Reflections
“Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”
The Psalm is a prayer of gratitude
and of obedience to the Lord.
Our psalmist David answers God’s call
when he says, “Here I am.”
Young Samuel does the same
in our first reading.
Samuel waits expectantly
for the Lord to speak to him –
he is ‘all ears’
when he hears the Lord’s voice.
He grows up serving the Lord
and following God. (1 Samuel 3: 3-10,19)
Our psalmist says,
“He put a new song into my mouth.”
For us too it is no longer the same old tune
or the same old we. We are in fact
a new creation, singing out the good news.
and following God. (1 Samuel 3: 3-10,19)
Our psalmist says,
“He put a new song into my mouth.”
For us too it is no longer the same old tune
or the same old we. We are in fact
a new creation, singing out the good news.
Where does our joyful spirit come from?
It comes from the Lord, and we are called
to share what He has given us and to do
His will, which is our delight.
In the Gospel reading (John 1:35-42),
Andrew recognizes Jesus as the anointed
and is drawn to Him.
Andrew and his brother Simon
truly become members of Christ's body.
They are joined to the Lord
and have become one spirit with Him,
as St. Paul proclaims in our 2nd reading.
(1 Corinthians 6:15,17)
We too are called to follow Christ
and to do His will.
Obedience isn’t an unpleasant chore for us;
instead as the Psalm tells us,
“To do your will is my delight.”
Amen
Discussion Questions for Reflection
1. In this beautiful Psalm our psalmist speaks of waiting, waiting for the Lord.
Tell what it means to you to have waited for the Lord, and what has been the result of your presenting yourself to the Lord?
2. Our psalmist is delighted to do God's will; he says to God, "Your law is within my heart!" Have you also felt the Lord's pleasure when you obey Him and serve Him? What does it mean to you to say God's law is within my heart?
After a season of feeling fatigued and lukewarm in my heart, the new year has brought refreshment and resolve to spend more time with the Lord. In verses such as Mark 1:35, we see that even Jesus made it a priority to spend time with his Father. "Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed." We are to imitate Christ and if he took time to be alone and to pray... how much more should we?
ReplyDeletePrayer orders our day aright. And in this time of seeking new habits and resolutions, it is the spiritual practices that I especially seek to build. As we learn in the second reading this week, our physical bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should not ignore earthly needs, such as sleep and proper nutrition. But ..."if there is a physical body, there is a spiritual body." (1 Corinthians 15:44). The spiritual and the physical bodies go together -- feed one well and the other must follow, or else risk imbalance in your life.
I am palpably excited to see how and what the Lord will reveal to me in our quiet times together. Quiet can often mean "still," but it doesn't always mean inactivity. For in the quiet, I can experience contemplation, examination of conscience, focused and intentional listening to what God is saying. In this week's first reading, did not Samuel have ears to hear? Like him, I wish to say "Speak, for your servant hears." (1 Samuel 3:10)
The flames of my heart feel like they're burning again. I have been rekindled. I have much growing to do in the Lord's presence, but I can feel his pleasure as I choose him. I can understand a little more clearly the ways his laws work versus the world's. I can sincerely say that "God's law is within my heart."
In this Psalm David tells us that the Lord will turn to us and hear our cry. He will deliver us from the pit, the hardship we face, if we wait patiently for his presence. We will hear his voice. He puts a new song into our mouths, singing out the good news.
ReplyDeleteWe are called to share our joyful spirit which comes from the Lord.
And so, to do his will is my delight. Because God puts his spirit within my heart. And so I desire to do his will because his law is within my heart.
After all these years I have learned that if I wait for him He gives me ears to hear so I can grow to be obedient to God’s law and follow his ways.
God’s law within my heart means to me that I try to do my best to obey and serve him even though I fail to do so many times in my life. I feel God’s smiling face on me if I try hard to please him and follow him.
But sometimes with God’s law in my heart I feel a burden. Whenever
I am bound up by his law I feel suffocated. Without Jesus’ lifting spirit and his presence I feel down and discouraged. And so I try to listen for his voice calling me to do his will.
In fact God' law is my guiding light leading me to eternal joy,
preventing me from sinning against God. Protecting me from evil’s snare it is an assurance of God’s love for me. I can not run away from his love as long as his words are within my heart.
The Holy Spirit prompts me and convicts me of my sins whenever I do break God's laws, and I repent and try to amend my wrongdoings in Jesus’s name. It makes me a new creation. All human beings who are created by God have God’s law printed in their hearts.
Here am I Lord, I come to do your will.