A Homily – The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 18(19):8-10,15 ©

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 4:18

The Gospel According to Luke – 1:1-4,4:14-21 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 It is virtually impossible to filter the propaganda in today’s reading from what is true and good, but it must be done; if you want to follow Jesus you will attempt to do this every time you open the book.

 The reading today from the prophet Nehemiah presents and an example of this challenge, beginning with a long segment extolling the virtue of reading from the law and listening to the sacred text, as if God’s own self were present in them, and yet these laws are the dictates of men, written by and large to advance their own ambitions; they cannot be trusted neither can their words be received without scrutiny.

 Know this!

 God is not present in the scriptures; this may sound like blasphemy, but it is true. The sacred texts are as dead as any idol made of wood, stone or metal. Neither is God present in the liturgy, in the bowing and scraping and the obsequious praising of the mass.

 God is present in the assembly, in the people both inside and outside the church. God is present in everyone, and the spirit is active in direct proportion to our collective-desires: to love the truth, be humble, do good and serve justice.

 The fulfillment of the law resides here, and it is only clear at the very end of the reading from Nehemiah, when the prophet orders the people to go out and share a part of their feast to those who were not able to prepare a feast for themselves.

 Remember.

 God is the creator of all that is, the entire universe, and we in it.   

 All of the things which we imagine make us different from one another, the things which we hold in hearts and minds that divide us one from another, these are illusions born of fear, which leads to a lack of trust in our neighbors, in ourselves and in God.

 Take away from the apostle’s words today:

 The God of Jesus Christ, is the God of all people.

 We are united to God symbolically in our baptism and ontologically insofar as we are created in the divine image. Baptism is a rite which ties us to each other in a symbolic way, it binds us to the life of Jesus and his death through ritual; the ritual is a reflection of our actual unity, a unity that prefigures creation, it reflects the essential oneness we have with God at the core of our being, a oneness which belongs to us from eternity.

 The body of the church is not the Catholic church in communion with the Bishop of Rome, or with the Orthodox Church or any other single group of Christians. The body of the church is greater than the entire number of self-professed Christians, including all other people of faith; protestant, non-denominational, what have you.

 The true church encompasses the whole of humanity, everyone in existence now, everyone who has ever been and everyone who will ever be. God has made us a singular people, both here on Earth and throughout the universe. We are one body, all God’s children, throughout the universe and everywhere.

 Remember this when you reflect on the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Something happened in Palestine, in old Judea, two-thousand years ago a movement began in Galilee and spread across the world.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 Luke was a physician and a follower of Paul. Together Luke and Paul brought the “good news” to the Jews of the diaspora, and gentiles as well. They preached, they raised hope, they built trust and they poured out a ministry of love in their attempt to fashion a blue print for a community that was not of this earth; in it was the promise of salvation…salvation and wellbeing.

 Know this.

 Luke’s Gospel was not written by a man named Luke, it was written by the community he formed, it was written decades after his passing, and it was not dedicated to a man named Theophilus but to all of God’s children…everywhere.

 This passage tells us of the beginning of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth; a Jewish man who taught in synagogues, just as his followers would do in later years. Jesus, like Paul was a Jew of the diaspora. People called him Rabbi, which marks him as a Pharisee, a student and teacher of the law.

 Jesus taught in the prophetic tradition, like John the Baptist who immediately preceded him. He exhorted people to take action, he performed works of good service, and he told the truth as if it had descended on him like the Spirit of God.

 Be mindful.

 Any of us who has volunteered to carry the mantle of Christ must adhere closely to the central point of this reading:

 The work of the Christian is to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim liberty to the captives, to restore sight to the blind and to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the jubilee (a year of favor and the forgiveness of debts); This work is never done, even though it is accomplished every day. It is work that never ends, not as long as human beings walk the Earth.

 As long as the world endures, these truths will need to be proclaimed, the year of God’s favor, the jubilee is a that year never ends; it is God’s year, divine time, stretching into eternity.

