THEME: BE AN EPITOME OF HOPE TO YOUR GENERATION
Today's Gospel reading combines two separate passages taken from the Gospel of Luke. First we hear the opening verses where Luke establishes the purpose of his Gospel. His style is typical of polished Greek and Roman literature. In this passage, we learn that Luke may have written to a specific person, Theophilus; but the word Theophilus may also be a general reference, functioning as the phrase “Dear Reader” in contemporary writing. In Greek, the word Theophilus translates as “lover of God.”
Today's Gospel reading then skips several chapters in which one would find the Infancy Narratives, Jesus' baptism by John, the temptations Jesus faced in the desert and the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. In chapter four of Luke's Gospel, we hear that Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth, attending the synagogue on the Sabbath, which is said to be his custom. In this account, we find another important clue that Jesus lived as a faithful, observant Jew. We will continue to read from Luke's Gospel in sequence for the next two Sundays.
As Jesus stands in the synagogue, he reads from the scroll handed to him; it contains the words of the prophet Isaiah. At this early moment in his ministry, Jesus announces his mission in continuity with Israel's prophetic tradition. This reading from Isaiah defines Jesus' ministry. We will find more evidence of this as we continue to read from Luke's Gospel throughout the year. Jesus' ministry will include bringing glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, healing to the sick, freedom to the oppressed, and proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord.
Through this text from Isaiah, Jesus announces God's salvation. The “year acceptable to the Lord” is a reference to the Jewish tradition of Sabbath years and jubilee. The Sabbath year was observed every seventh year. It was a year of rest when land was left fallow and food stores were to be shared equally with all. A year of Jubilee was celebrated every fiftieth year, the conclusion of seven cycles of Sabbath years. It was a year of renewal in which debts were forgiven and slaves were freed.
This tradition of Jubilee is the framework for God's promise of salvation. And yet in Jesus, something new begins. Jesus not only announces God's salvation, he brings this salvation about in his person. Jesus is Yahweh's Anointed One, filled with the Spirit of God. The Kingdom of God is now at hand. It is made present in Jesus, in his life, death, and Resurrection. Jesus will send the Holy Spirit so that the Kingdom of God can be fulfilled.
The Holy Spirit is Jesus' gift to the Church. The Holy Spirit enables the Church to continue the mission of Jesus. When we do what Jesus did—bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, healing to the sick, and freedom to the oppressed—we serve the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was the one sent by God to bring salvation to the world. Jesus announced that mission using the framework we hear in today's Gospel from the prophet Isaiah: glad tidings will be brought to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom of God in his person—through his life, death, and Resurrection. We are charged with the task of continuing the mission that Jesus began. Jesus set the framework for all of us when he announced his ministry in today's Gospel. Jesus also gave us the helper we would need to enable us to participate in his mission. The Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we, the Church, might serve the Kingdom of God.
Gather with your family and suggest that they try to picture the vision that Jesus describes using the words of the prophet Isaiah as you read today's Gospel, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21.Think about your neighborhood, your community. What are the situations and who are the people who most need to see this vision fulfilled? What steps would be necessary to make the vision a reality for them? Make a family commitment to pray for the Kingdom of God and to take a particular action that will address a need you see in your community. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you by praying the Prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Monday, January 18, 2010
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
This Sunday we begin the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. For many Sundays in this lectionary cycle (Cycle C), our readings will be taken from the Gospel of Luke. Occasionally, however, we will read from John's Gospel. This is true of today's Gospel reading, which describes the beginning of Jesus' ministry and his first miracle.
To situate today's reading within the context of John's Gospel, we note that John's report of this event follows Jesus' call of his first disciples. John tells us that Jesus and his disciples were invited to this wedding at Cana, as was Jesus' mother, Mary. There is no parallel report of this miracle at Cana in the Synoptic Gospels.
In the Church's liturgical history, the wedding feast of Cana is closely associated with the baptism of the Lord and the adoration of the infant Jesus by the Wise Men. In this context, the sign Jesus performs at the wedding feast is celebrated as an epiphany or a manifestation of Jesus' divinity.
