Solemnity

Jan 24 2025

The Presentation in the Temple

Look at me. The skin on my hands is so thin that I can see my veins and my bones. My feet shuffle so slowly that everyone rushes past me in the street. The ache in my back never stops. Isn’t it enough already, you who have been our hope for ages past? Long ago, you said that you would not take me to you until I had seen your Messiah. I felt then that it was a wonderful promise. But extreme old age is a burden heavy to bear. All that I love is gone. I have waited so long.

What’s that? This is the day? Go to the temple?

Look at her. Her cheeks are fresh, gleaming with joy, as she holds that boy. She is young. Yet a sword will pierce her heart. The babe is light in her arms. She doesn’t know how heavy it will be to hold a lifeless child. The man stands behind her, a holy family. She doesn’t know the hole left in your heart when your spouse dies. O Lord, I have seen too much. The heaviness of earth weighs me down.

What’s that, you say? This is the One? The child?

Look at him. His tiny head nestles in the crook of my arm. His eyes briefly open. His eyelids flicker as he looks into my eyes. This, this is the one who will set your people free? Joy rises within me. We your people have waited so long. This baby so small will be our hope for years to come? My ribcage swells in jubilation. My aches are gone. I feel like dancing!

Now, Master, please, set me free. Let me come to you in peace. You have fulfilled your promise! Bless you, bless you, my God!

Consider/Discuss

God works miracles through the very old. Abraham and Sarah, Simeon and Anna—they were faithful for so many years. The Lord’s promises to them were fulfilled. How have you seen the beauty of God through eyes of those who have lived long?
God works miracles through the very young. The Holy Family is a sign of promise for years to come. How have you seen the beauty of God through the lives of those who are very young?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of the heavens, you asked Abram to count the stars, to trust you for descendants. You asked Simeon to trust that the Savior of the world would come. You ask us to trust that you do fulfill your promises. You came to us within a human family. So this day, we entrust our families and all those we love to you to hold and keep safe. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, pray for us!

Jan 24 2025

Crumpled with Grief, Returned to Dust

The Passion story in Mark does not point to her. Was she among the crowd of women? As we zoom in to that group, we see a woman whose eyes never leave the cross. She pushes back her scarf to reveal a face red from weeping. Her eyes brim with love. We cannot see it from the outside, but what happens to the heart of a mother as she watches her son die?

She looks at his bleeding hands. Her heart beats faster. Within her chest, it feels as though the muscle of her heart has been pounded into mushy meat, and she remembers: she remembers his fingers caress her hair when he stood behind her as a little boy. Her chest hurts. As he flexes his feet to push his body upward so that he can breathe, she remembers. She remembers the tiny heel that kicked off his swaddling clothes. Her chest hurts so hard that, like him, she can hardly breathe.

A man runs up to offer Jesus a drink. Her son lifts his head. His eyes search for hers. Those eyes always so full of love are now wrenched with agony. Even beneath the pain, she can feel his deep tenderness for her. How can he be willing to do this? The crown of thorns slips lower onto his brow. A crown of thorns encircles her heart, a heart so engorged that the crown constricts and tightens, like a ring constricting a swollen finger: a lifetime of mutual love, given away.

He cries out. He breathes his last. A sharp stab pierces her heart. Her knees give way. She crumples to the ground. She cannot look as they take his body down from the cross. No words come from her mouth. It is finished.

Consider/Discuss

We might prefer to imagine Mary as the serene, tall woman of Michelangelo’s Pietà rather than a crumpled woman collapsed in grief on the ground. Either way, tears in prayer can be God’s gift for healing.
Antonín Dvořák wrote his choral piece Stabat Mater after the death of two of his children; listen to the full orchestral version online and allow yourself to be immersed in the deep sorrow of that father. Find a moment this week to weep with God over the death of Jesus and the struggles of this life.
In this final week of preparation for Easter, listen anew to the story of how Jesus suffered and died. Follow St. Ignatius’ way of interpreting the scriptures, reading and then putting yourself into the scene of the passion of Jesus. What do you see? What does it feel like to be there?

Living and Praying with Word

Jesus of the Cross, sometimes the sorrows of this life make our knees give way and we crumple to the ground. In the dirt, we can feel so heavy that we cannot look up. In the dirt with us, there are many mothers and fathers who have gazed upon the dying of their sons and daughters. On the cross, your body was weighed down when you took our pains upon yourself. We can feel so crumpled on Good Friday. We have not yet gotten to Easter. We cannot lift ourselves from the dirt. Have mercy on us, O Lord. We cannot do this on our own. And we pray for those who are crumpled in the dirt with us. Come and be with us this day.

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

The Servant of God in this passage from Isaiah has been equipped for the specific task of “speaking a word to the weary,” a work directed toward the well-being of God’s people, especially those who suffer. This word is not the Servant’s own, but the word of God, which the Servant seeks to hear “morning after morning.” Although in the hearing of the word the Servant knows speaking it will bring pain and rejection, he remains steadfast, not shirking his painful role, rebelling by refusing to speak. The strength required to carry out this thankless role comes from God alone, not from any inner strength or self-assurance possessed by the Servant himself.