 If you envision yourself as a servant of God, then you must be a servant of the people; there is no other way to serve God other than serving the people…let your service be joyful and full of hope.

 If you are going to proclaim liberty to the captives, you must work to set people free.

 In the time of Christ the captives he spoke of were the populations of people who had been taken from their homes as the spoils of war, and those imprisoned anywhere.

 The Romans called captive peoples servi, or servus meaning servant, meaning slave.

The slave economy of the ancient world does not look the same today as it did then, but there are hundreds of millions of people living in servitude right now, living without rights, without recourse to the law.

 If you follow in the footsteps of Jesus, you must call for justice, and the freeing of these people. You must restore sight to the blind, which is to say you must convince the rulers of the world and their armies, all the powers that be, you must convince them that there are other ways to peace and security than hoarding wealth and protecting it at the point of the sword or the barrel of a gun. We must convince them to relinquish their power, to give up their wealth in order to foster justice for all…economic justice is the beginning, the work of justice must start there.

 This is the take away from the Gospel today.

 

First Reading - Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10 ©

All the People Listened Attentively to the Book of the Law

Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in the presence of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden dais erected for the purpose. In full view of all the people – since he stood higher than all the people – Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’; then they bowed down and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before the Lord. And Ezra read from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people understood what was read.

Then Nehemiah – His Excellency – and Ezra, priest and scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to the words of the Law.

He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your stronghold.’

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 18(19):8-10,15 ©

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

Alleluia, alleluia!

The law of the Lord is perfect,

  it revives the soul.

The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,

  it gives wisdom to the simple.

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

  they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear,

  it gives light to the eyes.

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

  abiding for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are truth

  and all of them just.

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

May the spoken words of my mouth,

  the thoughts of my heart,

win favour in your sight, O Lord,

  my rescuer, my rock!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:12-30 ©

You Together are Christ's body, but Each a Different Part of It

Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do not belong to the body’, would that mean that it stopped being part of the body? If the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the body’, would that mean that it was not a part of the body? If your whole body was just one eye, how would you hear anything? If it was just one ear, how would you smell anything?

Instead of that, God put all the separate parts into the body on purpose. If all the parts were the same, how could it be a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you’, nor can the head say to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’

What is more, it is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones; and it is the least honourable parts of the body that we clothe with the greatest care. So our more improper parts get decorated in a way that our more proper parts do not need. God has arranged the body so that more dignity is given to the parts which are without it, and that there may not be disagreements inside the body, but that each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special honour, all parts enjoy it.

Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 4:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke – 1:1-4,4:14-21 ©

'This Text is Being Fulfilled Today Even as You Listen'

Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.

 Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives

and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’

 

A Homily – The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Ursula K. Le Guin – Author, Hero

It has been seven years since this great thinker moved on to the next world; she was a hero of mine.

The first book of hers I ever read was her novella titled: The Lathe of Heaven. The genre was science-fiction, but the book was so much more. Through this brief masterpiece the author spoke to me about the nature of reality, the function of consciousness, of what it means to be human.

She took the title for this book from the writings of the Taoist, Chuang Tzu (book 23, paragraph 7), which says:

~ To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do so will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven ~

Her book dramatized this sentiment and recapitulated this warning, the consideration of which took me outside of myself and allowed me to see the world…the whole of it, in an entirely different way.

I was fifteen years old at the time, and without realizing it I found that I had been introduced to Taoism (the esoteric tradition), which provided me with a perspective that would subsequently shape the future-history of my life.

Later, when I was in the Navy I found comfort in the Earthsea Chronicles, a series of four short novels in the fantasy genre, complete with wizards and dragons. In book one of this series A Wizard of Earthsea, she introduces a hero named Sparrowhawk, whose greatest enemy is himself, and forces him to address the existential dilemma expressed in the question: 

How do we live with ourselves? 

