FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

8 FEBRUARY 2026

 

          Saul of Tarsus came from a major education center for stoic philosophy.  In Tarsus, he studied under the great rabbi Gamaliel and was educated in pharisaic Judaism.  As Saint Paul, he does not come to the Corinthians with those high educational degrees.  Instead, he brings them the person of Jesus Christ and him crucified.  He had encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and brings his experience of the risen Christ “in weakness and fear and much trembling”. Instead of using persuasive words of wisdom in which he had been trained as Saul of Tarsus, he is guided by the Holy Spirit and power. 

            As Saint Paul presents the person of Jesus Christ to the Christian community of Corinth, the does the same to us, the Christian community of Saint Augustine in South Bend.  He tells us to embrace the person of Jesus Christ and to welcome him into our lives as a first priority.  Last Sunday, Jesus spoke to us and spelled out eight different ways for us to make him a part of our lives and be blessed.  That is what the Greek word “blessed” means – to be happy or fortunate.  In living the beatitudes, we place Jesus Christ first.  We are happy when we embrace a poverty of spirit that frees us from being burdened with too much stuff.  We can be happy even when we mourn.  We mourn when we suffer devastating losses.  In pouring out the pain of mourning, we trust that the Lord will keep his promise and console us.  We are happy when we adapt a spirit of meekness and when we hunger and thirst for righteousness (or justice).  We are happy when we show mercy, when we maintain the cleanness of our hearts, and when we act as peacemakers.  Jesus acknowledges that not everyone will embrace these beatitudes and may even take steps to insult and persecute us, as he himself was insulted and persecuted.  But even in persecution, he promises that our reward will be great in heaven.

            Today, Jesus says that living the beatitudes is not a benefit only for ourselves.  Living them affects others.  He uses two metaphors: salt and light.  In the ancient world, doctors did not warn their patients about consuming too much salt.  In the absence of any kind of refrigeration, salt preserved meat.  Throughout the Scriptures, salt symbolized the sealing and preserving of God’s Covenant to meet with the people.  Strangers were given salt as a sign of welcome. 

            We are salt for our world if we continue to witness to the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives, just as Saint Paul did to the Corinthians.  Of course, it is important to continue our ongoing education in the faith.  But it is far more important to show the presence of the Lord in living the beatitudes.  We know his presence when we hear him speak to us in his Word.  We become one with him when he feeds us with his Body and Blood.  Our divided, angry, and hateful world needs plenty of salty people.  When I was baptized as a baby many years ago, the priest placed blessed salt on my lips as a reminder of the importance of living my baptismal promises.

            We can also be light for our world.  The ancient world did not have the ease of electricity that we have.  But even the smallest dwellings had olive oil lamps burning throughout the night to guide old people like me who need a bathroom.  Even the tiniest clay pot had the potential to dispel darkness and provide guidance. 

            Each of us was given a lit candle when we were baptized.  We are light for our world if we allow the light of Jesus Christ to shine through us.  Too often, we are tempted to simply dwell in the darkness of our world and curse the darkness with our minds and lips.  The light of Christ dispels that darkness, even in the smallest amounts.  Just as this church was filled with the light of candles at the Easter Vigil, the light of Christ can definitely shine through our community.  We are salt and light, bringing a hope that is desperately needed.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

1 FEBRUARY 2026

 

          The Prophet Zephaniah encourages his audience to seek various goods, especially justice and humility.  He addresses his people as the “humble of the earth who have observed his law.”  Zephaniah promises that those who practice justice and humility will be part of a remnant who will survive the day of the Lord.  These people will live the good life, marked by simplicity, humility, honesty, peace, and a meaningful relationship with the Lord.

            We celebrated that day of the Lord forty days ago at Christmas.  Today, the Incarnate Word of God who dwells in our midst spells out the various goods required of those who choose to be part of the Kingdom of God.  As Moses spoken from a mountain to announce the Covenant that the Lord had made with his chosen people, Jesus climbs another mountain and takes his seat.  In the ancient world, important messages were given by leaders who had taken the seat of their authority.  He announces nine groups of people whom he addresses as “blessed.”  The Greek word for blessed means “fortunate,” or “happy”.  These beatitudes are the beginning of his famous Sermon on the Mount.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have heard these beatitudes so often that we are not surprised by them.  However, we can only imagine how those who heard these beatitudes for the first time would have reacted.

