SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, JANUARY 18, 2026
- Maria Knox
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10
R/ (8a and 9a) Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.
R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”
R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!”
R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R/ Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
REFLECTION
"Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will."
Some time ago I was meeting a friend for coffee. We were chatting away and somehow the conversation turned into choosing God's will.
The struggle we constantly face is not choosing between something bad or something good. It is about choosing amongst good things. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I have to choose what to do. Do I attend this retreat, or do I attend my friend's entrance into the Church (attend the Mass where she receives her Sacraments of Initiation)? Should I join this prayer group, or should I go help visit the sick? Do I pray the rosary or do I visit with this person?
The struggle between Mary and Martha is real. And things are harder when these activities overlap each other by happening at the same time. And many times I simply freeze.
Still, a decision has to be made. I believe it will be worse if I simply didn't do anything. In these cases I know, and do, spend some time in prayer. Sometimes just go to visit the Holy Sacrament, and say this to the Lord: "Here I am to do your will. Help me do it please."
Sitting in front of Our Lord, I might not have much more to say. Being in front of the Holy Eucharist in the monstrance is like being in the sun, where the rays warm your body, but instead of radiation He sends us His Peace and Love.
So then, I go to the retreat for a while, and celebrate with my friend her conversion. Join the group that meets on my free evening and visit the sick on the weekends. Pray the rosary on the way to visit my friend. Even better, pray the rosary together. The point is not to be paralyzed in fear of making a mistake. Mistakes we will commit, but we should not stop trying because of our imperfection.
Pope Benedict XVI said:
We are very confused about the fundamental choices in our life and question what the world is, where it comes from, where we are going, what we must do in order to do good, how we should live and what the truly pertinent values are.... collectively we no longer know from what and for what we have been made and where we are going...
This is the function in persona Christi of the priest: making present, in the confusion and bewilderment of our times, the light of God's Word, the light that is Christ himself in this our world...