Sparrowhawk’s enemy is not exactly himself, rather it is the shadow of the specter of guilt which he carries, a shadow that most if not all human beings carry, due to our inability to ask for and accept forgiveness for the things we have done that have hurt or harmed those near to us, in some cases…even our adversaries. 

This shadow is relentless, on account of the fact that we are not able to forgive ourselves.

The Earthsea Chronicles are written simply, and so brief that they can be engaged as fairytales, they can be read to children (which is why I found them comforting…I think). Yet, her writing is so masterful that adults may also find them engaging. They communicate a depth of insight into the human condition that lies just below the surface of the narrative.  

Seven years ago this luminary departed from our world, leaving a legacy of literature to light the way for us...we need this light more than ever.

If we liken our civilization to a garden, the garden we live in has been long under shadow; the fruit of our progress has been wilting on the vine, fellowship and common purpose have suffered accordingly. Such themes of discontent are the ideas that she explores in her collection on the Hainish cycle, beginning with the fifth book in the series, The Dispossessed.

Read it!

We need heroes and teachers like Ursula K. Le Guin to light the way for us, to guide us into the cloud of unknowing…I miss her.

Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Doctor...Prophet and Saint

Today we celebrate the life and work of the Reverend Doctor, Martin Luther King Jr., a prophet in our time. His was a voice of conscience and like so many prophets before him, he was killed in service to the good, he was murdered for speaking the truth. 

Martin Luther King wore the mantle of a prophet, not in the sense that he saw the future (though he did foresee his assassination), prophecy is not prognostication, that is not what a prophet does. A prophet is not a seer or an augur, a diviner or a fortuneteller. 

A person is a prophet who delivers the word of God, and Martin Luther King did just that; he was not a prophet in the sense that he had a unique channel to the creator of the universe, or because God spoke to him in a privileged way. The Reverend Doctor made no pretensions to being that sort of person. He was an ordinary man who answered and extraordinary call, in so doing he became transformed and through his transformation he pointed to the way for us to follow, he  presented a blueprint for transforming our society, for taking the world we have inherited and making it into something new, the community of the beloved, and he left the greater portion of that work for us to do.

God speaks to all of us in the same way, this is one of the things that the Reverend Doctor spoke to us about, clarifying for us the responsibility we each have, to listen to the demands of our conscience when we hear it speaking in our hearts; he called on us to do more than listen…the Reverend Doctor called on us to act.

Martin Luther King had no more and no less access to supernatural powers than any of us, what made him different than most was the choice he made to comply with the demands of his conscience, even to the point where it cost him his life. 

He listened to the voice of God, the same voice that speaks to each and every one of us. He heard the voice of God and he responded to the call by cleaving to the message and sharing it with the world.

Like Jesus whom he followed, the Reverend Doctor loved mercy, he worked for justice and he walked humbly all the days of his life, setting an example for the rest of us to follow.

Today we are given countless opportunities to reflect on Martin Luther King’s likeness, to consider his words, to reflect on their meaning and on the life of an American Saint…we are wise to do so.

We are wise to remember the man, Martin Luther King Jr., a rare person whose measure in our society exceeded the ordinary flaws that make us all human; he lived with his flaws and he reached beyond them.

The Reverend Doctor transcended even death, though he was taken by the assassin’s bullet. He lives now in our collective consciousness, in our collective-conscience; he lives in the global psyche, speaking to us from the dimension of myth, a human being who was more than human, a child of God overflowing with grace and wisdom.

Today he calls us to service, to share his cup, so that upon drinking from it we may aspire to do the same, to live the same, to be the same as he was.

The Reverend Doctor spoke truth to power and offered hope to the powerless, and for that he was shot down. He was once considered by the director of the F.B.I. to be the most dangerous man in America and from that status he became our most beloved hero, the prime exemplar of what it means to be an American, a radical-freedom-fighter, unparalleled and unforgotten.

He was beaten and arrested dozens of times for the crime of seeking justice. 

His life was threatened daily. 

His reputation was smeared without regard for the truth or appreciation for his selfless works. 

