Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 2:13-17

As He passed by, He saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post.

In today’s Gospel passage from the second chapter of Mark, Jesus lays down part of the foundation for His public ministry.  The events of today’s Gospel took place not long after Jesus’ Baptism, which inaugurated His public ministry.  The last sentence of the passage holds several clues for us about Jesus’ earthly mission.

“I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”   If we took these words at face value, we might consider “the righteous” to be the Pharisaic scribes who provoked these words from Jesus.  Obviously the scribes considered themselves so.  But like Jesus’ parables and so much else in His preaching, there is a paradox at work.  Jesus turns the popular notions of who is righteous and who is a sinner on their heads.

We could certainly not say that the tax collectors and other “sinners” were made righteous simply by the act of physically dining with Jesus.  But the physical proximity, and the closeness it suggests, make clear that neither Jesus nor the “sinner” shuns the other’s company.  We cannot receive spiritual and moral righteousness from Jesus if we don’t enter His presence and spend time with Him, especially in the sacrificial banquet of the Eucharist.  To shun him there would be to stand like the scribes, aloof and self-righteous.

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 2:1-12

Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them ….

“Which is easier, to say… ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?”  Jesus’ question to the scribes is rhetorical.  Here, at the beginning of only the second chapter of Mark’s gospel account, we see opposition to Jesus.  It’s true that the scribes are keeping their opposition to Jesus to themselves at this point:  they aren’t even whispering secretively to each other.  They’re only speaking within their own minds, saying, “Why does this man speak that way?  He is blaspheming.  Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

Since He is God, though, Jesus can read their minds.  God can read your mind also.  God knows what sort of opposition dwells in our minds, and keeps us from being His instruments.  Certainly Jesus wanted the scribes to embrace the Gospel.  Jesus wanted the scribes to recognize who He was, to follow Him, and with their talents to serve God, and to spread His Kingdom.  But these tiny thoughts of the scribes—“Why does this man speak that way?”—were the seeds that would blossom three years later into the foul fruit, the foul choice to put the Son of Man to death on the Cross.

It’s because of this, because “Jesus immediately knew in His mind what [the scribes] were thinking”, that He heals the paralytic.  The paralytic man is an instrument that Jesus uses to try and heal the scribes.  In all likelihood, if it had not been for the seeds of doubt that were germinating in the minds of the scribes, Jesus would not have worked this miracle.  But because of the sickness in the scribes’ minds, Jesus uses the sickness of the paralytic to try to heal the scribes.

But unfortunately, there is a huge difference between these two types of sickness:  the sickness of the scribes, and the sickness of the paralytic.  The sickness of the scribes—as is the case with the sins of every sinner—is freely chosen, so these sick persons have to ask freely for healing.

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:40-45

… it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.

In today’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus “remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.”  Jesus’ “retreat” is not that of a hermit.  Jesus’ frequent journeys to deserted places was a prudent distancing of himself from those He came into this world to serve.  Jesus wanted at times simply to be in prayerful communion with His Father.

At the same time, perhaps Jesus knew that the people He was sent to serve needed a “breather”.  It’s hard for us to imagine what it was like to hear the Word of God preach the Good News, or work stupendous miracles.  We may imagine that because we’ve seen movies portraying such events, that we have an idea what it was like for those first-century folk.  If so, we underestimate the power of the Word of God made Flesh, and overestimate the power of cinema.

Often implicitly, and sometimes directly, Jesus says that the crowds are misunderstanding Him, even praising Him for the wrong reasons.  Some distance between Him and them, then, was prudent so that the crowds might reflect in their minds and hearts on the mysteries of Christ.  Of course, in the end, the crowds called for His death:  “Crucify him!  Crucify him!”  We have cried the same by our sins.  But in the desert of Calvary, Christ offered His life so that throughout all ages to come, people might keep coming to Him from everywhere.

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:29-39

Rising very early before dawn, He left and went off to a deserted place, where He prayed.

In the light of Simon’s pursuit of Jesus and his informing Jesus that “everyone” is looking for Him, two actions of Jesus stand out.  Both actions show the falsity of Simon’s claim.

