3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time C
Nehemiah 8:2-6. 8-10.Ps.
18:8-10.15 Rv. Jn6:63. 1Cor 12:12-30. Luke 1:1-4.4:14-21
The people were in tears as they listened to the Law of the Lord.
Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your strength.
You together are Christ’s body and each of you is a different part of
it.
The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. This text is being
fulfilled today.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Readings at Mass
____________________
First
reading
Nehemiah 8:2-6,8-10
Ezra the priest brought the Law before the
assembly, consisting of men, women, and children old enough to understand. This
was the first day of the seventh month. On the square before the Water Gate, in
the presence of the men and women, and children old enough to understand, he
read from the book from early morning till noon; all the people listened
attentively to the Book of the Law.
Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden dais
erected for the purpose. In full view of all the people – since he stood
higher than all the people – Ezra opened the book; and when he opened it
all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the
people raised their hands and answered, ‘Amen! Amen!’; then they bowed down
and, face to the ground, prostrated themselves before the Lord. And Ezra read
from the Law of God, translating and giving the sense, so that the people
understood what was read.
Then Nehemiah – His Excellency –
and Ezra, priest and scribe and the Levites who were instructing the people
said to all the people, ‘This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not be
mournful, do not weep.’ For the people were all in tears as they listened to
the words of the Law.
He then said, ‘Go, eat the fat, drink the
sweet wine, and send a portion to the man who has nothing prepared ready. For
this day is sacred to our Lord. Do not be sad: the joy of the Lord is your
stronghold.’
We
too are encouraged to realise that Jesus speaks God’s Word for us. We too
should meditate up on it and through the indwelling of the Spirit within us
live his word.
Psalm
Psalm 18:8-10,15
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
it revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,
it gives wisdom to the simple.
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
they gladden the heart.
The command of the Lord is clear,
it gives light to the eyes.
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life.
The fear of the Lord is holy,
abiding for ever.
The decrees of the Lord are truth
and all of them just.
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life.
May the spoken words of my mouth,
the thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your sight, O Lord,
my rescuer, my rock!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are
life.
Second
reading
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Just as a human body, though it is made up
of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one
body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as
well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all
to drink.
Nor is the body to be identified with any
one of its many parts. If the foot were to say, ‘I am not a hand and so I do
not belong to the body’, would that mean that it stopped being part of the
body? If the ear were to say, ‘I am not an eye, and so I do not belong to the
body’, would that mean that it was not a part of the body? If your whole body
was just one eye, how would you hear anything? If it was just one ear, how
would you smell anything?
Instead of that, God put all the separate
parts into the body on purpose. If all the parts were the same, how could it be
a body? As it is, the parts are many but the body is one. The eye cannot say to
the hand, ‘I do not need you’, nor can the head say to the feet, ‘I do not need
you.’
What is more, it is precisely the parts of
the body that seem to be the weakest which are the indispensable ones; and it
is the least honourable parts of the body that we clothe with the greatest
care. So our more improper parts get decorated in a way that our more proper
parts do not need. God has arranged the body so that more dignity is given to
the parts which are without it, and that there may not be disagreements inside
the body, but that each part may be equally concerned for all the others. If
one part is hurt, all parts are hurt with it. If one part is given special
honour, all parts enjoy it.
Now you together are Christ’s body; but
each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first
place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them,
miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with
many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of
them teachers? Do they all have the gift of miracles, or all have the gift of
healing? Do all speak strange languages, and all interpret them?
Through the indwelling of the Spirit we are united to Jesus and he lives through us. This should not be just a theory. Wherever the Christian is there is Jesus. Would that this were true. However each of us must make our own response.
Gospel
Acclamation
Lk4:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord has sent me to bring the good news
to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives.
Alleluia!
____________________
Gospel
Luke 1:1-4,4:14-21
Seeing that many others have undertaken to
draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these
were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story
from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you,
Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is
that you have received.
Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him,
returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He
taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been
brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did.
He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord has been given to
me,
for he has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring the good news to
the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and to the blind new sight,
to set the downtrodden free,
to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back
to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you
listen.’
Where is Jesus today?
We all know
Jesus was present and active in Palestine 2000 years ago. However, is Jesus
present and active today? Yes He is! He is present and active through you! “You
are Christ’s body and each of you is a different part of it.” As you do some
things with your hands and other things with your feet and as you hear with
your ears and see with your eyes, so Jesus does some things through you and
some things through me! We are His Body today. This is the way Jesus is present
in the world.
Do you realize
that Jesus wants to live out His Gospel in this 21st century through you?
We rightly
stress the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. However, we should not
neglect His true presence in other ways. One important way is through His
community. However, do not think that Jesus is so dynamic. He wants to be. He
said, “Those who believe in me will do the same things that I do. They will do
even greater things, because I am going to the Father.” However just as I would
like to write a letter with my hands but cannot because my hands are paralysed
just so because of your lack of faith and your indifference Jesus cannot do
through you what he wants to.
The lack of
faith and interest, the worldliness and sin of Christians does immense harm. No
wonder the world is in the state it is. Jesus, who is everywhere through his
Body, the Christian community and in every nook and corner of the world through
His members, is so paralysed by the coldness of their faith.
It is possible
for you to make Jesus dynamic in your world. Every Sunday in the celebration of
the Eucharist, you eat his Body and drink his Blood. You are to be transformed
into his Body and live by his strength. Be full of living faith. Be baptised in
the Holy Spirit and live in Jesus. Then He will act through you wherever you
are, whoever you are and whatever you are. “He who lives in me will bear much
fruit,” Jesus said.
Your renewal
in the Holy Spirit and in faith is the first step on the way to solving the
problems of the world.
Notice for
what the Holy Spirit anoints you: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim
liberty and to free those bound by sin, to give sight to those lost in
darkness, to liberate those who are oppressed and to proclaim that God still
loves the world. This is just the medicine the world needs.
Are you ready
to wake up to the call to be a dynamic member in the Body of Jesus and allow
Jesus to do mighty things through you?
Father, grant that through the Holy Eucharist I may become Jesus for
the world I live in.
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