The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me

The scripture readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time can be found at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/012719.cfm
Our readings for this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary time focus on the importance of scripture in our relationship with God and with one another.

In our first reading from Nehemiah we hear of the priest Ezra gathering the people of Israel to hear the law of the Lord and explaining how scripture is applied to their lives. He explained "Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep." (Nehemiah 8:9). We are called, like the people of Israel, to set aside time every week to study scripture, to gather as an assembly, and to be joyful that the Lord God is a loving God. Through regular attendance at Sunday liturgy, we hear the word of God proclaimed & explained to us, and then we receive the Lord in the Eucharist. We do this as a community, not individually. We are then to take what we have heard and learned at Sunday liturgy to those that God has placed in our lives.

In the reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians we are reminded that we, like the different parts of the body, all have different jobs to perform in service to God and to His people. All people, like all parts of the body, are important.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that he is "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." (Luke 4:18-19) It is through His followers that He is able to do these things. We are called each Sunday to hear the Word of God, to take it into our hearts to try to understand what God is teaching us, and then to bring the Love of God to those in the world that need His love most.

There are many ways to do what the Lord Jesus is calling us to do. It could be in small ways, or big ways. But we are to do it out of love of God and out of love for those in our lives. There are those in nursing homes that are lonely who would appreciate a visit from some caring individual; those in prisons that need to hear the word of God preached to them, and so forth. There are many ways we are called to bring Christ into the world. But we need to have an open heart to be able to answer his call "to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

Before I Knew You I Formed You

“Give us the grace – When the sacredness of life before birth is attacked, to stand
up and proclaim that no one ever has the authority to destroy unborn life.”
– St. John Paul II

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you.”
– St. Jeremiah 1:5

This year marks the 46th anniversary of that terrible court decision Roe v Wade, which allowed the legal killing of the pre-born child in the mother's womb. On Friday, January 18th, thousands upon thousands of people will be going to Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life to bring attention to the fact that every life is precious in the eyes of God, and should be protected.

I've been going to this March for the last several years and each year I'm amazed at how many young people in their 20's are there marching to promote the sanctity of life. They march in support for the protection of innocent life that is being snuffed out as a result of abortion. They hold up signs and wear tee-shirts that proclaim "I Am the Pro-Generation." These are young adults that grew up in a time where it's always been legal to have an abortion, but they see the sinfulness of it. They realized that there are those who have been aborted that would have been their contemporaries. People that they will never know because they were not allowed to have the gift of life.

In the website "We are a Pro-Life Generation" (https://marchforlife.org/pro-life-generation/) we can see how this generation views abortion. It tells us that 53% of Millennials feel abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances.

This generation gives me hope that abortion will one day be a thing of the past! Part of helping make abortion a thing of the past is to develop support for those women who may find themselves in a situation that they don't know where to turn. These "crises pregnancies" can be resolved if there's a place where the mothers can turn to for care and support.

One group that comes to mind is The Sisters of Life ( https://www.sistersoflife.org/). They were founded in 1991 by John Cardinal O’Connor for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life. They provide free and confidential help for women who find themselves alone and hopeless in their pregnancy.

Let's pray for an end of abortion. Let's pray for a greater respect for life, from conception to natural death.

The Feast of the Ephiphany

 

“…behold,magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where isthe newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at itsrising and have come to do him homage.’” Matthew 2:1-2

On January 6^th, the Church commemorates the Feast of Epiphany, which commemorates the Manifestation of Christ to the gentiles, as represented by the Magi from the East. The magi traveled a great distance in order to find the new born King of the Jews. They were following a call from God, prompted by the Star that would lead them to the Christ Child. They were in search of deeper meaning in their lives and felt compelled to travel a great distance to answer God’s call.

Pope Benedict wrote of the Magi, “Deep within themselves they felt prompted to go in search of the true justice that can only come from God, and they wanted to serve this King, to fall prostrate at his feet and so play their part in the renewal of the world.”

We are called to find true justice that can only come from being a follower of Christ. Pope Benedict would go on to say, “They had to learn to give themselves – no lesser gift would be sufficient for this King. They had to learn that their lives must be conformed to this divine way of exercising power, to God’s own way of being.”

Are we willing to give our lives as a gift to God, to be willing to serve God in serving others? Benedict asks the question, “How can I serve God’s presence in the world?” We are called by God to serve Him by loving Him with our whole mind and by loving and serving those he has put into our lives. By doing so, Christ will be manifested to those in our lives as he was once manifested to the Magi. By serving others in the name of Christ, we can bring renewal to the world.