Readings for the Sunday, January 17th

If you haven’t read or heard today’s Mass readings for this Second Sunday of the Year please read them first, particularly the Gospel, and then return here for my thoughts.

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Back in the 1940s and 50s, a group of Christian writers met twice a week in a little pub in the center of Oxford University. They called themselves ‘the Inklings.’ They hand-wrote their great books, thus the name ‘Inklings.’ One morning and one evening every week they drank fine English ale and read to each other the drafts of what they were currently writing. They’d listen, poke some fun, critique each other, and learn. That pub, The Eagle and the Child, was thriving before the coronavirus. It was jammed every day and if you got there early anyone could sit at the very table where these men sat.

Most pubs in England are closed now but this one will thrive again after the pandemic, especially after the people who live in Oxford get the vaccine developed just a couple of blocks away.

What ‘the Inklings’ did a half century ago was produce a new literature for children and adults that proclaimed the truth of the Christian faith but camouflaged through wonderful stories.  Two of them in particular wouldn’t ever have imagined that their books would sell in the hundreds of millions, or that millions of others would watch these stories as movies.

The world has forgotten most of those men. But two of them won’t be forgotten any time soon:  C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  That pub was where they first read aloud The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and so much else.

I told you a few weeks ago that the last survivor to sit with that group, Walter Hooper, died in December. His funeral was just ten days ago.

Hooper’s best friend, C.S. Lewis, once told him that we were trying to “evangelize the imagination, plant seeds for the young, kick-start youthful imaginations, so that when children were introduced to Jesus, and his life and teachings, they’d say, ‘I recognize that. That’s like Frodo Baggins or Sam Gamgee, or Aslan the Great.’”

‘The Inklings’ were modern evangelists who believed Christianity to be the truth. It wasn’t just one religion among many, one opinion among hundreds. Thus, what could be more important than writing about souls being saved from danger? These men gave their energy, their minds, their hearts, the very best of themselves, to the truth they found in Christ.

Today’s Gospel speaks of the importance of telling others about Christ. John the Baptist sees Jesus and says to his followers, “Behold the Lamb of God” and two of those disciples start following Jesus.

Jesus then asks them a question we should think about all week: “What are you looking for?” In the Gospel these are the very first words Jesus speaks. “What are you looking for?” 

Imagine the Lord turning to us and saying, “What do you want?”  What are you looking for?” What do we want for ourselves, for our world, from our God? Is it wealth and material goods? Is it power and position? Is it freedom to do just as we want?  Or is it God’s mercy? It’s an open question and we’re free to answer any way we want. How would we answer it?

The disciples then ask a question of him. “Rabbi, where are you staying?  He says, “Come and see.” And the real answer to where he’s staying comes earlier, where it’s written of Jesus “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Where’s he staying? With us! God has come to our house!  That’s where He’s staying!

“In the beginning was the Word:” The Word, God’s life, became a person. Jesus is a person we can see and touch and with whom we can talk. And they stayed with him. We should too!

Christianity is about a person, Jesus, with whom we’re madly in love. And he wants us to move in with him and watch him up close.  

We do that in lots of ways:

• in the Mass
• in the sacraments
• in our own prayer
• in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
• in clothing the poor at the homeless shelter
• in giving food to the hungry

That’s how ‘the Inklings’ came to know Christ - through worship, through prayer, through service, through loving the Church. All evangelists - ‘Inklings,’ lay people, deacons, religious, priests - all evangelists begin as seekers. All ask, “Lord, where are you staying?” And those who share him with others are the ones who really move in with him. Then they tell others how to find him.

The first thing that Andrew does after this conversation is look for his own brother and say to Peter, “We’ve found the Messiah.”  The first thing to do when we find Christ is to tell someone else about him. “I’ve found the one for whom we’ve been looking.”

How beautiful it is that Andrew finds Christ and then immediately finds his brother to tell him. That brother, Peter, eventually becomes more important than Andrew. Peter takes the faith to the very heart of the world, Rome! 

Peter is possible because of what Andrew did.  How beautiful when we share our faith. Who knows who we might bring to Christ?

The most famous Inklings are now dead 50 to 60 years.  Just think though how their work, from decades ago, goes on and on, how those writings, first heard in a pub, still bring people to Christ.

You know someone you should bring to Christ! That person could be the next Peter. Stay with Christ - move in with him - and you’ll want to share him.