He was killed for his efforts, but not destroyed. He was, and continues to be, an example to us all. 

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., our prophet, he still points the way, lighting the long journey along the arc of justice, a journey that still lies ahead of us…toward a justice that will not be denied.

A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ©

Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and John 6:68

Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians 2:14

The Gospel of The Day - John 2:1-11 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

In the reading from Isaiah we are given a profound expression of hope for the future of Israel and by extension the entire world. As Christians and theists we are called on to brandish that hope, carry it forward, not only for ourselves but for all people, in all places, at all times.

Following the teaching of Isaiah we come to understand that this hope is like the hope of a young couple entering into marriage. They do not know what the future will bring but they are determined to face it together, believing that together they can endure whatever comes their way, even those things that threaten to overwhelm them.

Together we are stronger, through our relationships we are wiser, in a bond of unity we are better, the love they share with one another, in the view of the prophet, is like a bright and beautiful gemstone adorning a crown upon our heads, it is like a beacon on a hill lighting up the night.

The prophet speaks from a position of wisdom and ignorance both, as do we all, knowing some things and not knowing others. Isaiah speaks well of faith and hope, but regarding the activity of the creator in the world, there is confusion. He speaks to his belief that God, the creator of the universe has played a role in shaping the destiny of Israel, and by extension the world…this is an error.

Know this:

God has made both us and the entire creation free. God does not coerce anything or anyone. God does not intervene in worldly affairs, either for our benefit, or to our detriment. We are free, as individuals and in the whole.

Our faith tells us to look to God for deliverance from this world to a place of safety and joy, of love and rest, to bring us to a place of wellbeing…not in this world, but the next.

Be mindful.

It is right to praise God; it is right and good. It is right to treat our discourse concerning God with respect and honor; God is holy and our discourse should reflect that, keeping in mind the sacred nature of God’s blessed work, but it is wrong to think of God as a Lord.

God, whom Jesus called abba (papa), God is not a royalist. Disregard the psalmist when he speaks this way.

Remember this:

God has already judged the world, God has judged the entirety of the created order, God Judged it at the beginning while seeing the end, God judged the world and proclaimed that it is good, and us in it…not good “on balance,” but good in its entirety, the whole of the created order, existing in and through the divine Logos, sustained by God’s word, the alpha and the omega saw that it is good.

This is what our faith instructs us to believe: God is not to be feared, but trusted.

Be mindful.

As a theist I will happily proclaim that there is only one God. As a philosopher I will tell you that the infinite can only be expressed by the numeral one; the infinite is one, undivided, indivisible being. There are no other God’s, but there are other cultures and traditions who approach the divine with different languages, and the reality of different felt-experiences.

We should respect, cultures different from our own and strive to understand all human language concerning the sacred and pertaining to the divine reality, from whatever culture or whatever nation it comes.

Know this:

There is only one God and none of us understand God perfectly…no one ever has.

Remember!

God’s salvation is close at hand; we are a single heart-beat away from it. Therefore, have no fear, God’s grace does not come and go according to our merits, it is always present.

God is present in all times and all places; God is with you now, believe it without fear.

Salvation reaches everyone, not because any of us deserve it, but simply because God loves us, every last one of us, God laid a plan for our salvation when we only existed in potential, as a mere possibility, we were touched by grace even then.

Be mindful.

God welcomes our participation in the work of the faithful, and there is much to do. There is a role for everyone to play, both inside and outside the church, but mostly outside of it. We are meant to go out among the people, to find those who feel most alienated from the divine and give them comfort.

Everyone of us comes to that work with different gifts, different abilities and talents, we are called on to use our gifts for the benefit of our brothers and sisters, for those who share the same tradition and for those who do not.

Understand this:

The reward for your faithful service is peace, it is peace in this life and the knowledge that you have lived well, acted justly and done good…seek no other reward.

