Homily for 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - January 17, 2021

 Readings for today can be found here.

            “Here I am, You called me.”  We are called to be disciples of Jesus.  Our readings today tell us that God calls us personally to discipleship.  But what does it mean to be a disciple?  Discipleship begins with having a relationship with Jesus.  The first disciples knew the Lord personally, having spent several years with Him.  And even though Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh, we too can have as close a relationship as those first disciples.  How can we do so?

            It begins by WANTING to have that close relationship.  We need to make a choice to invite Jesus into our lives and get to know Him better.  And this relationship with Jesus needs to be cared for and nurtured.  I had a best friend in high school and college.  We spent a lot of our free time together.  We hung out, started a few bands, ate way too much pizza, and occasionally got into a little trouble.  We were always there for each other and would come running if the other needed something.  I could spend hours telling stories about the things we did and shared.  However, after college, we grew apart.  It was nothing intentional.  I moved away since I was now in the Navy.  He got married.  We got complacent.  We tried to keep in touch, but life got in the way.  Now, we’re more acquaintances than friends.  I haven’t spoken with him in years.

What’s our relationship with Jesus like?  It’s easy enough to let life get in the way.  We have so many demands on our time: work, school, family, activities.  It gets tiring and we may not have the energy to put in the time needed to maintain our relationship with Jesus.  We don’t do it intentionally.  “I meant to find time to pray today but it’s late now.”  “I was going to read Scripture but there were so many things that needed to be done today.”  “I would love to volunteer for that ministry but how could I possibly fit it in?”  I’m sure we’ve all said or thought things like this.  It can cause us to become more acquaintances with Jesus than close friends.  Luckily for us, Jesus is always calling us to draw closer to Him and get to know Him better.

We get to know Jesus better by spending time with Him.  Prayer is so important, taking the time to talk to Jesus.  It can be formal or informal.  But we need to open our hearts to Jesus and take some time to listen His reply.  Reading and reflecting on scripture is also a great way to get to know Jesus.  As we get to know Jesus better, we’ll want to do things for Him, like we would any of our close friends.  As disciples and friends, Jesus wants us to serve others just as He served while He was among us.  And the beauty of serving others is that through doing so, we recognize Jesus in those we serve.  In getting to know those we serve, we get to know Jesus even more and grow in our relationship with Him.

Jesus calls us to not only be his disciples, but his friend.  To do so, we need to maintain our relationship with Him.  How are we doing in our relationship with Jesus?  Are we letting life get in the way?  What can we do to deepen our relationship with Jesus and become better friends?