January 31, 2016

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reflection by Fr. Leo

Today's Gospel passage picks up where last Sunday's left off.  Jesus proclaimed the passage from Isaiah and claimed himself to be the one to bring God's word to fruition.  At first, all are amazed by him and the Spirit of the words that come out of his mouth.  But at the same time, some wondered how real it might all be, for they ask, "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"

For some, what was witnessed in Jesus, the presence of the Christ, was too much.  Eventually the fear under this questioning led to Jesus being rejected and with him, the Christ, the Son of Man.  The sad thing is how fear kept many from embracing the Christ in Jesus and in the end the Christ in themselves.

Jesus' Christ consciousness was complete.  He knew himself as the Son of Man.  This means that Jesus, the historical person, lived with perfect awareness of himself as sharing in the fullness of the life of God, the "Christ consciousness."  Jesus' hope was that we, as historical persons, could come to that same "Christ" consciousness, the awareness that we share in the life of the Trinity as well, and as such are one with God.

As a result we live divided lives.  We see God as separate from ourselves and ourselves as separate from everyone else.  Trapped in dualism we cannot live in the oneness that is our true reality.  There is no peace in that living because there is fear, the same fear underlying the rejection of Jesus in today's gospel.

We need to rid ourselves of dualism and realize that we are one with God in an I-I relationship, not an I-Thou relationship with God.  As St. Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."  Christ is the Son of God, not the historical Jesus.  We must take ownership of our true identity as normal people who embody the Christ in us, and pray for the Spirit to lead us to the fullness of Christ's consciousness; into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.  Then we will experience the marvelous presence of God as the people did in today's gospel, but instead of disbelief, we will believe and rejoice in the power and love of Christ- our true self.