In his Letter to the Philippians, Paul exhorts the contentious community to have in their relations with one another the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. The focus here is on the very fact of his existence in the human realm and the way he acted while on earth. This earthly presence was marked by profound, even unimaginable humility, in the very act of “emptying” himself, voluntarily depriving himself not only of his divine prerogative (not to suffer at all), but also of human dignity and security. This he did not have to do, but he did it out of willing obedience to a divine plan, which called for this sacrifice (for the good of God’s people).

The Markan account of Christ’s passion carries forward the theme of the first two readings, which is the willingness to forego human power to take on suffering. The repeated reference to Jesus as “the king of the Jews” or “the king of Israel” alludes to earthly power. Yet these expressions are uttered when he is completely powerless. It is at this moment that we hear the centurion proclaim Jesus Son of God. Mark tells us that the centurion came to this realization when he “saw how [Jesus] breathed his last,” yet what he has seen is Jesus crying out in pain and an apparent sense of being abandoned by God. Mysteriously, what the centurion sees in this dereliction, humiliation, and pain leads him to conclude that Jesus was in fact the Son of God.

Jan 24 2025

God Makes the Ordinary Extra-ordinary

A baby is clothed in a fancy white garment. The priest or deacon, using water, sprinkles (or pours or dunks) and says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Thankfully, the child doesn’t cry. We eat a good meal and slice the cake. It’s nice . . .

When I visited Israel a few years ago, I rolled up my pant legs to stand in the “spot” in the River Jordan. The water was warm. The sun was hot. Hmm, I thought, so this is where Jesus was baptized. Frankly, it didn’t look like much. Slow muddy water, sort of a creek about ten feet across, with scrubby plants and reeds on either side . . .

Then bam! The heavens are torn open! God does something new. God is here. God is near.

The action is fast in the Gospel of Mark. The man from Nazareth is baptized by John; the mighty man of God goes to the desert to wrestle with the devil; the wonder-worker heals the wounded; the divine hero drives out demons. It all starts right here: Jesus arises from that water and heaven’s floodgates burst open. The royal Messiah has arrived. The kingdom of God has come.

The Almighty, the All-Powerful, has come near to you and me as well. The human actions and words of the sacrament of baptism may not look like much, but God has done something fresh for us, too. Lively and bubbling, the Spirit of God dwells within us. Where access to the Divine had once been blocked, the barriers have been burst open. Bam! This is God’s doing, not ours. The Lord of lords, the King of kings, is near to us—always here, always new.

Consider/Discuss

Sometimes the January post-Christmas season can feel like slow muddy water—it doesn’t look like much, it doesn’t feel like much. It can be easier to focus on somber news rather than Good News. In this winter week, concentrate on the excitement of the bubbling up of the Holy Spirit within ordinary life. Where is God’s beauty? Goodness? Joy?
The kingdom of God is here. Can you feel it? Can you sense it? The kingdom of God is now! What does it mean to you that the Almighty has come to dwell with you?

Living and Praying with the Word

Everlasting One, we are thirsty. Though we have been baptized, we still crave your living water. We seem to spend our money on what is not bread and our time on what does not satisfy. Jesus, wash us once more so that we draw water joyfully from your springs of deliverance. Bathe us in your love, Spirit of God, and flood us with your strength. Holy Trinity, One God, we give ourselves to you anew this day.

Jan 24 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Isaiah comes from the post-Exilic period, a time when Israel was tempted to question God’s continued commitment to the relationship after the history of infidelity that led to the Exile. Isaiah assures that God remains committed to the relationship, if only Israel would turn to God (“Heed me . . .”) and accept the offer of forgiveness. Sandwiched between two such calls to Israel is the assurance that the restoration of Israel will be such that other nations will be drawn to Israel because of her generously forgiving and restoring God. The graciousness of God toward Israel will act as a magnet, drawing many others to “seek the Lord while he may be found.”

The thought of the reading from the First Letter of John does not proceed in a straight line. The circular, intertwining language of the passage reflects the close and reciprocal connection between love of God and others, both of which find their center in faith in Jesus as Christ. This faith is grounded in the testimony of the Spirit, the water and the blood— “the testimony of God.” The water and the blood very likely refer specifically to the blood and water that came from Jesus’ side (John 19:34), although the imagery can also include Baptism and Eucharist. The point of the passage is that God has testified that Jesus is the Christ, begotten by God, and all those who believe God’s testimony are also begotten by God, with all this entails.

The Gospel reading is remarkable for its close association of baptism with the Holy Trinity. John has already proclaimed that the One who is to come after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit, who will sanctify the baptized and shape them into the people of God being gathered around Christ. Now Jesus comes to be baptized himself. Immediately the Holy Spirit descends upon him, reflecting back on John’s comment about Jesus baptizing with the Spirit. The scene concludes with the Father’s own voice announcing who Jesus is. Thus the Son, sent by the Father, is sealed with and becomes the agent of the Holy Spirit, the power of God in the world.