Homily, January 26, 2025
From The Pastor
Some years ago, Pope Francis named the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, ‘Word of God Sunday.’ Why did the Pope do that? What was the purpose of his intention? Faith needs to be nourished. Faith needs to be informed to animate the truth it reveals. More than information for the head in the practice of religion, the Word of God informs the heart to instill faith, building maturing trust, to increase love and commitment to God in Christ.
The Word of God is a living relationship with the Lord Jesus, who is himself the Word. From the words of St. Paul, ‘faith comes from hearing.’ Listening is a verb, a word of action. Hearing is the fruit of listening only if the hearer takes in what is heard, allowing it to make an impact. This is never truer in the faith relationship. Biblically, to listen means to obey; to take in, receive, to allow and impact and to respond. We are all familiar with the phrase ‘in one ear and out the other.’ That is not hearing. Something may be heard, but there is no impact or response. One becomes deaf to what is heard.
To hear the Word of God is to allow the Word to become part of us in a living way. The Word is not only informative, but formative. In faith, we allow the Word to have an impact on our lives upon the mind, heart, soul, body, and spirit, the whole self. In this way the Word becomes redemptive. The Word of God heals, forgives, inspires, awakens, and sometimes convicts. The Word of God is transformative. It can lift us beyond ourselves to the inner awareness of God’s presence, an action of the Holy Spirit, or a new rhythm of life that inspires hope and freedom.
Consider the power of the Word in the first reading. Historically, the people have recently returned to their homeland after a generation of exile in Babylon. They returned to a ruined city and the destruction of their beloved Temple. In the course of time, the old scrolls of the Law, the Torah were found.
Today’s reading is a gathering of the people to hear the Word of God for the first time in a generation. Ezra the priest-scribe not only reads to them from the Torah but also includes its interpretation. Think of an all-day long liturgy of the Word.
People are transformed in hearing the Word. They are weeping in remembrance of the Covenant of the Law they had formally held with God. They are filled with joy, humility, and the sadness of having lost the Law and the practice of their religion. Some may have felt guilt or a need for holy repentance in the revival of their covenant with God as they work to restore their city, society, and Temple. Consider the emotions and spiritual awakening this has stirred in the people. Their hearts and souls are revived.
Moving forward many more generations, the gospel presents us with the living Word of God in Jesus himself, the long-awaited Messiah/Christ. Jesus is speaking the word in his inaugural address in his home synagogue. Notice the words he chooses as his mission statement taken from the Prophet Isaiah. This is a passage we have heard many times. Consider the words as if they were directly spoken to you.
Jesus claims the Spirit of the Lord is upon him as he has been anointed in the Spirit. You too have been anointed by the Spirit. The Spirit of God is upon you. Have you listened and heard that? Have you taken it in? This is an act of faith. In the Spirit, Jesus comes to bring gladness to the poor. What is poor in you that needs the word and the Spirit of Jesus? Are you poor in spirit? Sad, lonely, unhappy, lacking hope? Jesus is here to help you with that.
Jesus proclaims liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind. Where may you be bound up; a place in you that seeks new freedom? Old hurts, resentments, anger, unforgiveness, political dissention? Long ago buried problems left unresolved? What blind spots might you have that hinder a greater freedom, joy, or hope in your life? What may be binding up the love in your life that you wish were more free or active?
Jesus seeks to let the oppressed go free and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. We are all held back by something. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, or social maladies that make life hard, leaning against a greater freedom to realize and accept the love and redemption the gospel proclaims.
This is the power and the intention of the Word of God. It is the invitation of the Word to surrender our lives, with all our imperfections, to the truth of the love of our Savior. It is not easy to surrender; but take note that God surrendered to us in the Lord Jesus to save and set us free. God would love us to return the favor and surrender ourselves to the healing forgiveness the transformation of the Gospel promises us. Love the Word of God. Read it. Take it in. Allow it to become a living relationship in your life.
Father John Esper.
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