Open with a prayer: Good and gracious God, thank you for gathering us together to share life and listen to your Holy Word. Today you speak to us about how you call out to us in the events and encounters of daily life. May we discern your call to us and respond with generosity and obedience. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sharing of life: What are you most and least grateful for this week?

Facilitator reads focus statement: The first and third readings concern a central theme in Scripture: God's call and man's response to that call. Also, in both of these readings, people are being introduced to God and Jesus. They have a personal experience or encounter with God or Jesus. In the second reading, Paul reminds the Corinthians that because their lives belong to Christ through baptism, their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and cannot be used to engage in sexual promiscuity.

Now read the three readings and Psalm. Pause briefly at the end of each reading.

FIRST READING: 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

In this beautiful call-response story, Patricia Sanchez notes six dimensions of the call-response dynamic. First, Samuel does not recognize God's call, which illustrates the fact that calls from God are not always immediately discernible. Second, the repetitiveness of God's calling assures us that God does not easily quit on us. He keeps calling. Third, the setting of God's call to Samuel (at night, while he slept in a temple sacristy) reminds us that God's call to us can come at anytime or place or during any human activity. Fourth, the fact that Samuel resorted to his mentor Eli for help, suggests that we often may need help from other experienced pilgrims to discern God's call. Fifth, the description of Samuel's growing to maturity in the presence of God underscores the power of grace to sustain whoever responds to God's call. Sixth, the effectiveness of Samuel's ministry (v. 19, the Lord did not allow any word of his to be without effect) reassures those called that active cooperation with God can yield astounding results.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 40

The response of the true disciple is an unqualified acceptance of God's will. "Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will."

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 6:13-15, 17-20

Sexual promiscuity was one of the problems Paul faced in the port town of Corinth. It seems that some Corinthian Christians had been claiming that their bodies, like all mortal things, are passing away and therefore there was no problem in using (and abusing) them for all kinds of eating, drinking and sexual activity. Paul thinks otherwise. He uses a striking parallel. He says: in baptism, our bodies (and spirits) are given to Christ. Hence, they belong to Christ. Because our body belongs to Christ, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence, it would be extremely inappropriate and wrong to give one's body to another outside the commitment of Christian marriage, which mirrors Christ's love for his church.

GOSPEL: John 1:35-42

Just as Eli introduced Samuel to the Lord, John the Baptist in this Gospel, introduces two of his disciples to Jesus (which underlines John's subordinate role). John's ministry was (and ours is) to introduce others to Christ. When the two disciples begin to follow Jesus, he asks them: "What are you looking for?", a question which implies: What does your heart seek? They answer with a question of their own: "Rabbi, where do you live?" Jesus answers, "Come and see." So they go off to have a long chat or a mini-retreat with Jesus. During their "stay" with him, the eyes of the two disciples are opened to his true identity. "Seeing" and "staying" are key terms in John's Gospel. The one whose eyes are opened to who Jesus truly is, is invited to come and stay with Jesus, to come and share Jesus' relationship with his Father. It is an introduction into a life of discipleship, which leads one into "staying" with the Blessed Trinity.

Having had their eyes opened, one of the two disciples, Andrew, seeks out his brother, Simon, and introduces him to Jesus. Jesus immediately changes Simon's name to Cephas, a word meaning "rock". Henceforth, Peter will have a key and central role in the new community of believers.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What verse spoke to you and how does it relate to your life?

2. Prior to his call, the young Samuel, though pious, did not know the Lord. Was there a time when you were pious but did not know the Lord? If so, how and when did that change?

3. The Psalm response, "Here I am Lord, I come to do your will" is at the heart of Christian spirituality. Can you remember a time when it was particularly difficult for you to say, "Here I am Lord, I come to do your will"?

4. How would you respond if Jesus were to ask you, "What are you looking for?"?

5. The Catholic Church has a vision about sexual morality that has been rejected totally by the secular world, and, to a great extent, by Catholics under the age of fifty. Our Church teaches sex belongs to the sacrament of marriage where a man and woman are committed to being faithful to each other. This vision is rejected by couples who engage in premarital sex, who live together, who have extramarital sex; gay couples who engage in sexual activity. Is our church's teaching outdated or is it true wisdom for a world, which embraced the sexual revolution with disastrous results?

RESPONDING TO GOD'S WORD

Name one way you can act on today's readings. Suggestion: Try to be more aware of how God might be calling you in the events and encounters of daily life.

CONCLUDE WITH PRAYERS OF PETITION AND INTERCESSION.

Especially pray that each of us hears and responds to God's call and that young people take seriously the Church's teaching on sexual morality.