Third Sunday - C (January 27, 2019)

Certainty of the Message

Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

This Gospel passage offer some points for consideration on our encounter with God’s words and the way we can share God’s words.

-       Today, even more precise, “in your hearing” – the present moment

-       Where we are – even if it is lowly Nazareth [1]

-       The power of the Holy Spirit

-       Jesus’ mission

-       The certainty of the Gospel message: Luke wrote this Gospel to affirm the faith of believers: “so that you may realize the certainty of the message you have received. “ 

It is in this place, today, at this moment of our life that God continues to come and reveal God’s salvation to us.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit is at work to empower us to continue Jesus’ mission.  With the Holy Spirit, at this moment and in this place, regardless of where the place might be, I can proclaim God’s words.

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[1] In Joh’s Gospel, when Philip told Nathanael of the hometown of Jesus, Nathanael responded “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

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2nd Sunday - C (January 20, 2019)

God Is There

John 2: 1-11

“There was a wedding at Cana, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.”

We all know how the party went. 

Besides, in Scripture, marriage and wedding banquets are commonly used as a symbol of the relationship between God and God’s people (as in this week’s First Reading, Isaiah 62: 1-5).  Jesus also used the wedding banquet to preach about heaven. (For example, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” Matthew 22:2).

Looking at marriage in this way, we can even connect the two Sacraments of Marriage and Eucharist. 

God intends for family to be a place of love.  And “God is love” (1 John 4:16).  Therefore, where there is love, there is God.

The Eucharist is Jesus’ gift of love to us.  It is his loving presence with us. 

Consequently, when a family is conscious of the presence of Jesus and the Church in the family, as Jesus, Mary and the disciples were at Cana, when the members of the family strive to love, the family lives the mystery of the Eucharist.  The family becomes the reality of God’s love.  

 Image source:  www.agnusday.org

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Baptism of the Lord - C (January 13, 2019)

You Are My Beloved Child

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

At Jesus’ baptism, the Father confirmed Jesus God’s beloved son.

By becoming human, and by his cross and resurrection, Jesus shares this identity with all humanity.  Peter professed this from the beginning of the Church.  When Peter realized that God had called Cornelius, a gentile, Peter said to Cornelius, his relatives and friends, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” (2^nd reading).

God “has grasped” each of us “by the hand.  God “formed” us and has given us a share in Jesus’ mission.  Like Jesus, each child of God is “a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness” (1^st reading)

Image source:  www.agnusday.org