(This is an update of a homily I gave on this feast day to a group of sisters from the USA during a pilgrimage they made to Rome.)
The good news of Christmas continues to unfold; the mystery of the incarnation continues to reveal itself. Today we are given to contemplate Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, as a member of a family – the Holy Family – together with Mary and Joseph.
III Lent, A
It’s plain enough that the readings today invite us to reflect on the symbol of water. In the first reading Moses gives water from the rock to God’s people in the desert – and as St. Paul says, the rock was Christ. (1 Cor 10:4) In the gospel Jesus leads the Samaritan woman through a process of enlightenment so that she might discover in herself the living water that becomes in us, as Jesus says, a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
It is very fitting that we reflect on this living water because the purpose of this season of Lent is the Church’s accompaniment of those who are preparing for baptism at Easter. And we too, who are already baptized, are preparing ourselves for the renewal of the grace of our baptismal promises.
In order to appreciate well the depth and beauty of this gospel that we have today, that of the Samaritan woman, there are certain things to note.
6th Sunday, A
Well. We have a lot of stuff in the gospel today. It’s a collection of the moral teachings of Jesus that makes up part of the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of St. Matthew.
I don’t think it would be possible to say something about all of it adequately, but perhaps we can find a thread that unites all these sayings of Jesus.
Let’s begin with the refrain with which Jesus introduces these teachings: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors … but I say to you.”
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C
“Be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.” (Luke 12:36-37a)
First of all, what’s the wedding? Who’s getting married? Well, it’s the marriage of heaven and earth, of humanity and God that Jesus Christ accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection. So now, having accomplished and consummated this marriage of heaven of earth, of humanity with God, the Divine Master, Jesus, returns home.
18th Sunday, C
“Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12:21) warns Jesus in the gospel today.
So how do we get or make sure we are rich in what matters to God? Well, I think the first step is to recognize that we already are! After all, as St. Paul puts it, Jesus Christ “for your sake became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
How are we already rich in what matters to God? In many ways, of course, but I’ll note just two big ones.
(16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, C)
The short passage from the Gospel of Luke that we have today, that of Martha, stressed out with much serving, and her sister Mary, listening quietly to the Lord, has a long history of comment and interpretation...
However, for a summer Sunday, perhaps just a few little points are good enough … and the Church, as a tender mother, helps us in this, giving us a key to interpretation in the first reading, that of welcome and hospitality.
(As we know, for the Sundays in Ordinary Time, the first reading and the gospel go together, while the second reading has its own cycle.)
(32nd Sunday, B)
In the readings today we meet two widows, both poor and yet both very blessed. The widow of Zarephath trusts in the prophet Elijah and comes to be supported miraculously. The widow in the gospel, who donates a few cents to the Temple, is praised by the Lord himself, who says that “she put in more than all the other contributors.”
