Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received him from God.       Second Reading

In today’s first reading we have the call of Samuel, with the well-known ‘Here I am Lord.’ Response. The Gospel gives us the call of Andrew and Peter with their response. There is a mentality, common among Christians, that is fearful of getting too close to God. The fear is that God might ask something extraordinarily difficult of them, as if God were some kind of hard taskmaster.

The words from the second reading should give us hope and new heart, and put that fear to rest. God is not to be thought of as an absent, stern deity wanting to put burdens on us. Our God is a God of presence, the Spirit of love in our midst. The call this God makes to most of us is not a call to do extraordinary feats. It is a call to believe and to witness that God is present in our Families and in our world through our loving and in our living. It is a call to believe that since the spirit of God truly is with us. Then there is sacredness about us, and we should act accordingly.

Reflections for Sundays
God Is With Us
Michael Morwood MSC