Year B

Jan 30 2025

An Enthusiasm for the Divine

To be enthusiastic literally means to be “in God” (from the Greek: en + theos). A true enthusiast can make you either want to run away or come closer. Listen to the enthusiasm in today’s readings.

Moses is bursting with enthusiasm for what the Lord God has done for this once enslaved community. Hear the feeling in his words: “Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of God . . . did any god venture to go and make a nation for himself?” And he wants to pull them into his enthusiasm: “That is why you must now know and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God . . . You must keep his statutes . . . ”

And we hear it in Paul’s words about the Spirit: “Those led by the Spirit are [children] of God . . . [and] you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ ” We are children of God and heirs with Christ—if we are willing to suffer with him, so as to be glorified with him. Enter his wonder at what God’s gift of the Spirit means for us.

The risen Christ reunites in Galilee with his disciples on a mountain, just as he did early in Matthew’s Gospel when he preached the Sermon on the Mount. His work completed, ours begins. Catch the excitement in his words: “All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.” Then, he urges: “Go, make disciples . . . baptizing them . . . teaching them . . . and [know] I am with you always.”

Consider/Discuss

When have you felt an enthusiasm that lifted you out of yourself, out of feeling blah or “down”?
Can this mystery of God as Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit enter more deeply into your life and affect your attitude as you begin the day, be with you as you go through it, and be part of your thoughts before sleep?

Responding to the Word

God who is Father and Son and Spirit, draw me closer into the mystery of your abiding presence in the world and in my life. Help me know the love that has been with me from the first moment of my life, and will remain until I reach my final destiny in you.

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

Moses admonishes the people to commit themselves to the Lord. He does this by pointing out to them the singular majesty of the God who has taken such a personal interest in their welfare. He reminds them that God chose them out of all the nations and delivered them through numerous signs and wonders, a reference to the Exodus and Sinai events. The monotheism that Moses advocated comes from human experience; since there never had been a god who was able to perform the wonders performed by the God of Israel, there could be no other god.

Paul very clearly states that those who are children of God are so not because they obey the law but because they are led (compelled or constrained) by the Spirit. Furthermore, we can say that it is with and through Christ that we become children of God. If Jesus can call God Abba, then we who are joined to him can as well. Finally, as children of God, we are heirs to the inheritance to which Jesus is heir, namely, the glory of God in the coming reign of God. Once again it is our union with Jesus that entitles us to privileges.

The great missionary commission received by Jesus’ disciples before his ascension is straightforward and all-encompassing. They are told to make other disciples of all nations. All social or cultural boundaries are dissolved; ethnic and gender restrictions are lifted. The way to accomplish this commission is twofold: by baptizing and by teaching. It is in the name of the Trinitarian God (one name, not three) that the disciples are to baptize. Those to be baptized are plunged into the mystery of that name, and recreated as new beings. Jesus inaugurated the reign of God, at the heart of which is a radically different way of life. This is to be the essence of the teaching of the disciples. Jesus assures them that he will be with them until the end of the age.

Jan 30 2025

Holy Spirit, Speech Teacher

The King’s Speech was a movie particularly effective in communicating the torture of not being able to speak one’s mind. We first meet Bertie, the man who would become King George VI, as he is about to speak to his people over the radio. Frustration, shame, embarrassment, anger, even terror—all pass over his face as he tries to speak the simplest words, which cannot get past his debilitating stammer. The movie is about a teacher, Lionel Logue, who comes into his life, becomes his friend, and helps him find his voice.

We have all been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to speak the language of faith, hope, and love. As Paul reminds the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12:3b), “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” The gift of God’s Spirit brings us to articulate our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. And the Spirit keeps the conversation going even when we become tongue-tied, as Paul expresses so beautifully in Romans where he writes that even when we do not know how we ought to pray, “through our inarticulate groans the Spirit is pleading for us” (8:26).

When Jesus breathed on the apostles and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he was sending to them the great gift of divine life and making them children of the new creation, empowering them to be carriers of this new life through the gospel of salvation they would preach to the ends of the earth.

Consider/Discuss

When have you felt the Spirit working through the words of others in everyday life?
God continues to speak to us at every Eucharist through the readings and the preaching. What helps you to be attentive to what God may be trying to say?

Responding to the Word

Come, Holy Spirit, come. Give us your wisdom and understanding. Loosen our tongues to bless and praise the Father and the Son for the great gift we received at our baptism, when we came to birth in your life-giving grace. Increase our faith so we might proclaim with all our hearts, “Jesus is Lord!”

Jan 30 2025

Scripture Study for

The external manifestations that accompanied the outpouring of the Spirit at the time of Pentecost were all phenomena associated with a theophany or experience of God. As those in the room were filled with the Spirit, they began to speak in other languages, a feat that could only have supernatural origin. Because the Galileans spoke in tongues and those in the crowd heard them in their own speech, some commentators maintain that there was a miracle in hearing as well as in speaking. The exact nature of this marvel is less significant than is its meaning. It was clearly a manifestation of the universal presence and power of the Spirit. “Lord” (Kyrios) was the official title of the Roman emperor. Thus, to proclaim Jesus as Lord was to set up a rivalry between Jesus and the ruling political authority. “Lord” is also the substitute, in the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testament, for God’s personal name. Paul compares the diversity within the community to the complexity of the human body. Each part has its own unique function, but all parts work for the good of the whole. This metaphor portrays unity in diversity that is far from uniformity. It also underscores the lack of competition among members. Finally, it points up the interdependence that exists within the community. This Gospel account treats the Resurrection and the bestowal of the Spirit as occurring on the same day. Jesus’ wish of peace is a prayer for the eschatological blessings of health, prosperity, and all good things. The image of breathing life into another is reminiscent of the creation of Adam (see Genesis 2:7) and the restoration of Israel after the Exile (see Ezekiel 37:9). By breathing in this way, the risen Lord portrays himself as one who can create or re-create. The disciples are commissioned to go forth, to declare salvation and judgment. With the bestowal of the Spirit, they are authorized to continue the mission of Jesus.

Jan 30 2025

Replacing Judas

My friend the storyteller Bob Wilhelm shared an “artful” variation on the story of the choice of Matthias. Both Matthias and Barsabbas were artists, so St. Peter decided on a contest. He divided the upper room where the community gathered for worship with a curtain, giving half to each man to decorate as he saw fit. The community would declare the winner and Judas’ successor.

Barsabbas, a painter, sent for his brushes and a rich assortment of paints. All week long he painted lovely scenes of Jesus preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons. His brush captured the parables, illuminating them. Matthias, a stonecutter and polisher, also toiled all week behind his curtain. People could hear only his humming and soft singing.

The day came and the people entered Barsabbas’ half of the church. They broke into applause at his artistry. The uses of color were magnificent. They found themselves depicted in his paintings. They were delighted. Peter became worried. How could Matthias’ work possibly compete with this? But he went over to the curtain and turned it back.

Silence filled the room as people turned to see what Matthias had done. His work had been to polish the stone walls of the chapel’s other half, allowing people to see themselves as never before. The walls shone like mirrors and every person was given a sense of the beauty of Christ shining within them, a glimpse of the divine spark each one carried within. And so Matthias was chosen to replace Judas. He had revealed Christ by revealing Christ’s followers to themselves.

Consider/Discuss

Have you ever left a decision in God’s hands?
Do you believe that God has placed a divine spark within you?

Responding to the Word

Loving God, you have made us in your image and placed your truth within our hearts that we might know, love, and serve you. Consecrate us further with the truth of the gospel and direct our feet in the way you wish us to walk. Let us live in your joy.