Yet an awareness of Jesus' impending passion and death is ever present in John's Gospel. Even in this report of Jesus' first sign, the language used anticipates Jesus' passion. When Jesus says to his mother that his hour has not yet come, he protests against her wishes in language that John will use again when reporting Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples. When introducing the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet, John writes that Jesus knew that his hour had come. In John's Gospel, Jesus is very much in command and aware of all that is to happen to him.
Here, as elsewhere in John's Gospel, Mary is not mentioned by name, but is referred to instead as the mother of Jesus. Mary is influential in Jesus' first sign. She will also be present at his Crucifixion, a witness to the final manifestation of his divinity.
John's Gospel describes seven signs that indicate Jesus' identity to his disciples. John never speaks of these signs as miracles because their importance is not in the deed that Jesus performs but in what these deeds indicate about Jesus' identity. Here, as when John describes the other signs, the disciples are said to begin to believe, but no mention is made as to whether the other wedding guests are even aware of what has happened.
Marriage and wedding feasts are metaphors used in Scripture to describe God's salvation and the Kingdom of God. Here at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, John's Gospel seeks to establish that Jesus is going to re-interpret and fulfill Yahweh's promise to Israel. Jesus establishes the New Covenant. A hint about what this New Covenant will be like is made evident in the deed that Jesus performs. Asked to do something to address the awkward situation that the absence of wine at a wedding feast would create, Jesus' miracle produces vast quantities of wine—six jars holding thirty gallons each are filled to overflowing with choice wine.
This lavish response to a simple human need is a vision for us of the abundance of God's kingdom. It challenges us to respond generously when confronted with human need today. We respond as best we can, fully confident that God can transform our efforts, bringing the Kingdom of God to fulfillment among us.
Weddings are wonderful family celebrations. We go out of our way to make the occasion festive and extraordinary. People work hard to please one another. What better image of the Kingdom of God! Not every day is a wedding celebration, but we can anticipate the Kingdom of God each day in our attentiveness to one another's needs.
If your family has attended a wedding celebration together, talk about the experience and the planning and cooperation that made the celebration memorable. Talk about how weddings and feasts are images in Scripture for the Kingdom of God. Consider how these festive occasions are images of God's tremendous love for us and examples of how we can show our love for one another. Then read together today's Gospel, John 2:1-11. Talk about Mary's attentiveness to the needs of the hosts and about Jesus' response. What could your family learn from this story? Consider ways that you might show these values in your family's daily life. Pray together.
To situate today's reading within the context of John's Gospel, we note that John's report of this event follows Jesus' call of his first disciples. John tells us that Jesus and his disciples were invited to this wedding at Cana, as was Jesus' mother, Mary. There is no parallel report of this miracle at Cana in the Synoptic Gospels.
In the Church's liturgical history, the wedding feast of Cana is closely associated with the baptism of the Lord and the adoration of the infant Jesus by the Wise Men. In this context, the sign Jesus performs at the wedding feast is celebrated as an epiphany or a manifestation of Jesus' divinity.
Yet an awareness of Jesus' impending passion and death is ever present in John's Gospel. Even in this report of Jesus' first sign, the language used anticipates Jesus' passion. When Jesus says to his mother that his hour has not yet come, he protests against her wishes in language that John will use again when reporting Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples. When introducing the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet, John writes that Jesus knew that his hour had come. In John's Gospel, Jesus is very much in command and aware of all that is to happen to him.
Here, as elsewhere in John's Gospel, Mary is not mentioned by name, but is referred to instead as the mother of Jesus. Mary is influential in Jesus' first sign. She will also be present at his Crucifixion, a witness to the final manifestation of his divinity.
John's Gospel describes seven signs that indicate Jesus' identity to his disciples. John never speaks of these signs as miracles because their importance is not in the deed that Jesus performs but in what these deeds indicate about Jesus' identity. Here, as when John describes the other signs, the disciples are said to begin to believe, but no mention is made as to whether the other wedding guests are even aware of what has happened.