Consider the teaching of the apostle, of Peter who denied Jesus three times on the night he was arrested. Peter would have us believe that he follows Jesus because Jesus has the secret message that leads to eternal life. His teaching here is like that of the Gnostics, which the Church in its wisdom rejected. Peter, or those writing in his name, suggests that there are passcodes and secret ways that lead a person upward on a journey through the heavens, until the come to the place of everlasting paradise.

Peter puts this forward as if this were the purpose of the Gospel, as if “believing” that Jesus is the “Holy One of God” is the key to receiving those spiritual benefits.

This faith is born from fear, from a fear that God will not deliver on God’s promise to bring everyone to the feast at Isaiah’s table, at the foot of the mountain, at the end of time. This teaching is predicated on the notion that God will not save everyone, that God is not with us, and that our salvation is something God cannot manage without us.

Reject this fear.

The Gospel is this: it is simply this: God loves you, and you are saved.

You are not saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn it, you are saved because God loves you. There is nothing more to it, there is nothing that you have to do, and the same is true for everyone.

The promise of salvation is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when you are judged God will forgive you.

The Gospel is this: God has already forgiven you. You are already saved, we were saved at the beginning, and the divine proclamation confirmed this when God looked on creation and called it good.

God has prepared you, and everyone for eternal life; believe it!

Let the goodness of the promise flow through you now, start living this life as if it were true.

We are not called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that, the Holy One of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of charity and service to one another other.

From the beginning, God chose all people to receive the sanctifying spirit, God created each person in the divine image, God placed within us a seed of the eternal Word. Through the Good News given to us by Jesus of Nazareth, we learn to trust (have faith) in the truth of that proclamation.

Know this:

As people of the faith we have a duty to adhere to the truth. The divine spirit is truth, as ministers of the faith we are meant to proclaim this truth and let it shine in the darkness like a beacon of hope for all to see.

Consider the Gospel reading for today, ask yourself this: Where is the truth in this myth?

Jesus was not a magic-maker.

God is not a miracle worker.

Read literally; this story is a lie.

Jesus never turned water into wine; it is likely that there was no wedding at Cana, that the entire event never happened…it is make believe.

Mary did not call on Jesus to work wonders and people did not follow Jesus because they saw him to wonderful tricks; they followed him because he spoke to them about justice, he looked to their wellbeing, he was a minister of mercy and he gave his life in service of the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized and the outcast.

So, what is happening here?

This it is not a story concerning who Jesus was or what Jesus did, we are not called on to believe anything about those things based on this narrative. It is a story that tells us something of what people came to believe about Jesus a hundred or so years after he was killed.

It may be a story about Jesus and John the Baptist, an apology of sorts; it may be a defense of Jesus given to the followers of John, insofar as John came first, but John was the lesser-prophet of that era.

The people might have expected the best to come first, like the wine at the wedding, but as in the stories of the patriarchs, the second son was favored more, and so Jesus came to surpass John.

The Wedding of Cana is not a miracle story, it is a parable intending to convey a simple set of beliefs; Jesus did not come to carry the mantle of John, his work is not an extension of the former. Jesus came carrying the promise of the covenant, his was the more inclusive revelation.

He came with a different teaching altogether, marking a radical departure from the prison of the law, he came to preach a message of love, of service and humility in the furtherance of the good.

First Reading - Isaiah 62:1-5 ©

The Bridegroom Rejoices in His Bride

About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch.

The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer.

You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding.

Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-10 ©

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Alleluia, alleluia!

O sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing to the Lord all the earth.

  O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Proclaim his help day by day,

  tell among the nations his glory

  and his wonders among all the peoples.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Give the Lord, you families of peoples,

  give the Lord glory and power;

  give the Lord the glory of his name.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Worship the Lord in his temple.

  O earth, tremble before him.

Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’

  He will judge the peoples in fairness.

Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 ©

The Spirit Distributes Gifts to Different People Just as He Chooses

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose. One may have the gift of preaching with wisdom given him by the Spirit; another may have the gift of preaching instruction given him by the same Spirit; and another the gift of faith given by the same Spirit; another again the gift of healing, through this one Spirit; one, the power of miracles; another, prophecy; another the gift of recognising spirits; another the gift of tongues and another the ability to interpret them. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses.

