The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations
“What are you looking for?” That is the first question that Jesus asked Andrew and an unnamed person who the tradition believes is John in today’s scripture. Ignatian spirituality begins with a gracious, all-loving and merciful God meeting us wherever we are in life, asking us that all important question: “What do you desire?” For those of us who have fallen in love with Jesus, endlessly fascinated by his person and his story, we are like these two disciples who heard about Jesus and began to follow him. Jesus looks at us in the same way and asks us the same “million dollar question”: what do you desire?
Do our deepest desires include what I call the Godspell graces: “to see him more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly, day by day” ...as that great song from the 1970s put it so well?
—Fr. Brian Paulson, S.J. serves as Provincial of the Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.
Take, Lord, receive my memory, understanding, my entire will. You have given everything to me. To you I return it to be used wholly in accordance with your will. Give me only your love and your grace. With these I am rich enough and need nothing more.
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