Marriage and wedding feasts are metaphors used in Scripture to describe God's salvation and the Kingdom of God. Here at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, John's Gospel seeks to establish that Jesus is going to re-interpret and fulfill Yahweh's promise to Israel. Jesus establishes the New Covenant. A hint about what this New Covenant will be like is made evident in the deed that Jesus performs. Asked to do something to address the awkward situation that the absence of wine at a wedding feast would create, Jesus' miracle produces vast quantities of wine—six jars holding thirty gallons each are filled to overflowing with choice wine.
This lavish response to a simple human need is a vision for us of the abundance of God's kingdom. It challenges us to respond generously when confronted with human need today. We respond as best we can, fully confident that God can transform our efforts, bringing the Kingdom of God to fulfillment among us.
Weddings are wonderful family celebrations. We go out of our way to make the occasion festive and extraordinary. People work hard to please one another. What better image of the Kingdom of God! Not every day is a wedding celebration, but we can anticipate the Kingdom of God each day in our attentiveness to one another's needs.
If your family has attended a wedding celebration together, talk about the experience and the planning and cooperation that made the celebration memorable. Talk about how weddings and feasts are images in Scripture for the Kingdom of God. Consider how these festive occasions are images of God's tremendous love for us and examples of how we can show our love for one another. Then read together today's Gospel, John 2:1-11. Talk about Mary's attentiveness to the needs of the hosts and about Jesus' response. What could your family learn from this story? Consider ways that you might show these values in your family's daily life. Pray together.
Monday, January 4, 2010
BAPTISM OF THE LORD (3RD SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS)
This feast ends the season of Christmas. The purpose of his feast is twofold namely to explain the importance in the four Gospels of the Lord’s Baptism and to encourage you to carry out a similar mission of holiness, prayer and service to others. How will you respond to an invitation to do missionary work? This question is at the heart of the Gospel reading of today where we find God the Holy Trinity preparing Christ for his mission. Last week we celebrated Epiphany, or manifestation of the new born Christ to the world. Now the adult Christ is being manifested to the whole world by the whole Trinity. In the Gospel reading, three lessons can be learnt from Jesus’ Baptism namely the meaning of Jesus’ baptism, the nature of his mission and his mission as committed to you.
First, the meaning of Jesus’ baptism contains such depths of lowliness and heights of exaltation too difficult to comprehend. Surely you noted that John refused to baptize Jesus, as if it would demean Jesus to accept his baptism. But Jesus insisted, saying, “We must do this if we will fulfill all of God’s demands. Therefore, the baptism of Jesus was willed by God. Was Jesus sinful? No, his baptism was not for the forgiveness of his sins but it was meant to sanctify the waters of baptism; to consecrate the Jordan to be a symbol of all the water of baptism to be used through history to baptize all members into himself.
Second, the baptism of the Lord reveals the nature of Jesus’ mission. The prophetic utterance of Isaiah in the first reading stunningly describes it. Though you know Jesus is the Son of God, His father’ own witness, he comes as God’s obedient servant. He is the brilliant light of the nations, tender hearted redeemer sent to give light to your eyes and freedom to your lives. You must better understand Jesus’ words to John “He must do whatever the father wants”. Such is your call too, to do the will of God because in his will you will find your peace.
Finally, in Jesus’ baptism, we see Jesus’ mission committed to us. You like Jesus has been baptized into Christ; an extension of his incarnation and commission to carry on his work. Therefore, you share in Jesus’ mission of holiness, prayer, and the service that leads all to salvation. How do you learn God’s will? From Jesus who is the way, you learn true obedience and true good. You imitate his life, read the Scriptures, and listen to the teachings of his Church explaining God’s word according to Christ’s will. Then you will show in action that you have truly seen the light of Christ radiant in today’s Gospel and have walked by that light all the way to glory.
