What Are You Looking For?

From the Catholic Liturgy for the 2^nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jan. 14, 2018. Gospel – John 1:35-42. Topic: What Are You Looking For?

Today we have our first Sunday Mass in Ordinary Time, a basic no frills way of counting the Sundays/weeks of the liturgical year.  And it is extremely fitting that this Ordinary Time, this "getting back to life as usual", starts off with the Gospel passage proclaimed this Sunday because who among us cannot relate to the scenes it portrays? John shows us a slice of everyday life: 3 buddies hanging out and then two brothers are having an important conversation about deeply held ideas and dreams.  Yet, this very ordinary slice of everyday life is shot through with the extraordinary: the presence and magnetism of Jesus of Nazareth. There is something about this Man... He simply needs to walk by, to speak, to invite, and people drop everything to follow after Him. Why? WHO is he?

This is The Question that John asks of us throughout his entire gospel, all 21 chapters of it! He will present us with his eyewitness testimony of miracles, debates, healings, and even Resurrection from the dead, in order to make us to ask that all-important question of Jesus: WHO are you?  As the Gospel of John unfolds we will come to see that Jesus is the Son of God who has burst into human history in order to share and transform our everyday ordinary lives. He is the Lamb of God, who will offer himself in sacrifice for sin so that we can receive the gift of eternal life.

But as important as this question is I think that the question which has the most meaning for each one of us right now, today, in our ordinary everyday lives is the one that we just heard Jesus ask of St. Andrew: What are you looking for?  Those are the very first words which Jesus speaks in the Gospel. And he is speaking them today, right now, to both you and me.  He is asking each one of us right now: what is it that you are looking? What do you desire from Me? What are you searching for in life?

And I think that the thing which we are all looking for…the thing that attracted Andrew to Jesus and draws us to Jesus as well is what every human being is really desiring, is always looking for, searching for: love. Real authentic genuine love: to be known for who we really are not for who we pretend to be in order to please others;  to be wanted and accepted for who we are and as we are; to be happy deep down, not a superficial or fake happiness but the kind of happiness that lets us go to sleep each night with serenity of heart and awake in the morning ready to embrace the day.

But what this desire looks like in everyday ordinary life is different for each one of us. And so, each one of us has to approach Jesus ourselves, one-on-one like Andrew did, and spend time with Him. Each one of us needs to make known to Jesus our own desire, our own particular need. We must go off with Him like those first disciples did and converse with Him, heart to heart. We Christians call this prayer. Prayer of the heart. Me and Jesus. One-on-one. In quiet and solitude, so that we can be undisturbed in our time with Him and hear Him when he speaks to our hearts. But we must go apart, in quiet and solitude wherever that might be – in church before the Blessed Sacrament, in our room at home, on a solitary walk – whatever it takes to go apart with Him.  And then we will hear his voice echo within us, words and ideas that suddenly come to mind and will us with peace, hearing Him with the ears of the heart.

Start this prayer of the heart with Jesus today, after Holy Communion and while He is truly present within you, tell Him what kind of happiness you are desiring deep down in your heart. Don’t be afraid to ask for anything, whatever it is, because He is more than willing to give it to you… as long as you are more than willing to honestly answer his question: What are you looking for?