 

Gospel Acclamation - 1saiah 3:9, and John 6:68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternate Gospel Acclamation - 2 Thessalonians 2:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Through the Good News God called us to share the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Alleluia!

 

Gospel - John 2:1-11 ©

'My Hour Has Not Come Yet' - 'Do Whatever He Tells You'

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now.’

This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

 

A Homily - The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

A Homily - The First Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), The Baptism of Jesus

First Reading - Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 ©

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 103(104):1-4,24-25,27-30 ©

Second Reading - Titus 2:11-14,3:4-7 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 3:16

The Gospel of According to Luke – 3:15-16, 21-22 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 There is great hope expressed in Isaiah, a profound hope for the future wellness of all people and our common destiny as children of God, the creator of the universe.

 The prophet expresses certainty in regard to the expectation of atonement, not just for the people of Israel and the children of Judah, but for all people in all times and all places.

 The teaching of Isaiah articulates the basic faith commitment of the early church, and the foundational principles of Christian faith accordingly.

 John the Baptist stood in the tradition of Isaiah, his was a voice crying out in the wilderness. He called the faithful to action, telling us to prepare a way for the savior. John’s hope was the hope of Isaiah, the expectation that the entire creation will bend to the will of God; every valley, every mountain, from the cliffs to the plains, from the firmament to the heavens every last thing will yield to God.

 Nothing and no-one is excluded from this hope.

 The faith of Isaiah, of John and of Jesus instructs us to believe that despite all the power of God, we are on better ground when we regard the creator as a figure like a shepherd feeding the flock, like a mother ewe among her children.

 Understand this:

 Isaiah also speaks of God as the punisher, reminding the people of the punishment they have suffered for their crimes. Their crimes were crimes against people, their crimes took place in the world. They made enemies among foreign powers and they suffered on account of their wickedness, greed, vanity and broken promises; but they were not punished by God.

 Their punishment, if you can call it that, their suffering, the injustice and the justice which they encountered was brought by human beings; it was harsh, painful and cruel. Many of the people were slaughtered, many more were taken into captivity, but this was not the will of God. It was done by human beings, for human motivations, direct toward human ends.

 God does not intervene in the affairs of the world.

 Isaiah came in the midst of those tragedies, his was a voice crying out in the wilderness, as John came in later years, and then Jesus, to remind the people that God is with them, and that in the end all things will be resolved in love.

 Be mindful.

 God wants nothing more from us than this; that we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly all the days of our life.

 This is the way Jesus taught us: listen to Isaiah, who made straight the way before him; listen to John who led us to repentance and the expectation of the savior. The savior is the person who brings justice to the nations, you will not hear the savior shouting with vainglory in the streets, you will not see her cutting people off from their potential.

 The savior is a healer and a teacher, teaching us that justice is expressed through mercy, and that the law must be a servant to both. This is what Jesus taught in his own day; he taught us that we should love God with all our strength and all our heart and all our mind, and love our neighbors as ourselves. He preached on the Shema, he taught us that all the teaching of Moses and the prophets was contained therein.

 Jesus taught us to be kind to the stranger, to be of service to your neighbor, to love and forgive—even your enemies. He taught us to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and to not do to them what you would not want done to you.

 This is the whole of the law, this is the sum of Isaiah’s teaching.

 Keep to this law as a covenant, hold to it as a promise between yourself and God. Preach it until the blind see, and all those who are captive to sin have been freed.

 Know this.

 God is the creator of the universe, the eternal God is the first source and center of all things. The infinite God engenders all potentialities, and yet interferes with none of them. The universe that God created, God created free from coercion, and yet the entirety of what is, moves according to God’s eternal purpose…the scope of this mystery marks the content of our faith.

 Know this:

 It wise to believe in the God of creation and the infinite power that undergirds everything in existence.

