Psalm Reflection: The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

“Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” - Psalms 40

I was 19 years old when I first got hired on staff at a Catholic church. I was hired to do middle school ministry, but my very creative Pastor wrote “maintenance” on my new hire paperwork so he could technically ask me to also do a variety of other jobs around the parish.

As a result, my first day on the job involved me and a group of four or five other young adult men rewiring the electrical for all seven buildings of our parish campus, and labelling every outlet, switch, and corresponding breaker. I got slightly electrocuted several times, but I was not phased or upset. I showed up with the understanding that, “whatever is needed, I am here to serve.” 

Obedience and surrender are scary words. In our increasingly secular world, we are encouraged to prioritize our independence and autonomy. We like to be in control. A 2020s Gallup poll revealed that roughly 62% of American adults would prefer to be their own boss, as opposed to only 7% roughly in the 1970s. Some of this is likely due to the explosion of opportunity for entrepreneurship with media and technology, but whatever the reasons may be it is clear that the perspective has shifted. 

People do not want to be told what to do.

People want to live their lives and be left alone.

As long as they are not hurting anyone, people believe they should be allowed to do whatever they want.

It sounds attractive and even appealing, but the problem is that this mentality is doomed for failure. In essence, this prioritization of self results in us becoming gods of our own lives. The philosopher Plato noted 2500 years ago that we all have innate transcendental desires for love, truth, goodness, beauty and belonging. No one needs to tell us to want these things, they are naturally ingrained in the human soul and psyche, and everything we do in life, whether we realize it or not, is in pursuit of something or someone that will satisfy these desires. So, when we rely on ourselves to be in charge, we are signing up for a job we cannot meet the requirements for.

“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for” (CCC 27).

There is a God and we are not Him.

There is fulfillment and satisfaction for all our deepest yearnings and desires, but we do not hold the answers or the power to make that happen for ourselves.

Only God can do it.

This week’s Psalm gives us the formula for success: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” We have no better example of how to embody this obedience than in the person of Jesus Christ. In fact, the letter to the Hebrews quotes this Psalm specifically in relationship to Jesus coming to offer himself for us in obedience to the Father:

For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings,* you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:5-10).

Christ’s obedience ushered in a completely new covenant, a new way of being in relationship with the Lord that is now available and accessible to all. We no longer have to go through the temple and the Levites and priests, we can encounter the Lord in the Sacraments. All of this was made possible by Christ’s obedience.

What would happen if we followed suit?

How would our lives change? 

How would the world change if we surrendered and said yes to whatever God wanted?

This is where the fear creeps in. “What if God asks me to do something I do not want to do?” This is a lie from the Enemy, because it is fundamentally false and impossible. God knows you. God made your mind and your heart. He formed you in His very hands. He knows what you desire, what you want, and what will fulfill and satisfy you better than you do. God will never call you to a boring life. A life in relationship with the Lord is the greatest adventure you could ever experience.

So, let us allow every day to become an adventure with the Lord by waking up and saying, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” You never know how “shocking” the result will be!

How can saying "Here am I" transform complaint into joy? Where might God call you to that today?

Where do you cling to control, playing god of your life? What fear whispers if you release it to his will?

What "cheap gods" chase your desires of love, belonging, truth, goodness, and beauty? In what ways has chasing them left you empty?

Where or when has surrender shocked you with adventure? 

How might praying this Psalm reshape a routine—like dishes or deadlines—into kingdom work?

I am praying for you. Please pray for me and my family, and I will see you in the Eucharist.

Matt

This reflection is based on the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, January 18th, 2026, the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10.