            In watching the recent series, The Chosen, I saw an interesting take on how people might have reacted.  I was initially skeptical of the Series, because so many fictional additions were added to the actual words of Scripture.  Watching the series out of curiosity, I began to realize what The Chosen was doing.  Those fictional additions help to contemporize the ministry of Jesus Christ and help us to enter it more fully.  The reactions of the twelve caught my attention.  In hearing the beatitudes, the twelve found great comfort and encouragement.  They had already given up everything to follow Jesus, the Messiah.  They had mourned the loss of a former way of life.  Jesus continually was teaching them to be meek, to hunger and thirst for justice or righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, and to be peacemakers.  Jesus taught these values not only with his words, but especially with his actions.  The twelve were already seeing Jesus being persecuted by the religious leaders.  They would be horrified when that persecution would lead to his death on the cross.  They would eventually be persecuted when the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to live and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

            We too are his disciples, and he teaches us the same lesson.  He teaches us that blessedness – or the good life – does not lie in achieving personal success, elevated status, or individual honor.  Rather, living the good life lies in being humble and just, striving to bring forth what which is good for others.

            That is the message that Saint Paul gives to the Corinthians.  He is aware of the arrogance of so many members of the community that is causing division.  He reminds them that the Lord had called them to be disciples not by human standards.  Not many of them had been powerful or of noble birth.  He encourages them to embrace the beatitudes and become humble and just.  If they have encountered success and good fortune, it is because of the Lord working in their midst.

            The Lord has called us to embrace the spirit of the beatitudes.  If we put the Lord Jesus above everything else, then we are truly blessed.  We are truly living the good life.  If we achieve success or elevated status or individual honor, it is because of the Lord working through us.  Like the original twelve, we can thank God when we see ourselves in the company of those nine groups of people.  Saint Paul hits the nail on the head.  In Christ Jesus, we have received wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

 

SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 JANUARY 2026

 

          In the first chapter of Genesis, the Hebrew text says that a “ruah” was hovering over the watery chaos.  The English translation is wind or breath or spirit.  That “ruah” is God, who has no beginning and no end.  Without beginning or end, God creates the world out of the chaos not by doing anything, but simply by speaking a word.  That word has the power to create the order of our world out of the watery chaos in the beginning.  

In the first chapter of his Gospel, Saint John tells us that Jesus Christ was present at the creation of the world.  As we heard from his Gospel on Christmas morning, the Word present at the creation of the world took on human flesh and dwells in our midst.  Today, Saint John tells us about the role of the Incarnate Word of God in a second creation.  When John the Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him, he recognizes the truth about Jesus and his work and understands his role in the second creation.  He sees the Spirit coming down upon him like a dove from heaven.  As the spirit of God hovered over the watery chaos, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, hovers over Jesus as John baptizes him in the waters of the Jordan River.  God the Father, the first person of the Blessed Trinity, calls Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, his beloved Son.   

John the Baptist helps us to understand the work of this second creation by calling Jesus the “Lamb of God.”  His contemporaries would immediately understand the significance of that title.  On the night before their exodus from slavery in Egypt, Moses commanded his people to sacrifice a lamb and prepare it for a meal before they left.  He also told them to smear the blood of the lamb on their lintels.  The angel of death would pass over their homes, allowing them to pass over from slavery to freedom in the Promised Land.  At every Passover Meal, the Chosen People commemorated God’s saving action in their lives by eating a Passover lamb.  As a son of a priest, John the Baptist knew that people would bring lambs to be sacrificed at the altar in the Temple, praying that their sacrifice would bring them union with God.

By calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John the Baptist is saying that Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, will work the second creation not by doing anything dramatic, but by becoming the Lamb of God.  He will allow himself to be sacrificed out of love for us.  That loving sacrifice will bring salvation to save us from sin and death and lead us in a new exodus to the new and eternal Jerusalem.  In his Gospel, the real Lamb of God is sacrificed on a cross outside the city walls, while priests in the Temple are preparing lambs to be sacrificed for Passover meals.