The fact that this passage begins with the cure of Simon’s mother-in-law gives us a glimpse into Simon’s way of thinking.  As more persons are cured, and as word spreads, Simon is convinced that “everyone” is looking for Jesus.

But “rising very early before dawn,” Jesus prayed in a deserted place.  In that “desert” He entered into communion with His Father.  To Jesus, His Father is primary in an ultimate manner.  His Father comes before the crowds that Simon calls “everyone”.

When Simon makes his claim to Jesus, He responds by explaining the need to “go on to the nearby villages”.  Simon is parochial in his thinking, while Jesus wants no one excluded.  At this point in His public ministry, Jesus is preaching and healing “throughout the whole of Galilee.”  As those three years continue, the effects of His ministry spread out in waves.  Ultimately, His ministry culminates in His self-sacrifice on Calvary, which He makes for all mankind throughout all of human history.  This is the “everyone” whom Jesus was sent by His Father to serve.

The 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Isaiah 49:3,5-6  +  1 Corinthians 1:1-3  +  John 1:29-34
Catechism Link: CCC 604
January 15, 2023

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Our Scriptures this Sunday help us set our own lives within the grander scheme of things.  That grander scheme is called “Divine Providence”.  One way to describe Divine Providence is to say that it’s what God chooses to do, when He does it, and why He does it.

Divine Providence is at the heart of the Scriptures of Holy Mass during the first several weeks in Ordinary Time.  Following the Season of Christmas, which ended this past week with the Baptism of Jesus, we turn to consider our own baptism.

When you were baptized, the promises that were made started a relationship where God is your Lord, and you are His servant.  Or at least, that’s what the life of the Christian is supposed to be like.  We hear several different examples of this servant-Lord relationship in today’s Scriptures.  Each is a model for us, and the last is also something more.

First, Isaiah was called to serve the Lord as His prophet.  “The Lord said to [Isaiah]:  ‘You are my servant.  …  I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.’”  Among all the Old Testament prophets who proclaimed the coming of God’s justice, Isaiah had a unique place.  His calling was to prepare for the coming of a Messiah who offers loving mercy that knows no bounds and that would “reach to the ends of the earth.”  Although none of us has been called to be a prophet like Isaiah, there is something in his vocation that ought to be mirrored in our own vocations:  namely, loving mercy that knows no bounds.

Second, Paul was called to serve the Lord as His apostle.  Today’s Second Reading is simply the first three verses of a letter written by Saint Paul.  It’s not the longest of his letters, but it’s one of the more profound.  His self-introduction focuses upon his calling as an “apostle”.  The word “apostle” literally means “one who is sent”.  He describes himself this way:  “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”.

Paul was sent “by the will of God” to spread the Messiah’s Gospel to the Gentiles, the very people whom Isaiah had served by preparing them for the Messiah.  Although none of us has been called to be an apostle like Paul, there is something in his vocation that ought to be mirrored in our own vocations:  namely, serving as “one who is sent”.

That Messiah whose coming Isaiah proclaimed, and whom Paul was sent forth to preach about, is of course Jesus.  Jesus, like Isaiah and Paul, was called by God to serve.  Yet Jesus is not only an example for us, as are Isaiah and Paul.

Jesus was called by God the Father to serve as the Savior of mankind.  We hear about this call within today’s Gospel Reading.  This call connects to today’s Responsorial Psalm, and especially its refrain.  The refrain can help you rest in God’s Divine Providence, instead of wrestling against it.  You might want to commit this refrain to memory and call it to mind during prayer in the coming week.

“Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”  Although the word “I” appears twice in this verse, it’s not the focus of the verse.  The focus is God’s Providential Will and one’s submission to it:  that is, one’s willingness to be His servant.  Most of us, when we pray, instead speak to God as if He’s our servant.  In effect we say, “Here I am, Lord; now come and do my will.”

Yet here we need to recognize a distinction.  We are not only meant to imitate Jesus.  As Christians, we are meant to live in Christ.

