Year I

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the Letter to the Hebrews explains that in order to redeem humanity Our Lord had to have some solidarity with it. Through his Incarnation he took humanity upon himself: he became man without leaving aside his divinity. A high priest is the mediator between God and man, and Our Lord, through his Incarnation, became this mediator and mediation: in his Person he enabled humanity to be restored after the Fall. He is able to empathize with us in our struggles and sufferings because he too chose trials and sufferings for our salvation.

Death was not something desired by God. The Book of Wisdom teaches that death came into the world due to the envy of the Devil (see Wisdom 1:13 and 2:24). The first horrific experience of death occurred soon after sin, through the Devil’s temptation and the sin of our first parents, when Cain slew his brother Abel. Sin and death have always gone hand in hand, and the Devil influences us and the world through them. Through sin the Devil has a power to inflict spiritual death: the loss of God not only here, but in eternity.

Our Lord came to free us from sin and death, and he did so through the Cross. Instead of a tempter we have a mediator. Let’s turn to Our Lord and away from temptation so that he can liberate us from sin and death.

Readings: Hebrews 2:14–18; Psalm 105:1–9; Mark 1:29–39. See also 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday.

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the letter to the Hebrews teaches us the heights and the depths to which Our Lord is willing to go through referring to two psalms. Psalm 8 is a psalm exulting in the wonders of creations and especially that the Lord has made man the noblest of his visible creations, only second to angels. The brief reference to Psalm 22 is the moment where the psalmist promises to glorify the Lord among his brethren after he has been delivered from his suffering, the psalm Our Lord said on the Cross.

We see Psalm 8 fulfilled in Christ: “You made him for a little while lower than the angels” refers to Our Lord’s Incarnation, and soon after speaks of his glorification, a glorification that we know comes through his suffering on the Cross and is not complete until the end of time. The reference to Psalm 22, when Our Lord glorifies his Father along will all of his brethren, refers to his heavenly glory, a glory in which we’ll share if we believe in him and entrust our lives to him.

Today’s Gospel shows that Our Lord is greater than the fallen angels as well. He casts out the unclean spirit and lends more credence to the power and authority his Father has given him. He also wants to rejoice with you from here to eternity. Help him to help you.

Readings: Hebrews 2:5–12; Psalm 8:2ab, 5–9; Mark 1:21–28. See also 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday.

1st Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that the God has spoken to us throughout salvation history through prophets and angels, but he himself has now come to speak to us through his Son. We’d be amazed, probably frightened, if an angel appeared to us today with a message from God, but the Gospel we try to live as Christians is the Lord himself speaking. We should be more frightened if we are not listening to the Lord speak through his Word, not only the written Word in Sacred Scripture, but the Word who became flesh who speaks in our hearts, thanks to the Holy Spirit, and the traditions he has communicated to us through the Apostles (also thanks to the Holy Spirit).

Sometimes we fall into a “copy-paste” outlook on the Word of God. We pick what we agree with and ignore what we don’t. We see Scripture as a source from which we can clip a few good things to help us in life instead of a history of salvation that wants to draw us in and transform us. There’s nothing wrong in having favorite passages from Scripture, but they should always lead us back to the “whole” Testament.

We believe that God had said everything needed through his Son. Let’s listen to his Word today with renewed hearts.

Readings: Hebrews 1:1–6; Psalm 97:1, 2b, 6, 7c, 9; Mark 1:14–20.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday

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The end (of the liturgical year) is upon us, and in today’s Gospel Our Lord encourages us to keep the big picture in mind. It is salutary to ask ourselves once in a while if what we are doing or worrying about right now would matter if the world were to end today. That question is salutary not only for party animals concentrating on a prolonged escape from life and its responsibilities by leaping from thrill to thrill, but also people who bury themselves in their work and their immediate pressing concerns, hoping that down in that foxhole nothing that explodes in life will affect them. Experience shows that reality can get up close and personal at times, and blow up in our faces no matter how much we ignore it or put it far down on our to-do list.

In these last few weeks we’ve considered Our Lord’s invitation to persevere in trials, to hope in the face of evil, to be realistic in acknowledging that challenges will come, to be vigilant, and to have courage in facing and overcoming challenges. It will be a long haul, not easy, and full of lights and shadows, but it’ll be worth it.

Welcome to life on earth. Keep the big picture in mind and you’ll know that good will triumph and that you’re not alone: your fellow believers will support you, and Our Lord himself.

Readings: Daniel 7:15–27; Daniel 3:82–87; Luke 21:34–36.

34th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord invites the disciples to read the signs of the seasons, not just the signs of the times, to know that the Kingdom of God is near. In describing the signs of summer drawing near he is directing our attention to spring: a period after a long season of cold and apparent death followed by new life starting to bloom. In this contrast between spring and summer Our Lord is teaching us about one of the characteristics of the end times, described by some theologians as “now and not yet.”

The Kingdom of God is established “now”: it was near, and those who believed in Jesus and his preaching became the first signs in the world of that Kingdom, and he entrusted his disciples with the mission of continuing to announce that it was near. All disciples of Jesus are signs and members of the Kingdom of God. The springtime of new life starting to bloom has come with our baptism and Christian life. Saint John Paul II expressed the desire that the third millennium be a “new springtime” for Christianity. The time of the Church, until Our Lord’s return in glory, is that springtime.

At the same time, the Kingdom of God is “not yet” complete. It cannot be until every person throughout history has had an opportunity to welcome it or reject it, and that won’t happen until the end of time. The Kingdom of God is “not yet” a complete conquest and exile of all the evil influences in the world; that will come at the end of time with the Last Judgment. The Kingdom is “now” and “not yet”: let’s live our faith as a spring with an eager anticipation of the beautiful summer to come for those who welcome it.

Readings: Daniel 7:2–14; Daniel 3:75–81; Luke 21:29–33.