We who gather at Mass today have passed through the waters of baptism.  We have been incorporated as sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters into the Body of Christ.  At this Mass, we give thanks to the Father for the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ made present on this Altar in our liturgical remembering.  We will be fed by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and sent from this Mass to continue to proclaim the truth proclaimed today by the Baptist.  As part of that second creation, we can make a difference in our world and in our local community.  Like the prophet Isaiah, we have been called by God as servants.  We not only recognize the presence of the Word made flesh dwelling in our midst, but we also recommit ourselves to living our baptismal promises.  Because of the victory of the Lamb of God, we can allow the light of his presence to shine through us. 

That is the message which Saint Paul gives to the Corinthians.  He knows the strengths and blessings of that community. He also knows of their divisions and conflicts.  He assures them that they can make a difference.  He gives us the same message.

 

THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD

4 JANUARY 2026

 

          The English word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word which means “to manifest.”   The Prophet Isaiah describes how God is manifesting himself.  His people have just returned from their fifty-year captivity in Babylon.  As they rebuild their temple, God’s light will shine through it, because God dwells in his holy temple.  The Lord will be the light that clarifies right paths.  Along with foreigners, wayward children will find a way home.  This light will enable them to navigate life’s hardships and obstacles as though walking on a path at midday.  They will bring wealth to God’s Holy City.  The once devastated Jerusalem now appears with joy, pride, and blessing.  The greatest wealth in that city is the Lord’s light that shines within her.

            Saint Matthew sees Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in today’s Gospel.  Educated men from the East (magi in Greek) are attracted by a bright light in the heavens.  So, they embark on a long and difficult journey to find the source of the light in Jerusalem.  When they lose the heavenly light, the foreigners seek an audience with King Herod to find the source of the light, the newborn king of the Jews.  Herod consults the chief priests and the scribes of the people, who inform him that the magi are nine miles off.  The source of the light is born in Bethlehem.  Herod has no desire to travel nine miles to find a potential rival.  Instead, he tells the magi to search diligently for the child and to return to him, so that he could go and do homage to the child.

            Guided by the Scriptural advice of the chief priests and scribes, the magi regain the light of the star and come to the place where the real light is shining.  It is shining in a newborn child wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger.  Unlike Herod, who had absolutely no intention of venerating a potential rival, they do homage and give the infant and his parents valuable gifts.  Their gifts describe the identity of this child.  The gift of gold identifies him as a king.  Pilate will mock him and write “the king of the Jews” on the cross of his execution.  Frankincense reveals him as God.  Myrrh refers to his role as the Suffering Servant who will give his life to defeat the powers of sin and death.  His body will be anointed with myrrh when he is laid in his tomb.  We know almost nothing about these foreigners who bring lavish gifts.  We count them as three, because they give three gifts.  Later legends will give each of them a name:  Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar.  They will be told in a dream not to return to Herod.  Instead, they will depart for their country by another way.  In other words, Matthew tells us that they have been profoundly changed by their encounter with this newborn king, God, and Suffering Servant.

            We celebrate the Epiphany today to better understand the Mystery we encounter at this Season.  In the worldwide liturgical calendar, Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, the twelfth day of Christmas.  In the United States, we celebrate this Solemnity on the closest Sunday to the twelfth day of Christmas.  God has revealed to us a great light.  The Savior of the world, the Messiah, the Christ, has been born to us.  In every artistic rendering of this scene, the light is radiated from the newborn child.  In the Mystery of the Incarnation, God has taken on human flesh in Jesus Christ and has pitched his tent, dwelling in our midst.  In the darkness of our wounded and dangerous world, the Light of Christ invites us to pay homage to him, as the magi did.  We may face many obstacles in this new year.  We will endure many hardships.  But that light will enable us to walk with confidence, inviting other people to join us in our pilgrimage of faith, as we walk together to the New and Eternal Jerusalem.  The Lord invites us to bring him gifts.  We do not bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Instead, we bring the gifts of our faith, our love, and our service.  In doing so, we will allow the light of Christ to shine brightly through us, no matter how dark the world around us may be.