Year A

Jan 15 2025

Scripture Study for

Isaiah provides us with a glimpse of what ecologists today would refer to as the integrity of creation. Focusing on precipitation in the forms of rain and snow, he traces the cycle that it takes. His understanding comes from observation of nature, the primary source of wisdom. This metaphor assures us that we can be as confident of the power of the word of God as we can be of the working of the natural world. Just as nature produces miracles upon which we can rely and because of which we can survive, so the word of God can effect miracles upon which we can rely and because of which we can live.

Paul’s teaching on the end of time takes a very interesting turn. He maintains that the new life of which he speaks is not limited to the human sphere. Rather, the entire created world participates in this transformation. The entire created world is somehow swept up with humankind into this eschatological drama, awaiting the revelation that will be granted the children of God, not as spectators, but as participants. Paul assures the Christians that they already possess the first fruits of the Spirit, a pledge that guarantees they will be brought into full transformation. By implication, all of creation will be brought along with them.

The Gospel parable focuses neither on the sower nor on the seed, but on the receptivity of the soil. The parable is not a difficult story to understand. But what does it really mean? Jesus provides his disciples an allegorical interpretation of the parable. In each case described, the sown word is actually heard; to some extent it is accepted. Jesus is not referring to outright rejection from outsiders, but to the way followers receive the word of God. When one understands the meaning of the parable, one is apt to wonder: What kind of soil am I? How receptive am I to the word of God?

Jan 15 2025

Home Schooling

When you think of a king coming before his people, the image of someone riding on a donkey does not come to mind. If the Lone Ranger had Silver and Roy Rogers had Trigger, a similar white stallion would seem most fitting for a king. Not an ass, even a purebred one. But this image from the prophet Zechariah is one that must have planted itself in the imagination of Jesus, for that is how he made his great entrance into Jerusalem and was greeted as the Messiah. It was not the entrance of a powerful warrior, but of a gentle king whose rule would bring peace to the nations.

I have sometimes regretted the loss of St. Christopher from the calendar of saints. That legendary saint, whose name means “Christ-bearer,” signaled that the risen Lord had now chosen to be carried by his disciples. We bear him in our bodies, minds, and hearts. We bring him to the world when we work to bring peace and healing and knowledge of the Father.

This necessitates being willing to take on the yoke of Jesus. I remember once hearing that the yokes Jesus made in the carpenter shop under Joseph’s guidance rode easily on the shoulders of the animals, distributing evenly the weight they pulled. The yoke Jesus offers us is his teaching about the kingdom of heaven and how to live in it while in the world. This means putting on his attitude and spirit of attentive listening for the will of the Father—home schooling in the best sense.

Consider/Discuss

How do you believe Jesus will return at the end of time?
Have you accepted the yoke of the Lord? How does it guide you?

Responding to the Word

Lord, give us the rest only you can give when we feel burdened by life’s labors and sorrows. Open our hearts so that we learn from you to seek and accept the yoke that is easy. Give us the strength to help others with the burdens that weigh them down.

Jan 15 2025

Scripture Study for

The passage from Zechariah is an oracle of salvation, containing an idealized picture of an Israelite king and the peaceful kingdom over which he will rule. Though this is a vision of the future, the verbs are prophetic perfect, indicating that in God’s time the future is already present. The king is seated on the foal of an ass, a purebred animal born of a female ass rather than of a mule. While this may be a depiction of a victory march, it is devoid of military ostentation. Instead, the king proclaims peace to all nations. This king is the agent of God’s blessings to all people.

Paul contrasts two ways of living: life in the flesh and life in the spirit. For Paul, flesh is human nature in all of the limitations that sometimes incline one away from God; by spirit he means a life that is attuned to God. Paul argues that life in the flesh cannot please God, while life in the spirit is a form of union with God. Sin may still exact physical death, but it cannot quench the spirit that lives because of righteousness. Just as Christ conquered death and lives anew, so those joined to Christ will share in his victory and through the Spirit will enjoy new life.

Jesus describes the intimate relationship that he shares with God in terms that can only be considered a high Christology, an emphasizing of his divine rather than his human nature. He claims that only the Father can really know him, because only God has this kind of experiential knowledge of him. Correspondingly, only he can really know God, for only he has experiential knowledge of the Father. If anyone else knows the Father it is only because Jesus has revealed God to that person. In this sense, Jesus is the mediator of knowledge of God. If his hearers learn from him, they too will be blessed with the revelation of the Father.

Jan 15 2025

Eternal Life-giving Food

God feeding a hungry people is a cherished memory in the Jewish tradition. In his farewell speech to the Israelites, Moses calls upon the people to remember how God gave them food and drink during their many years in the desert. The manna was “something unknown to your fathers,” and the water flowed forth from a “flinty rock.” The water and manna were wondrous signs of God’s presence and care as the Israelites journeyed to a new land.

Jesus proclaimed himself as the living bread come down from heaven, bringing eternal life to all who eat it. We approach the table of the Eucharist to receive the bread and drink the wine, the Body and Blood of Christ made present through the power of the Holy Spirit. Again, something wondrous is happening.

We remember that Jesus did this on the night before he died, and told his disciples to “do this in memory of me.” When we do this, the saving event of Christ’s death and resurrection is made present in the broken bread and wine poured out for us. We enter into communion with the risen Lord and one another.

Through our sharing in the memorial meal, Christ re-members us as his body and sends us out to witness to God’s fidelity in the past and God’s promise for the future: a world renewed, restored, reborn in the Spirit. God continues to feed us on the road from slavery to freedom, from death to life.

Consider/Discuss

Are you able to see beyond the morsel of bread and sip from the cup to recognize God feeding you and drawing you into communion with the Son and all who are fed?
Do you connect the Eucharist with the mission of the Church in the world, when you hear: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”?

Responding to the Word

Today’s feast has a special hymn called a “Sequence” before the Gospel. Some of the images and ideas are: Jesus good shepherd and true bread, have mercy on us; feed us and guard us. Grant that we find happiness in the land of the living. Make us your guests in heaven, co-heirs with you and companions of heaven’s citizens.

Jan 15 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Deuteronomy shows that God’s graciousness is not to be squandered. The people are told to remember the past in order to act in a certain way in the present. Though the time of their sojourn in the wilderness is over, there are still lessons that they must learn from it. Moses directs the people to remember how God delivered them from bondage, guided them through the wilderness, miraculously gave them water, and provided them with mysterious food. The trials in the wilderness did not so much test their obedience to the commandments as their total dependence on God.

Paul’s discourse on the Eucharist not only identifies the symbolic potential of the substances of bread and wine, but it also describes actions that are rich in symbolism. It is by sharing the cup that is blessed that one participates in the blood of Christ. Eating food with another establishes a bond of companionship, a bond that includes mutual obligations. Paul further insists that breaking bread together may form us into a community, but sharing eucharistic bread forms us into the body of Christ. The acts of blessing the cup and breaking the bread have profound significance for salvation and the life of the church.

Jesus identifies his flesh as the bread of heaven, thus giving manna a new meaning. His flesh and blood are the source of life for those who partake of them. In other words, eternal life comes from feeding on Jesus, not simply from believing in him. He insists that it is not something that believers merely hope to enjoy in the future. Rather, those who share in this meal already possess eternal life. Furthermore, just as we and whatever we eat and drink become one, so Jesus and those who feed on him form an intimate union. In a mutually intimate way, they abide in him and he abides in them. Jesus does not merely visit them, but he dwells with them permanently.