 God’s power is present in all times and places.

 Truly the divine spirit is everywhere and knows all things, but it is not God’s voice we here in the wind above the waves, that is only the wind. We do not hear God in the thunder, we hear thunder. God does not splinter trees, God is not active in the affairs of human beings; we know this because God has made creations, and us in it free…God is not a king.

 Be mindful.

The salvific work that Jesus wrought did not begin with his birth, it did not begin with his death upon the cross; it began in the mysterious place outside of time, at the beginning of all things.

The Church teaches that our salvation begins with the Word of God, the Logos, the second person of the trinity in whom all things were made.

The salvation of all people, of all creation, that work began then, in the divine person. God’s salvific work is built into the foundation of all that is, God’s own self, is the foundation of all that is.

Listen to the teaching of the apostle.

Living a good life, a life of restraint, this does not purchase salvation for you or anyone else. We do not earn salvation, and no one earned it for us.

 Living a good life, a life of restraint, a life of justice and mercy, a life of love and humility, is to live a life that manifests the reality of God’s salvific will…the will of God that is already present in us.

 These spiritual characteristics are like flags we raise in our own time and place, we raise them to display them for all to see. We raise them to show others the peace that may be found upon the way.

 Remember this:

 God, the eternal and infinite God, knows us and loves us, and has provided for our salvation from the moment we come into being.

 What is salvation?

 Salvation is wellbeing, in this world and the next. The reception of it does not require rituals or rites, or a magical mechanisms of justification. There are no secret codes that grant us access to heaven. We are saved in the next world because God wills it.

 We are saved in this world through our faith in God’s promise, by a simple trust in God, which we express as hope, and we see manifested in our relationships with our fellow human beings as love.

 Understand  this:

 We must always bear in mind that God does not intervene in creation, or the free choices of human beings. God does not intervene anywhere.

 God did not so much anoint Jesus of Nazareth, as did Jesus accept the mantle of sonship to God, and the full burden that this entailed, even to the extent that he went to his death and suffered on the cross in fidelity to his mission.

 Jesus was free to reject the ministry that was before him, but he did not. He was faithful to the end. Setting an example to us all.

 Few people will be called to serve in the capacity that Jesus served; to be tortured and executed for doing what is right and good; for healing the sick and feeding the hungry, for giving hope to the hopeless, for protecting the widow and the orphan.

 Few of us have the capacity to love justice so much that they could humbly endure what Jesus endured, and that is why we call him the Christ.

 Follow Jesus.

 Do good.

 Love justice.

 Be merciful, and a source of healing in the world.; this is the way, do the best you can, not for the sake of your salvation, God has that in hand. Do good for your sisters and brothers, for all women and men, do good because it is needed.

 Consider the Gospel reading for today.

 In the calendar of observances today is a feast day. It is the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus.

 We have just concluded our celebration of his coming and his birth. Now we celebrate the beginning of his public ministry; the journey that led to his death on Golgotha.

 When Jesus began his ministry in Judea, and the broader Palestinian world, the average person felt displaced.

 On the one hand Judah was a client state of Rome, on the other hand the people were subject to the corruption of their own royal dynasty, the Herodians.

 The average person had no representation at the Temple in Jerusalem. The laws of ritual purity made it so that the average man could not even approach the temple grounds, which was both the spiritual and economic center of their world…and all women were barred prima facie.

 The average person ardently hoped for and expected deliverance. Their messianic faith focused the attention of the people forward in time, to the cominggof the “anointed one,” the messiah, in Greek the Kyrios, in English the Christ.

 They hoped for deliverance from the political corruption of the Romans and the Herodians, as well as the sectarian corruption at the temple, the corruption of the temple scribes, the Sadducees and the Pharisees (returning from the diaspora).

 In the person of John the Baptist the people saw a figure who might represent part of this deliverance. He was stern and outspoken, uncompromising and mysterious. He was an aesthetic, and while he preached repentance, he promised the reality of God’s love; he pointed to its presence in the lives of the baptized, the reality of God’s mercy as something that was present to the people without intermediary, and fully removed from the cult of animal sacrifice.

