The Sundays and weeks of Ordinary Time (Ordinary referring to Order [Ordo] and not the usual or mundane) are meant to take us through the life of Christ. It’s a time of conversion for us to live the life of Christ!
· The First Sunday… Baptism - We Are Clean and Empowered
· The Second Sunday… Wedding at Cana - Taking the Ordinary and making it Extraordinary
· The Third Sunday…
This is where St. Paul is coming from when he writes the Corinthians. He wants them to raise their bar a little! If they are indeed people of love, called to love one another, then adding Christ to their lives offers this challenge: “Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way,” for a life without love is nothing!
Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous, pompous, inflated, or rude. It does not seek its own interests. It is not quick-tempered, and does not brood over injury, or rejoice over wrongdoing! Love rejoices with the truth. “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
If you think that today’s message is full of good feelings and a set up for Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, you’re mistaken… Again… Love is patient, love is kind. (THIS IS HARD) Let’s face it our world has great trouble with these things! In fact, I think we can see that instead of love there is much jealousy and pompousness. We can be rude, seeking our own interests over the common good, and I’m a little sad to say that humanity, without the love of God, seems to even thrive on these negative qualities!
This is why, in Luke’s Gospel, we see the people respond to Jesus the way that they do. In the span of one shining moment, our Lord begins his Mission by “wowing” the Synagogue, quoting the Prophet Isaiah, and that, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It even stresses that as he closed up the scroll, “all spoke highly of him…” But then the murmuring began, and some began to become uncomfortable… Hey, isn’t that Joseph’s son? How can he be the one to fulfill the promise? He is just the son of a carpenter!
And then things got interesting as Jesus responded, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you… [The prophets didn’t come for you… I DID!] When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill ion which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.”
My friends, once again, there is nothing ordinary about God’s love, and when you add in the love of Christ and the power of the Spirit, the bar is raised, and the call to conversion is real. In spite of some of the warm tones of today’s Word, let’s keep in mind that Jesus is in our midst to shake up the norm and call out the world (and you and me) to truly love one another as we are loved!
Let the conversion begin…
· The First Sunday… Baptism - We Are Clean and Empowered
· The Second Sunday… Wedding at Cana - Taking the Ordinary and making it Extraordinary
· The Third Sunday…
The Beginning of Mission (Job Description)
Jeremiah: The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
· We Are Creatures of Love…
Like we hear the Prophet Jeremiah proclaim… From the very beginning we were known by God and created in love to love and be loved!
At our Baptism we were anointed Priest, Prophet and King, called to live a life of love in service to one another, to share the Truth of that love to all the world, and to recognize the specialness of being a part of the Body of Christ, or as St. Peter put it a royal Priesthood.
The Late Bishop Foley once told me that a life in Christ is a life lived, with Christ living in and through you!
This is Sacrament… Taking the ordinary, and making it extraordinary!
So today in our Psalm we sing of our salvation in thanksgiving for our very extraordinary lives: “For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength.”
If Ordinary Time is a time of conversion, then please understand that this conversion is not just one moment, but rather a day-to-day journey in understanding and living this life in Christ!
- Bring Glad Tidings to the Poor
- Liberty to Captives
- Recovery of Sight to the Blind
- Let the Oppressed Go Free
- Proclaim a Year Acceptable to the Lord
Jeremiah: The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
· We Are Creatures of Love…
Like we hear the Prophet Jeremiah proclaim… From the very beginning we were known by God and created in love to love and be loved!
At our Baptism we were anointed Priest, Prophet and King, called to live a life of love in service to one another, to share the Truth of that love to all the world, and to recognize the specialness of being a part of the Body of Christ, or as St. Peter put it a royal Priesthood.
The Late Bishop Foley once told me that a life in Christ is a life lived, with Christ living in and through you!
This is Sacrament… Taking the ordinary, and making it extraordinary!
So today in our Psalm we sing of our salvation in thanksgiving for our very extraordinary lives: “For you are my hope, O Lord; my trust, O God, from my youth. On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength.”
If Ordinary Time is a time of conversion, then please understand that this conversion is not just one moment, but rather a day-to-day journey in understanding and living this life in Christ!
This is where St. Paul is coming from when he writes the Corinthians. He wants them to raise their bar a little! If they are indeed people of love, called to love one another, then adding Christ to their lives offers this challenge: “Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way,” for a life without love is nothing!
Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous, pompous, inflated, or rude. It does not seek its own interests. It is not quick-tempered, and does not brood over injury, or rejoice over wrongdoing! Love rejoices with the truth. “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
If you think that today’s message is full of good feelings and a set up for Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, you’re mistaken… Again… Love is patient, love is kind. (THIS IS HARD) Let’s face it our world has great trouble with these things! In fact, I think we can see that instead of love there is much jealousy and pompousness. We can be rude, seeking our own interests over the common good, and I’m a little sad to say that humanity, without the love of God, seems to even thrive on these negative qualities!
This is why, in Luke’s Gospel, we see the people respond to Jesus the way that they do. In the span of one shining moment, our Lord begins his Mission by “wowing” the Synagogue, quoting the Prophet Isaiah, and that, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
It even stresses that as he closed up the scroll, “all spoke highly of him…” But then the murmuring began, and some began to become uncomfortable… Hey, isn’t that Joseph’s son? How can he be the one to fulfill the promise? He is just the son of a carpenter!
And then things got interesting as Jesus responded, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you… [The prophets didn’t come for you… I DID!] When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill ion which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.”
My friends, once again, there is nothing ordinary about God’s love, and when you add in the love of Christ and the power of the Spirit, the bar is raised, and the call to conversion is real. In spite of some of the warm tones of today’s Word, let’s keep in mind that Jesus is in our midst to shake up the norm and call out the world (and you and me) to truly love one another as we are loved!
Let the conversion begin…
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