By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
The LORD came and stood there, calling out as
before: Samuel, Samuel! Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1
Samuel 3:10
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two
who heard John and followed Jesus. He
first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” —
which is translated Christ. Then he
brought him to Jesus. John 1:40-41
Piety
Piety is the response of our
lives to the word of the Lord that calls us to find ourselves in him. We area created to the image and the likeness
of God in Christ. Christ is the blueprint of our piety. It is not simply that we put on the mind and
the heart of Christ. We also have the
application of the senses, as part of our prayer where our living and our
breathing become the richness of our prayer.
Our first breath is the first prayer of our lives. Our last breath is the last prayer of our
lives. Our living for the Lord makes us
into contemplatives in Action. Each
breath is the living of prayer. We are
calling to the Lord to speak to us and the answer to what the Lord asks of us
is our piety. How we give our lives to
the Lord is how we hear the Lord calling us and respond the best we can. Our piety says to the Lord; “Here I am Lord.
I come to do your will.”
Study
Our study teaches us what we
need to know to find the Lord in the moment now of our lives. Like John of our gospel story, we need to be
able to point out the Lord. We hear John
calling Christ the Lamb. The glorious
lamb offers himself for the people. Jesus
is the servant called Lamb. The four
suffering Servants psalms of Isaiah describe the destiny of the suffering
Servant. What Christ is meant to be is
learnt as the Lamb of God. He will offer
himself up for us. We study how to
follow in his footsteps that we may be like Lambs of God.
Action
Our most important work is
not simply to live to the call of the Lord.
We need to bring others to share what we hear from the Lord. John pointed out Christ to two of his
disciples and they followed Jesus. Jesus
asked them what they wanted and they were told to come and to see. Our study allows us to see what Christ is doing
in our lives and allows us to hear the call to follow him. We follow the Lord in how we share his love
with the needy of our world. When we
allow our needs to be met by our friends, we too become Christ to those who
help us. Christ identifies with our
needs, too. It is a win-win situation
because it is Christ we care for in our charity and we in Christ’s identifying
with our needs become Christ to those who care for us. Andrew is our exemplar. Having found Christ, he brings Christ to his
brother. The ripple of our sharing
Christ with family goes to our whole world.
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