January 24, 2016

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - A Reflection by Fr. Leo

 

We hear the first four sentences of Luke’s gospel, then it jumps to the middle of chapter four.  Jumping over the infancy narrative we heard a few weeks ago, and also Jesus’ sojourn  in the desert, we find him in the temple on the Sabbath participating in the liturgy.  Being thirty years of age he reads from the prophet.  A passage from  Isaiah is given to him and after reading it proclaims himself to be the one sent by God to make the message of glad tidings come true.

 

Jesus was able to make such a bold proclamation because he “knew” the power of the Spirit within him and what God could do through him as he lived out the vision of God’s Kingdom within him.  Jesus knew the Kingdom was the presence of God and that living in that presence made him one with God and with all peoples.  So to unleash God’s love, certainly would be a year of favor for all.

 

Jesus opened the door, if you will, to this vision of God as dwelling within us and in our neighbor.  This is why he said we should love God with our whole being and our neighbor as ourselves. What Jesus began, we are to continue.

 

Our first step in continuing Jesus mission is to put on the mind of Christ.  To come to see as Jesus saw, that there is no division between us and God and us and all peoples.  We all share in the same Spirit and are all a part of the glorious Body of Christ.  We are, with all peoples, the one body and the one blood of Christ.

 

Living in Christ’s spirit will move us to action.  The needs of the poor and hurting, the refugee and the homeless become our concern.  Our Catholic Church lives this out in many ways with Catholic Charities and the many ministries under that large organization.  This is great, but we are called in our own reflection to own that mission and to participate in that mission in the way we can.  And because of the power of the Spirit, we should not underestimate what we can do. 

 

As Jesus came to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives and a year of blessing to all, let us in our prayer, contemplate our unity will all people in Christ. And let compassion help us to think of the myriad of ways we could make that compassion real in how we live and move and have our being in Christ.  Then let us do at least some little thing this week to make a loving and lasting difference in someone else’s life.