by Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M
The Gospel reading is taken from St. Luke (Lk 4:21-30). This rejection of Jesus by his own townfolk must have sincerely grieved him. But it was only the beginning of similar rejections. Their attempt to murder him was an indication of what was yet to come. "To his own he came but his own did not accept him" as St. John says (1:11). The reason was that the Messiah they were looking for was a political leader who would make Israel a political power not only among the nations but over the other nations. Nearly all the messianic prophecies had references to the universality of the messianic kingdom–this universality they interpreted in a political, worldly sense.
by Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M
The Gospel is from St. Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21. In the first four verses of St. Luke's Gospel which have been read to you today, you will find reason to be grateful to him. He went to a lot of trouble in order to put in a permanent form, in a written record, the essential facts concerning Christ, his words and his works, so that we "would understand (like Theophilus) the certainty of the faith in which we have been instructed."
by Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M
The Gospel is from John 2:1-12. There are many lessons we can learn from this incident in Christ's life: for example, Christ's approval of marriage–there were some heretical sects later who said marriage was sinful, unfit for a Christian. Or we could see in it the intercessory power of our blessed Mother. Christ anticipated his "hour" for working miracles in order to grant her request. But the theme of today's readings is the goodness 'and kindness of God and we surely have a convincing proof of that loving kindness in today's gospel story.
The mystery of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan by St John, the Precursor, proposes the contemplation of an already adult Jesus. This mystery is infinitely linked to the Solemnities of the Lord’s birth and the Epiphany that we have just celebrated, as in some ways it takes up and represents their significance to us. At Christmas we have contemplated the human birth of the Word incarnate by the Virgin Mary. In the 4th century, the Fathers of the Church deepened the understanding of the faith with regard to the Christmas mystery in the light of Jesus’ Humanity. They spoke of the Incarnation of the Word already working like the ‘Christification’ of that humanity that he had assumed from His mother.