 This narrative tells us that John eschewed the title and office that some of the people might have thrust on him. It tells us that John himself had the same hopes and expectations as the common man or woman, but that John also had the knowledge of who the Christ was. He knew Jesus of Nazareth, and he knew that Jesus was coming. When John says; “I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals,” John is saying that, compared to Jesus, he is lower than the lowest servant…he meant it, he believed it in his heart.

 John accepts the role of a servant, as Jesus did, and as Jesus taught.

 Had John lived, the history of Christianity would have been very different, but John was arrested and killed shortly after he baptized Jesus. The disciples of Jesus, and the Gospel writers who followed them would spend the next one hundred and fifty years writing their narratives and telling their stories in a manner intended to keep the followers of John in their movement.

 This required a great deal of effort, which shaped the Christian story in a way which ultimately undermined the significance and uniqueness of the ministry of Christ. It perpetuated questions like:

 “Who is greater John or Jesus?”

 And it prompted the followers of Jesus, long after his death, to amplify that narrative, making it so that Jesus did not merely receive his baptism from John, but when he did the heavens broke open and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and a voice came out of nowhere proclaiming that Jesus was the favored and beloved Son of God.

 Such myths, while they are fantastic and entertaining, represent a departure from the tradition that John and Jesus followed, the tradition of Isaiah and the prophets who sought justice for the people.

 The entirety of Luke’s narrative is an interpolation of myth into the story of an ordinary man, Jesus of Nazareth. Luke introduced categories of ownership and inheritance, and of dominion, which, it may be argued, Jesus himself never spoke about or concerned himself with, even though his followers, those closest to him were very much concerned with it.

 The Christian story is best told without artifice, without the fabrication of myth, and without resorting to fables, and magic. It is a story of love and service, of hope and healing, and the celebration of our common humanity.

 The good news eclipses the differences between the sexes, it eclipses tribalism, sectarianism, and nationalism. In doing so it shows us the only path to peace and justice, the path of the faithful, one we are called to make straight and follow...the path which we call the way.

First Reading - Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 ©

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it

‘Console my people, console them’ says your God.

‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes.’

A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.

Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.

Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low.

Let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley; then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion.

Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem.

Shout without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’

Here is the Lord coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him.

The prize of his victory is with him, his trophies all go before him.

He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

 

Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 103(104):1-4,24-25,27-30 ©

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

Lord God, how great you are,

  clothed in majesty and glory,

wrapped in light as in a robe!

  You stretch out the heavens like a tent.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

Above the rains you build your dwelling.

You make the clouds your chariot,

  you walk on the wings of the wind,

you make the winds your messengers

  and flashing fire your servant.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

How many are your works, O Lord!

  In wisdom you have made them all.

  The earth is full of your riches.

There is the sea, vast and wide,

  with its moving swarms past counting,

  living things great and small.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

All of these look to you

  to give them their food in due season.

You give it, they gather it up:

  you open your hand, they have their fill.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

You hide your face, they are dismayed;

  you take back your spirit, they die.

You send forth your spirit, they are created;

  and you renew the face of the earth.

Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are.

 

Second Reading - Titus 2:11-14,3:4-7 ©

He Saved Us by Means of the Cleansing Water of Rebirth

God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus. He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no ambition except to do good.

But when the kindness and love of God our saviour for mankind were revealed, it was not because he was concerned with any righteous actions we might have done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own compassion that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and by renewing us with the Holy Spirit which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our saviour. He did this so that we should be justified by his grace, to become heirs looking forward to inheriting eternal life.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Luke 3:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

Someone is coming, said John, someone greater than I.

He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Luke – 3:15-16,21-22 ©

'Someone is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now when all the people had been baptised and while Jesus after his own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily shape, like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’

 

A Homily – The First Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), The Baptism of Jesus