We are not meant to live “in Isaiah” or “in Paul”, as much as we ought to follow their respective examples.  But each of us is meant to live “in Christ”.  This is not something that the Christian can accomplish through one’s own human effort.  Only God can accomplish this.  His chief means for doing so are the Sacraments and grace given through prayer.  For our part, we need to dispose ourselves to receive these gifts.  God’s gifts allow Christ to live in us, and allow Christ to say through us:  “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:21-28

“What is this?  A new teaching with authority.”

Twice in today’s Gospel passage we hear the word “authority”, both times applied to Jesus.  In both cases, astonishment or surprise is evoked by the fact that Jesus teaches with authority.  Why is there this astonishment, and what does it mean for Jesus to teach with authority?

In the culture that surrounds us, every person believes himself to be his own authority.  In effect, this wide-spread belief means that no real authority exists.  In our society there is a great need for clarity about the meaning and purpose of authority.

At its most literal level, the word “authority” comes from the word “author”.  The author of a novel can create worlds of his own design from his imagination.  Laws of physics need not apply.  Strange creatures can exist, and fantastic events are commonplace.  Tolkien, Lewis Carroll and C. S. Lewis are all authors in this sense.  They have the authority to create worlds and races of creatures, and to confer life on and take life from individuals.  However, this is merely a fictional form of authority.  In reality, there is only one Author of creation.

Jesus, as God from God and Light from Light, is this divine Author.  Through His divinity He has authority.  He exercises this authority throughout the three years of His public ministry for various persons, and for all mankind on Calvary.  However, in the face of His exercise of divine authority, astonishment arises for varied reasons.

Most cannot believe that a mere man could exercise divine authority.  Jesus, of course, was not merely a man, even though He was fully so.  In our own lives, we should not be astonished by the authority or power of Jesus.  We should root our daily lives in His desire to grant us His grace.

The Baptism of the Lord [A]
Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7  +  Matthew 3:13-17

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased ….

+     +     +

reference to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

CCC 535-537: the Baptism of the Lord

+     +     +

The word “Trinity” does not appear even once in the New Testament.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that the New Testament doesn’t teach us a lot about the Trinity.  Today’s Gospel Reading is a case in point.

In St. Matthew the Evangelist’s description of the Baptism of the Lord Jesus, all three Persons of the Trinity reveal Themselves.  God the Father reveals Himself only by speech.  We know that He’s the Father because He identifies Himself in terms of His relationship with His Son, declaring, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

God the Holy Spirit also reveals Himself in terms of His relationship with God the Son.  After Jesus’ baptism, “the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.”  We might wonder what St. Matthew means by describing the Holy Spirit’s descent as being “like a dove”.  The first quality suggested by this metaphor is gentleness, a quality that through the Holy Spirit’s descent is related to Jesus.

In today’s Gospel Reading, St. John the Baptist alludes to the fact that Jesus does not need to be baptized.  In fact, Jesus no more needed to be baptized than He needed to descend from Heaven to earth.  He did both for the same reason:  “for us men and for our salvation”, as we profess in the Creed.

The whole of today’s feast, reveals to us the gifts that the Christian receives through the Sacrament of Baptism.  Simply put, all of these gifts are shares in the life of the Most Holy Trinity.  Yet some of them could be described as negative; others, positive.  That is to say, the gifts that God gives in Baptism both destroy and build [see CCC 1262].

The former are more simple and, in a sense, less important.  When a human sinner is baptized, all sin within that person is destroyed:  both the Original Sin that is inherited, and any actual sins committed by that individual.

But that washing away of moral and spiritual dirt is only a preparation.  God has something even greater in store for the baptized Christian:  in fact, a new creation [see CCC 1265].

The relationships that we see the Father and the Holy Spirit sharing with the Son in today’s Gospel Reading are also shared with the Christian through baptism.  God the Father adopts the Christian as His own child “in Christ”.  Likewise, the Holy Spirit bestows His fruits and gifts upon the baptized “in Christ”.

