Joke: A deaf man, a blind man, and a disabled man heard a rumor that God had come down to a church in the village to heal the sick. They all went to check it out. God signed to the deaf man, "Can I help you, son?" The man signed back that he would be happy if he could hear again. God touched his ears and suddenly he could hear. God then touched the blind man and he was able to see. The third man was sitting in his wheelchair with his mouth wide open in amazement. God looked at the man and asked him what he wanted. The man drew back and yelled, "Don't lay one finger on me! I'm on disability!"

In all of today’s readings, perhaps, it is not only about allowing the Lord to touch and heal us, but it is about how to listen and respond to God’s call by faithfully attending Mass. In all today’s readings, we are invited to have an active listening ear and to respond with a humble and open heart. The voice, in today’s first reading, taken from the first book of Samuel, asked the youth Samuel for a response when he was unfamiliar with the voice. Through his teacher, Eli, Samuel was able to recognize the Lord’s calling. Eli taught him how to respond to the voice saying, “If you are called, reply, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” Did the boy Samuel hear the voice? He heard the voice but didn’t know where it came from. Through Eli, he learned to respond saying, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” Would we be able to listen to God’s voice when we are unfamiliar with his voice? What does his voice sound like? Is it our human voice? Does his voice travel to our ears in a sound wave hitting our eardrum so that we can hear his voice? What is his voice like calling us on our spiritual journey here on earth?

As a priest, I have the privilege to go to anoint people and give the last rite to those who are dying. One Christmas, after the vigil Mass and the midnight Mass, I came home and was about to fall asleep, when I received a phone call on my cell phone. I picked up, and I was asked to go to give the last rite to someone in the assisted living facility. The patient was not even our parishioner, but a friend of his son called several parishes and no priest answered the phone. The friend even thanked me for picking up the phone.

In my recollection, it seemed that I never came to this facility before. There was no receptionist. It was so quiet. I tried to navigate by following the signs to look for the room that I was given. Honestly, I was chill. After a few turns, I saw a nurse and I was so happy. She took me to the room, and I gave the unconscious patient the last rite in the presence of his loved ones. The next day, I received the message that he died. The Lord, out of the ordinary things, asked me to do something out of the ordinary. If I did what seemed to be ordinary things, that meant ignoring the phone call and going to sleep after the midnight Mass, I could miss preparing the man to meet the Lord at his last moment on earth. Listening to the Lord sometimes invites us to do what is unordinary.

The young Samuel, his familiar voice was his teacher Eli and when the Lord called him, he couldn’t recognize his voice. When he heard the voice, he automatically thought and believed that was Eli who called him. At a very young age, the age of eating, drinking, and having fun with games and all kinds of physical activities, and the Lord called him in the middle of the night, how could he recognize if no one instructed him? We too, are perhaps not busy with games, eating, or having fun like the youth, but we are busy with work and all kinds of activities in our lives, are we able to hear God’s voice when he calls us? What does his voice sound like? Are we familiar with his voice?

In today’s second reading, Saint Paul teaches us a very important lesson about human beings when he says, “The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord.” What is immorality if it’s not what Saint Paul says, “Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body.” In other words, immorality is a person commits sins against his or her own body. What is it immorality to do with listening to God’s voice in our life? The youth Samuel couldn’t recognize God’s call because his body was so tired from all the activities of the day, he was not fully awake in the middle of the night, and many other reasons, not talking about getting familiar with God’s voice. How do we get familiar with God’s voice and be able to recognize him when he calls us out of our ordinary activities of life?

We can learn to be familiar with God’s voice and be able to respond to his voice in our Christian life by learning from what Saint John describes in today’s Gospel. The moment that John the Baptist introduces Jesus, the Lamb of God, his disciples follow Jesus. This is not enough to know and to be familiar with God that Jesus told them, “Come, and you will see” when they ask him, “Rabbi” — which translated means Teacher —“where are you staying?” Only listening to the Lord is not enough, but to have the courage and strength to come and to stay with the Lord Jesus and faithfully follow him.

How can we hear God’s voice and how can we recognize his voice in our Christian journey if it’s not to come and see, to stay and experience his life, his place? Samuel recognized God’s voice through the teaching of his teacher, Eli, how can we recognize God’s voice when we participate in the Mass, read the Bible, and are actively involved in all kinds of activities in the Church? Just as the two disciples came and see where the Lord Jesus lived and be able to stay with him and follow him, what is it that we have difficulty loving one another in our family, in our community, at work, in school and wherever it is when we regularly participate in the Mass, read the Bible, and are actively involved in all kinds of activities in the Church? One thing that Saint Paul helps us to understand that to prevent us from coming to recognize God’s voice and to respond to His voice is the immorality, the sins that go against the body, and the temple of the Holy Spirit. How do we take care of our bodies as the temples of the Holy Spirit on our spiritual journey? Are we able to listen, recognize, and actively respond to God’s call when we allow our bodies to dominate our entire being? The decision is yours.