First, the meaning of Jesus’ baptism contains such depths of lowliness and heights of exaltation too difficult to comprehend. Surely you noted that John refused to baptize Jesus, as if it would demean Jesus to accept his baptism. But Jesus insisted, saying, “We must do this if we will fulfill all of God’s demands. Therefore, the baptism of Jesus was willed by God. Was Jesus sinful? No, his baptism was not for the forgiveness of his sins but it was meant to sanctify the waters of baptism; to consecrate the Jordan to be a symbol of all the water of baptism to be used through history to baptize all members into himself.
Second, the baptism of the Lord reveals the nature of Jesus’ mission. The prophetic utterance of Isaiah in the first reading stunningly describes it. Though you know Jesus is the Son of God, His father’ own witness, he comes as God’s obedient servant. He is the brilliant light of the nations, tender hearted redeemer sent to give light to your eyes and freedom to your lives. You must better understand Jesus’ words to John “He must do whatever the father wants”. Such is your call too, to do the will of God because in his will you will find your peace.
Finally, in Jesus’ baptism, we see Jesus’ mission committed to us. You like Jesus has been baptized into Christ; an extension of his incarnation and commission to carry on his work. Therefore, you share in Jesus’ mission of holiness, prayer, and the service that leads all to salvation. How do you learn God’s will? From Jesus who is the way, you learn true obedience and true good. You imitate his life, read the Scriptures, and listen to the teachings of his Church explaining God’s word according to Christ’s will. Then you will show in action that you have truly seen the light of Christ radiant in today’s Gospel and have walked by that light all the way to glory.
THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD (2ND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS)
If December 25th is a Christian family feast and a time for home gathering, the feast of Epiphany is the official , universal solemnity for the Catholic Church; the Son of God becoming manifest to the world. Thus Epiphany simply means manifestation or appearance. Many episodes characterize this feast namely the adoration of Jesus by the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, the miracle at the Cana wedding, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the visit by the shepherds, and the like.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah invites you to arise because your light has come. Christ’s manifestation is supposed to shatter the darkness in your life and bring you face to face with your destiny which is found in Jesus alone. He is our peace and our reconciliation. Now, then, dearly beloved, Christ has been revealed to both Jews and Gentiles. In the Gospel reading Jesus was manifested in the very cradle of his infancy to those who were near and to those who were afar- to the Jews whose shepherds were nearby; to Gentiles whose Magi were at a great distance. The former came to Him on the very day of His birth; the latter are believed to have come on this day. He was not revealed to shepherds because they were learned, nor to the Magi because they were righteous. He, the cornerstone, joined both groups to Himself since He came to choose the foolish things of the world in order to put to shame the wise and to call sinners, not the just, so that the mighty would not be lifted up nor the lowly be in despair. Like the Magi, daily we visit the Lord in the Mass. We open our treasures and offer Him Gold, Incense and Myrrh. In the Holy Communion, we receive Him and He receives us. If we are wise, we also will return by another way and abandon the reckless, earthbound way which we have been following. We have seen the Lord; we should now live for Him and for Him alone, in spite of all difficulties.
In the first reading, the Prophet Isaiah invites you to arise because your light has come. Christ’s manifestation is supposed to shatter the darkness in your life and bring you face to face with your destiny which is found in Jesus alone. He is our peace and our reconciliation. Now, then, dearly beloved, Christ has been revealed to both Jews and Gentiles. In the Gospel reading Jesus was manifested in the very cradle of his infancy to those who were near and to those who were afar- to the Jews whose shepherds were nearby; to Gentiles whose Magi were at a great distance. The former came to Him on the very day of His birth; the latter are believed to have come on this day. He was not revealed to shepherds because they were learned, nor to the Magi because they were righteous. He, the cornerstone, joined both groups to Himself since He came to choose the foolish things of the world in order to put to shame the wise and to call sinners, not the just, so that the mighty would not be lifted up nor the lowly be in despair. Like the Magi, daily we visit the Lord in the Mass. We open our treasures and offer Him Gold, Incense and Myrrh. In the Holy Communion, we receive Him and He receives us. If we are wise, we also will return by another way and abandon the reckless, earthbound way which we have been following. We have seen the Lord; we should now live for Him and for Him alone, in spite of all difficulties.
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