In the liturgical calendar we’re now in “ordinary time”: the weeks after Christmas (and later after Easter).
This is also what we folks from the north call “winter.”
You may have heard about the Minnesota couple who decided to go to the Caribbean for a week. They had jobs and couldn’t coordinate schedules to fly together. The husband arrived first, then emailed his wife, but he left out one letter in her address. The email went to a widow who, just back from her husband’s funeral, fainted after reading this:
To: My Wife
All is ready for your arrival tomorrow. Look forward to seeing you. PS. It sure is hot down here. So much for messaging.
In the scriptures today we hear various titles ascribed to Jesus. He is the “son” who is one with the God of Israel. The “Christ,” the messiah who inaugurates God’s kingdom. The “Lord” to whom we pledge our ultimate allegiance. The “servant” and the “light.”
“The lamb of God” stands out for me. When John the Baptist saw Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River, he recognized Jesus as the sacrificial lamb who would re-establish a right relationship for us with God and one another.
In today's word, Isaiah takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus, to the Jews exiled in Babylonia (which today is Iraq).
The passage is a poem, a song, about the vocation of a “servant of God” who will bring hope to a people who have lost hope. This “servant” will save all peoples, be a “light” to all. The early Christian community saw in this “servant” Jesus, whose calling was to be our way to eternal life, our truth who sets us free from false isms, our light who guides us in our earthly journey.
Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth speaks about his own vocation. God through Jesus by the power of the Spirit has bestowed his grace and peace upon us. Paul then challenges us to live a life of virtue that’s worthy of our calling, to become a holy people.
In the Gospel, John points out Jesus as the Lamb of God, an allusion to the Lamb in the Jewish Passover meal and the sacrificial lamb in temple worship. John then saw Jesus coming up out of the Jordan River waters and the Spirit of God confirming Jesus as “Son of God.”
It is a moving passage. This Jesus, truly human and truly divine, who through his death and resurrection by the power of the Spirit established our friendship with God again, is fully alive in his community of disciples, the one Church He founded.
Jesus prayed that this community would always be one. All Christians profess one Lord, one faith and one baptism. But they have split through the centuries into varied and sometimes opposing traditions.
We have a week of prayer for Christian Unity beginning Wednesday, January 18. As we pray with Jesus that “we all may be one,” we might ask “why should I belong to this global Catholic community?” Here are a few good reasons:
• We are 1.4 billion believers, rich and poor and in between, black and white, American, European, Asian and African, Oceanian, a family that celebrates the presence of the living Christ, especially in word and sacrament. Jesus Christ is gloriously and fully alive among us, in his Church, and God is already transforming us into new creatures by virtue of the waters of baptism.
• We are the Church of Francis and Clare of Assisi, Dominic, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Vincent de Paul, Therese of Lisieux, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa—and the litany goes on and on. People inspiring our own quest to realize our true purpose in life.
• We are a community with a huge tent. Yes, some are good and others not so good. Think of Pope Francis' image of the Church as a "field hospital." We must continually make amends, strive to do right, forgive ourselves and one another, let go of bitterness, and get back on track: recommitting ourselves to Jesus, our way our truth and our life. Every day should be a fresh start into eternity.
• Finally, we take a stand on peace and justice. Our world-wide Catholic community sponsors and staffs shelters, hospices, soup kitchens, AIDS treatment centers, literacy programs, day-care centers, hospitals and schools. Hundreds of Catholic Relief and Refugee agencies attempt to meet the basic needs of refugees and poor people.
Yes, this Gospel points to our world-wide faith community: the Church Jesus founded. We give thanks to God for this community that calls us to a life with God here and now, and to eternal life where we shall be like God and see God face-to-face. Amen.
