Such is the power of the Word. Lk. 1:21

 Ordinary Time: January 27th

Nunraw. Snow dispersing in hours, 'miraculous' thaw!

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Aelred - Homily.

In the history of the people of God, the creative Word of the 1st Chapter of Genesis is to be heard directly, through the proclaiming of Scripture, every time Israel is solemnly gathered together for a renewal for a the covenant made to  Abraham and Moses. Such is the power of the Word. It happened at the Dedication of the Temple under Solomon and at the inauguration of Judaism after the exile, which forms the setting for today’s 1^st Reading.

When the Jews returned home after 50 years of exile from Babylon, the nation had to be rebuilt from the grown up. Ezra called on the people to rededicate themselves to God. In a solemn liturgy of the Word he read to the people from the Law of Moses and the assembly responded with their Amen, with joy and thanksgiving. From this time on, the life and religion of Jews was based on adherence to the Law, and Ezra was regarded as the father of Judaism.

St. Luke, from whom today’s Gospel passage is taken, is also very interested in the history of the people of God. For him the history is made up of first, the period of Israel, and second, the period of Chris and his Church.  The first period, what we call the OT, is the time of preparation for the culminating event of Christ’s coming; ‘The law and the prophets were until John, since then the good news of the Kingdom of is preached’ (16:16) The second period begins with Jesus and is the whole time when he, as the exalted Lord, is present in the Church. Christ, the risen Lord, is always in the Christian community. The present moment is the time of fulfillment  The ‘today’ and the ‘now’ at Christ’s presence is the time of salvation. And now life is poured out in the Holy Spirit.

Snow clearing for the sheep grazing

Today’s Gospel shows us now Jesus began his ministry on his home soil with his Nazareth Manifesto. Jesus stands before his people in the Nazareth Synagogue and reads from the passage of Isaiah in which the prophet acknowledged himself to be anointed by the Spirit to his task of preaching to the poor and bringing liberty to captives. Jesus then declares that these words of their scriptures were being fulfilled in and by himself.

This was a startling claim. Jesus was saying that the whole sacred history of Israel was coming to a climax, now, in his ministry in his village synagogue. Little wonder that some of the people said: ‘This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary ...where did the man get all this?’ (cf. Mk 6:1-3).

And the primary recipients of Jesus good news were not to be leaders and guardians of Israel’s heritage, the Pharisees and Sadducees. Rather it was the captive, the blind, the oppressed, all who are weakest and powerless. The ‘poor’ in the biblical context means not only those whose poverty is ‘spiritual’, but the materially poor who really do need help, and the hungry who stand in need of nourishment. But they are also those who live on bread alone and who never hear the Word of God. And this must be true of many in modern western societies. Without frequent recourse to the Word of God is difficult to navigate our way through the murkiness of the much of modern life. Both in the public liturgy and in privacy of our homes whenever we open the Bible , we receive the intensely personal welcome of the Word and a sure guide for our lives. Such is the power of the Word.

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+... Lord, in today’s Mass we hear how God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus, the long-awaited Saviour of the poor and the oppressed.

+ ... Almighty God, grant that we may share generously with others the blessings we have received from you. We ask this through the same Christ our Lord.