Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lord, where are you staying?
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” he two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them,”Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. 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 Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). Jn 1,35-42
It was after the dinner on Christmas Eve of 1961 when we built the first crib together. It is a date which we cannot forget because it was the beginning of our married life, as well as John, in the today’s gospel, reminds us that “it was about four in the afternoon” when he and Andrew met Jesus of Nazareth asking him: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” and followed him. That day their life has changed, as it happened to us that night of the 1961. The two disciples, suddenly struck down by the announcement of John the Baptist: “Behold, the Lamb of God!”, became immediately aware of, such that they did not address trivial or interlocutory questions to the Master, as it happens when you do not have clear ideas but immediately they asked him: “Rabbi, where are you staying?”. This is the question which arises since two thousand years to every person who has accepted the message of the gospel. And, over the years, we too asked several times: “Where do you live, today, Lord ?…. Where is your home ?…. Where can we meet you ?…. Where is the place of your privacy, to live and grow in communion with you?”.To this question the Lord has given, from time to time, different answers, depending upon our needs of the moment: “You can meet me every day in the Holy Scriptures, in the Providence, in the sacraments of the eucharist and of the reconciliation”. But in the recent times, perhaps because we need to enter into this conviction, the most frequent answer is: “My residence is in the poor people”. Meditating, then, this mystery, we realized that he lives in every person, because every man has his poverty, although some move us and attracts us, and others upset us. Give us, Lord, in this time of globalization and migration, to meet you in the poverty of the men, not only when they are misunderstood, sick, unemployed, hungry, thirsty, naked, alone, homeless or imprisoned, but even when they are violent, usurpers, hoarders and selfish, because these are the poorest of the poor people.