Daily Bible Reading – January 14, 2024

Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.

2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 40: 2, 4. 7-8, 8-9, 10 (8a, 9a): Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will

1st Reading: 1 Samuel 3: 3b-10, 19

Samuel lay in the house of Yahweh near the Ark of God. Then Yahweh called, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel answered, “I am here!” and ran to Eli saying, “I am here, did you not call me?” But Eli said, “I did not call. Go back to sleep.” So he went and lay down.

Then Yahweh called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel stood up and went to Eli saying, “You called me; I am here.” But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”

Samuel did not yet know Yahweh; and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him. But Yahweh called Samuel for the third time; and he went again to Eli saying, “I am here for you have called me.” Eli realized that it was Yahweh calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you again, answer: “Speak, Yahweh, your servant listens.” Then Yahweh came and stood there calling “Samuel! Samuel!” as he did before. And Samuel answered, “Speak, for your servant listens.”

Samuel grew. Yahweh was with him and made all his words become true.

2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 6: 13c-15a, 17-20

The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. And God, who raised the Lord, will also raise us with his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? On the contrary, anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid unlawful sex entirely. Any other sin a person commits is outside the body; but those who commit sexual immorality sin against their own body.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, given by God? You belong no longer to yourselves. Remember at what price you have been bought, and make your body serve the glory of God.

Gospel: John 1: 35-42

On the following day, John was standing there again, with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus.

He turned and saw them following, and he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are you staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he stayed, and spent the rest of that day with him.

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said, and followed Jesus. Early the next morning, he found his brother Simon and said to him,

“We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ), and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas” (which means Rock).

REFLECTION:

“Do not judge.”

A legalistic attitude often leads to self-righteousness. This happens when one thinks of himself as the one who follows the rules and others do not. He is sane while the rest is sick.

This is not the way Jesus looked at the public sinners during his time. In Jesus’ eyes, the tax collectors and sinners are persons who need redemption. The Pharisees appeared to be afraid to associate themselves with the tax collectors and other public sinners because they already had become self-righteous.

Jesus reached out to them. He associated with them and he related with them in a loving relationship.

The only way to bring the lost back to God is to relate with them in a loving relationship. We relate with them without judging them. Condemn the sins but not the sinners.

Of course, this is always easier said than done. How are we going to relate with the lost without falling into the trap of self-righteousness? Begin by admitting that we were also lost at some point and God, who is always righteous, never stops relating with us in a loving relationship.

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