More specifically, the Catechism notes three key ways, among others, in which God builds up the Christian through Baptism.  The first is “sanctifying grace, the grace of justification”, which enables the Christian “to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues” [CCC 1266].

The second is membership in the Mystical Body of Christ:  the Church.  As one member of Christ’s Body, the Christian shares in Jesus’ priestly, prophetic and kingly missions.  The Catechism specifically notes that “Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers” [CCC 1268], expanding upon St. Peter’s exhortation:  “like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” [1 Pt 2:5].

Unfortunately, this “common priesthood”, sometimes called the “baptismal priesthood”, is one of the most misunderstood gifts in the Church today.  Some promote clericalism by encouraging laypersons to act as clerics, instead of giving due honor to the “spiritual sacrifices” proper to the baptismal priesthood:  self-sacrifice in the family’s home, in the business’ boardroom, on the factory’s floor, and in the public square.

The third key gift of Baptism is that the Holy Spirit through Baptism marks the Christian with the “seal of the Lord” [CCC 1274].  This seal marks the Christian as irrevocably being destined for God in Heaven.  Of course, this mark is a mark of the Christian’s destiny, not of her salvation.  The Gospel does not teach that the Christian who is once saved is always saved, or who is once baptized is always saved.  Salvation depends upon perseverance “in Christ”:  both living and dying “in Christ”.  The Catechism attests that no “sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation” [CCC 1272].

The Baptism of the Lord in the Jordan River reveals to man the loving relationships that God the Son shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity.  At His Baptism, Jesus did not receive but revealed.  He revealed who He is in relation to the other divine Persons of the Trinity.  In this, He revealed the inheritance that’s destined for each baptized Christian who lives and dies “in Christ”.

January 7
1 John 5:14-21  +  John 2:1-11

“Do whatever he tells you.”

Because of a quirk of the Church’s calendar, only when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday are today’s Scriptures proclaimed at Holy Mass on the Saturday morning (or early afternoon) of January 7.  This rarity is a shame, for today’s Gospel Reading is profoundly symbolic, and one of the Gospel passages most commented upon by the Doctors of the Church.

The event described in today’s Gospel Reading is now reflected upon within the Rosary as the Second Luminous Mystery.  Like the Baptism of the Lord (the first Luminous Mystery), Jesus’ miracle at Cana is a “luminous” mystery because it sheds light upon who Jesus is.  In other words, it is an “epiphany” or manifestation of Jesus’ divine identity.

Also worthy of our note is the fact that Jesus’ first public miracle is worked at the prompting of Our Blessed Mother.  This passage highlights one of the central themes of Christmastide:  that is, that you cannot have the Christ Child without His Mother Mary.  Her motherhood was not limited to the days of Jesus’ earthly life.  She continues today to serve mankind as the Mother of God, a humble and insightful intercessor who loves others by presenting their needs to Jesus.

January 6
1 John 5:5-13  +  Mark 1:7-11 [or Luke 3:23-38 or Luke 3:23,31-34,36,38]

“So there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, and the three are of one accord.”

There are three options for today’s Gospel Reading.  The second and third are longer and shorter forms of the same basic passage.  All three are preparing us for the end, which is to say, the goal, of Christmastide.

I don’t often refer in these reflections to the accompanying work of sacred art, but today I will.  The last day of Christmastide in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  This event is pictured in the sacred art below.  Yet Our Lord and St. John the Baptist are surrounded by angels and saints:  that is, various members of what the Church calls the Communion of Saints.

This work of art visually links the ends of the two most important seasons of the Church’s liturgical year.  The end of Christmastide is the Baptism of the Lord, while the end of Eastertide is Pentecost.  Each Christian is one member of the Mystical Body of Christ through the three sacraments of initiation:  Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist.  These three vehicles of God’s grace are at least indirectly alluded to in today’s First Reading.  The “Spirit, the water, and the Blood” symbolize the Sacraments of Confirmation, Baptism, and the Holy Eucharist.  By means of these Sacraments of Initiation—sacraments of a “second birth”, we might say—Christ becomes our life, and we are called always to live in Him.