Monday, January 13, 2025

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 1:1-6; Mark 1:14-20)

 It is conventionally thought that the Letter to the Hebrews was written to dissuade Jewish Christians from giving up faith in Jesus.  Modern commentators, however, no longer think that it was a letter nor that it was necessarily written to Jewish Christians.  They will not dismiss the treatise on these accounts because it brilliantly defends the faith from popular criticism.

According to contemporary biblical critics, the work was written as a sermon to which the author added an epistolary ending.  As today’s passage shows, the author regularly contrasts old (“In times past, God spoke in partial and varied ways…) and new (“in these days, he spoke to us through the Son…”).  He then indicates the superiority of the new dispensation.

The Letter to the Hebrews presents what is called a “balanced Christology.” It shows how Christ is fully human and divine.  Because he is human, he knows our deep-seated needs for meaning and hope.  Because he is divine, he can provide supernatural help to transcend our desperation.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

(Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Luke 3:15-16.21-22)

There are different options for the first and second readings for Mass today. The ones we have heard emphasize the theme of mission. Together with the gospel, they give us a sense of the mission that Jesus Christ has carried out in the world.

The first reading comes from the first Servant Song found in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. We read all four Servant Songs during Holy Week because the anonymous servant prefigures the suffering Christ. The first song indicates that the servant will be a "light to the nations" by demonstrating God's justice. His mission, to do good for all without harming anyone, will bring peace to the world.

Today’s gospel emphasizes the presence of the Holy Spirit to Jesus after his baptism. He now has the means to fulfill Simeon’s prophecy made in the Temple after his birth that he will be a “light to the nations.” For the most part, but not completely, Jesus’ mission will be limited to the Jews. However, his disciples will carry his Spirit to all parts of the world.

The Acts of the Apostles tells of the beginning of missionary action to the world on the part of Christians. Today’s reading from Acts shows Peter preaching to Cornelius, a non-Jew, in Caesarea in northern Israel. Moved by the Holy Spirit, Peter has left Jerusalem to begin the mission to the Greeks. His message is peace among the nations through Jesus Christ who died for all.

We are baptized in the same Spirit that Jesus left to his disciples. We must ask ourselves what our mission is. To whom have we been sent? Certainly, we are not baptized simply so that we may attain eternal life. For it is precisely in fulfilling Jesus’ mission that we merit seeing the Kingdom of God. First, we are sent to our families and communities to teach them justice. Mothers who tell their children to always do the right thing, no matter what others do, are fulfilling Jesus' mission. Of course, our advice will prove hollow if we do not demonstrate justice in every one of our actions, even those unseen by anyone. In the film highlighting the life of St. Thomas More, the protagonist tells an ambitious young man that he would make an excellent teacher. Disappointed by the advice, the young man responds to More: “And who will notice my service?” The saint replies: “Your students, yourself, and God: not a bad audience.” By the way, More always did the right thing even to accept martyrdom for not assenting to a law proposing that the king is head of the Church in England.

It is quite possible that we will never have the opportunity to be foreign missionaries like St. Paul. But this does not mean that we do not have a mission. Living justice and teaching others how to do it is a necessary mission as is going to Africa to evangelize. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit so that we may fulfill it well.

Friday, January 10, 2025

Friday after Epiphany

(I John 5:5-13; Luke 5:12-13)

If faith is necessary to experience a miracle, the leper in today’s gospel easily qualifies for healing.  He does not doubt a bit Jesus’ power to heal.  “If you wish,” he tells Jesus with the confidence of a child appealing to his grandmother for a favor, “you can make me clean.”

Jesus’ willingness to help the leper is even more remarkable.  He might have kept his distance and pronounced a healing.  But he cares about the leper so much that he makes physical contact.  Not only is he risking contagion, he is also making himself ritually unclean.

Both the leper’s faith and Jesus’ compassion merit our attention and imitation.  Full trust in Jesus will bring us startling results.  Suffering with others will even more wonderfully mark us as heirs of heaven.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Thursday after Epiphany

(I John 4:19-5:4; Luke 4:14-22)

Soon Donald Trump will become the forty-seventh president of the United States.  On Monday, January 20, he will take the oath of office and then give his inaugural address. In it he will tell the world of his hopes and plans for the country during the next four years.  In today’s gospel Jesus has just begun his public ministry.  He returns to Nazareth to give what amounts to an inaugural address.

By referring to himself as the prophet anointed by the Spirit of God, Jesus is saying that he is Israel’s long-awaited Messiah.  However, he is not going to do what most people expect of a messiah. He will not raise an army to force Rome out of Palestine.  Nor will he sit on a throne with servants waiting for his command.  Rather his messiahship will consist of raising the hearts of the poor and giving sight to the literally and figuratively blind.

We have chosen to follow Christ, whom we accept as the Messiah.  To be faithful to our choice, we should pursue the objectives he gives in the gospel.  In place of always seeking comfort, we should strive to comfort those who are dealing with great loss.  Instead of pursuing upward mobility, we should take time to help the lowly.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Wednesday after Epiphany

(I John 4:11-18; Mark 6:45-62)

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that in this life we come closer to God through love than through knowledge.  To approach God through love we should first recognize God’s selfless gift of His Son and the Son’s gift of Himself for our sake.  God’s love is perfect because it expects nothing in return.  Second, we must love one another; that is, to seek the good of the other even if we have to forfeit our own good.

Love makes us saints.  Recently it was announced that men who died as youths are to be canonized this April.  Carlo Acutis, an Italian born in 1991, went to daily mass out of love for Christ.  He talked about Christ in the Eucharist to practically everyone he met until his death at fifteen years of age.  Pier Giorgio Frassati, also an Italian, lived a hundred years ago.  He took an active interest in helping the poor and inspired others to holiness both before and after his death.

In our age many think of love as mutually satisfying desire for pleasure.  Love is not necessarily devoid of pleasure, but it extends beyond that.  As our love approaches God’s selfless giving, pleasure is superseded by joy which runs deeper and lasts longer.