2017/01/22&29 — 3rd & 4th Sundays in Ordinary Time — Year A

A very belated post briefly covering the 3rd and 4th Sundays in Ordinary Time.


On the 3rd Sunday, the focus is on the beginning for Jesus' public ministry. We begin with a passage from Isaiah — Isaiah 8:23-9:3. The second part of it speaks of those in darkness seeing light. That is also appropriately proclaimed at Midnight Mass on Christmas. But the first part, about the people of Galilee as the ones who are being rescued prepares us for Matthew's account of the beginning of Jesus' ministry — Matthew 4:12-23. This passage follows that about Jesus' fasting and temptations, which followed his baptism, which was told of on the 3rd Sunday. Now we hear that in the region about which Isaiah had prophesied, Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, begins to preach the kingdom of God, and as he does so he calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be his disciples. They will call people into the kingdom. In each case, their acceptance of the call is immediate. The second reading — 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 — emphasizes that there is one gospel and, regardless of who preaches it, Jesus is the redeemer.

The message is that Jesus is the focus of ur faith, regardless of who our ecclesiastical leaders are and whose presentation of the gospel we admire. We are challenged to follow Jesus as wholeheartedly as the apostles did and to do our part in leading others to him.


We could call the 4th Sunday "Humility Sunday." In the second reading — 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 — Paul reminds his hearers, including us, that earthly status isn't important. What matters is that God has chosen us, no matter how insignificant we may be by earthly standards. In the gospel — Matthew 5:1-12a — Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount. He says that we are blessed (or happy, in some translations) when we are not attached to earthly goods, when we are grieved by the evils which beset people, when we are not self-exalting, when we want what is good before God, when we are compassionate toward others by our actions, when our hearts are not divided between God and earthly goods, when we seek to bring reconciliation of conflicts, when we endure ill-treatment for our faith. We look forward to the everlasting happiness of the life to come. When we live the Beatitudes, as Jesus did, we are the people of whom Zephaniah speaks in the first reading — Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13. We are the people who enjoy God's favor.

2016/08/28 — 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time — Year C

The first reading and the gospel speak of humility and helping the poor; the second reading is about the community within which we worship.


The second reading — Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a — is the last of four selections from Hebrews 11 and 12 that were proclaimed on the 19 through the 22nd Sundays. (We also hear readings from Hebrews on Christmas, Good Friday, five Sundays in Year B, and 24 successive weekdays in odd-numbered years.) This passage contrasts God's appearance at Mount Sinai, when he gave the Law, and the heavenly worship in which we participate in our liturgy. At Sinai God was unapproachable (except by Moses) and the manifestation of his presence was terrifying to the people. But now God has made himself approachable, and the assembly of angels and saints is joyful. We join this assembly through Jesus and the covenant ratified by the shedding of his blood, which is figuratively sprinkled on us when we receive it in holy Communion.


The first reading — Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 — begins with a recommendation similar to the advice Jesus seemingly gives in the gospel: humility will win you love. Next, though, it tells us that God favors those who are humble. One aspect of humility is knowing your limitations. Finally, there is a seemingly abrupt turn to a recommendation of almsgiving.

The responsorial psalm — verses taken from Psalm 68 — picks up the thought of the poor and needy: the beneficiaries of our almsgiving. God cares for them; his blessings on the land are for their good.


The gospel pericope — Luke 14:1, 7-14 — has two sections after the initial verse setting the scene: the advice to the guests, and the advice to the host. The advice to the guests, taken literally, seems strange coming from Jesus. But the message is not to be taken literally, however effective such a tactic might be in certain contexts. It becomes clearer when we realize, as St. Paul says in Philippians 2:5-11, that Jesus is the one who took the lowest place: laying aside divinity, becoming human, and accepting death by crucifixion. Then the host of the eternal banquet called him to the highest position. We, too, must not cling to our status; we must be willing to accept whatever cross comes our way for the sake of others. This is easy to say, but not at all easy to do.

The advice to the host furnishes a way for taking the advice given to the guests. As in the first reading, the advice is to give to the needy — which is truly giving because one doesn't receive comparable value in return. This is what Jesus did when he humbled himself. He brought us all to the banquet with the Father, despite the fact that none of us has any way of repaying him. We are all recipients of God's mercy and should try to show it to others. Humility includes realizing that we're not inherently better than anybody else, and we don't deserve to be better off than they are.