Thursday, 4th JANUARY St Elizabeth Ann Seton. What do you seek? Commentary of the day : NAME.

* Thursday, 4th JANUARY

St Elizabeth Ann Seton. What do you seek?

* Commentary of the day :  NAME.

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Thursday, 4th JANUARY
St Elizabeth Ann Seton.

John 1:35-42

John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi…where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

What was He like? That day John the Baptist was with John "the Beloved" and Andrew. They saw Jesus. There was something magnetic in that Person. The Baptist smiled, looked at the two disciples and said: "Behold, the Lamb of God! That's the One you should follow." They rose immediately and followed Jesus. 

Jesus turned, and laid His eyes on them. It was the first time He looked the Beloved in the eyes. God had loved him, created him, chosen him - and that day, met him. How did John and Andrew feel when Jesus looked at them with His captivating eyes, an irresistible smile on His face?

 A memorable moment that none of them forgot! 

Then Jesus opened His mouth and they heard His charming voice for the first time: "What do you seek?" Perplexed for an instant, they looked confused with the echo of those words in their ears: "What do you seek?"

O, Jesus! What do we seek?! We seek Someone who can fill our hearts with Love to the brim; we seek eternal happiness! We seek freedom from sin, we seek forgiveness; justice, redemption, hope; we seek Someone who is worth living with, Someone worth dying for. Jesus, we seek to quench the thirst for eternity that You put in our hearts. "Where are You, Lord? Where are You staying?!" "Come and see," Jesus said. And they went; they followed Him; and they stayed with Him that day, and the following day and the next…and for ever. 

And many years later, when John was a blind old man he could still remember precisely: "it was about the tenth hour…how could I forget?!" That was the memorable day when they met Jesus, when they decided to follow Him, with determination: for ever!

Mary, Mother of Jesus, help me get to know your Son, follow Him…and stay with Him for ever. Today can be 'My Memorable Day'!

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Commentary of the day :  NAME.

Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), priest at Antioch then Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on St John's Gospel, no.19 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Library of the Christian Fathers)

Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter).

"You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas" (which is translated Peter)... This, then, is the name Christ gives to Simon. As for James and his brother, these He called "sons of thunder." (Mark 3:17). Why do such a thing? To show that it was he, Jesus, who gave the old covenant, that it was he who altered names, who called Abram "Abraham," and Sarai "Sarah," and Jacob "Israel," (Gn 17:5ff.; 32:29). To many he assigned names even from their birth, as he did for Isaac and Samson, and to Isaiah and Hosea's children (Is 8,3; Hos 1:4,6,9)…

Now we all have one name, which is greater than any, that of being called "Christians", the name that makes us "sons of God," "friends of God" and one "Body" with him. For the very term itself is more able than any one of those others to rouse us and make us more zealous for the practice of virtue. Let us not, then, act unworthily of the honor belonging to so great and beautiful a title, we who are called Christ's… 

For if someone who is said to be descended from some famous general, or who is otherwise distinguished, is proud to be called this or that man's son, and deems the name a great honor, and strives in every way not to bring reproach to him after whom he is called, shall not we, who are not called after the name of a general nor of any earthly prince, nor of an Angel nor Archangel nor Seraphim, but of the King Himself of all of them: shall we not freely give even our very lives so as not to insult him who has thus honored us?

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