment in faith to the Lord, requires a journey, all the way through the cross and through the death of our Lord and of ourselves. This is what Paul describes today to the Corinthians. Avoid immorality. Since through our baptism we have been bought with a price and our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, we cannot allow any bit of that old man to reign within us. Immoral actions, sin, is like a virus that we must drive out of our life, because it has nothing to do with our Baptism that makes us one with Christ. For the strength to persevere in the battle of the Christian life, we have to stay close to the Lord, who gives us His grace in the Sacraments of the Church and in prayer. Samuel learns today how to approach God with the right disposition. It requires a listening servant. This simple response of Samuel (Speak, Lord, your servant is listening) shows his total dedication to the Lord. Do we have the same? Do we show it in our prayer life? Do we show it by trying to root out the virus of sin in our lives? Every action of our life offers an answer to that question we hear today: what are you looking for? As we receive the Blessed Sacrament today, let us beg Him to be courageous in our response, following the example of Samuel and the disciples, and place our lives in the hands of our loving God.