Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Prologue: In this week’s presentations, I want to focus on the mystagogy of faith in the spiritual life. In this sense of the Christian spiritual life, the focus is on the mystical elements of God’s presence and how people receive the divine presence in their lives on a personal level. Mysticism is complimentary to knowledge of the faith. While both of these sister disciplines do not cancel each other out, I believe it is important to give full attention to the way we receive Christ in our lives. My reflections will explore the lives of different spiritual writers and saints who shared their own experience of God in their lives.

 

Today's Mass Readings

 

We meet three people in the Third Sunday’s readings. You have Ezra who served as high priest and scribe for the people as they reclaimed the land of Israel for themselves. He read the law to the people, and blessed them as part of the Covenant which was now renewed. We hear from the apostle Paul who writes to the people at Corinth. He teaches them solemnly that we are all members of Christ’s body, and all the members, no matter how high or low, support one another in love.

In the Gospel of Luke, we walk with Jesus as he returns to Galilee in Nazareth. He walks among his people and he comes to the Synagogue. He tells his brothers and sisters there, “Today, this passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is the passage of Isaiah which says:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

So here we are, in a Jubilee Year of Hope. So much of the Christian life is focused on who we are to become and what grace enfolds around us at every moment. Our hope in Christ’s coming is “already, and not yet.” We believe, we are meant to believe, that God is present among us in every moment filled with grace. Christ was not accepted at his home synagogue at that moment. How can we ignore the moral of this story? We can miss out on God’s invitation right now! Heaven is right here with us. When you pray. When you interact with those you know or don’t know. When you fast. Anything that you do will be an opportunity to encounter Christ. Let us choose the better part. Do not let grace pass you by. Accept the invitation of the present moment to grow closer to Christ. Take this moment. We are all encouraged, you and I, for resting in Jesus’ loving embrace. Do not let this gift pass you by.

O Jesus, Lord and Savior, present at every moment. Have mercy on us! Amen.

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB