Gospel Reflection Jan 15 – Deacon Frank
Sunday, January 15
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
John 1:29-34
Gospel:
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.”
John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
Gospel Reflection:
You might remember that at the start of Advent, we entered a new liturgical year, which simply means we began a new cycle of readings as we journey through a year from the announcement of the birth of Jesus through his ministry as an adult, on to his death and resurrection, and finally to the feast of Christ the King. During the course of a liturgical year, we have four major seasons that capture our attention – Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. Most of the liturgical year, however, is simply called “Ordinary Time” and that is where we have arrived now as you come to Mass this weekend.
To our ears it may sound like the Sundays and weekdays that are “ordinary” are nothing special, that somehow the celebrations and their Scripture readings are rather ho-hum. But that is not the case at all. The weeks of Ordinary Time are “ordered” occurring in numbered sequence. These weeks help us to discover more deeply who Jesus is through his words and deeds and, as a result, learn what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Ordinary Time helps us to order our lives in such a way that we are more attentive to the presence of God with us. There is nothing ho-hum about any of that.
Throughout this liturgical year and starting this weekend – especially with the Gospel reading from Saint John the Evangelist this weekend and the Gospel of Saint Matthew on many of the Sundays in this A-cycle of Ordinary Time – I want to challenge all of us to pray for the grace to move from knowing to understanding, from professing belief in Jesus Christ to trusting him with our very lives. The life of the Catholic Christian is a constant growth and surrendering our limited understandings of God so that we can sing with the Psalmist this weekend in our responsorial psalm, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.”
-Deacon Frank Iannarino