Year B

Jan 27 2025

Our Yes! to God.

I am remembering a Sunday morning at Mass, as we stood to sing before the reading of the Gospel. In the pew behind me, a little blond boy sang “Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” in his four-year-old voice at the top of his lungs. Exuberantly! Loudly! Innocently, with joy in his heart.

Do you think that the angels and saints in heaven sing like that little guy? Exuberantly, loudly, innocently, with joy in their hearts? Can you hear them? “Alleluia!” to the Holy of Holies. “Alleluia!” to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “Alleluia!” to the One-in-Three.

What about us adults? On Trinity Sunday, we use metaphors of clovers and candles to wrap our minds around the concept of One in-Three. We strain to understand God. We un-grand the grandeur of the “Great I Am” so that we “get it.” But we don’t “get it.” It is as though we try to capture the radiance of the sun and cup it in our hands.

Concepts are important. At the same time, the Intimate One glows and whispers within us, “I am more than ideas. Go deeper. Dwell in me.” The Big God of the Universe bursts into our grown-up rationalizations and shouts, “I am more. Go bigger. Dwell in me.” The grandeur of the living God permeates all that is.

Those loud and innocent “Alleluias!” can be ours as well. We are not to live a listless Christian life that limps along only on ideas. We can recapture the exuberance of faith, that innocence of being four years old and loving God! The Father-Son-and-Holy-Spirit is real. The power of the Trinity is real. The God of the Universe is with us, always faithful, never departing: “I am with you always.” That is Good News! Sing Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Consider/Discuss

The Holy Trinity, one God, is Mystery beyond Mystery. In biblical parlance, God is the Father under whose wings we take refuge; God is the Son who has redeemed us from the muck; God is the Spirit who surrounds us and warms us and upholds us and empowers us. How have each of the members of the Holy Trinity made an impact on your life?
If we say yes to the power of the Trinity, what kind of power does God want to give us? Are we looking for the “lord-it-over-others” power that squashes others and pushes its way around? Does power mean this world’s muscling that hurts those who are small? With others of good faith, we shout no to that. How can we more fully give God a roaring Yes! to the Trinitarian power that raises up the lowly, sets captives free, and loosens the bonds of the oppressed?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, you said that “all power on heaven and earth” has been given to you. I am small. I need your power. Help me to give a mighty Yes! to the strength of the Holy Spirit. Well up within me to love when I do not feel like loving. Strengthen me to give when I do not feel like giving. Empower me to make a difference in this world, a difference that matters to you. Holy Trinity, One God, flood me with the very fullness of you.

Jan 27 2025

Scripture Study for

Deuteronomy is one long speech by Moses to Israel as they prepare to enter the Promised Land, the point of which is: Be faithful to God, who has been faithful to you. The great temptation Israel will face is to worship other gods, which Moses addresses by reminding Israel that the God whom they encountered in “the midst of the fire” at Sinai has treated them exceptionally well in rescuing them from Egypt. Two things flow from this. First, God’s mighty acts have demonstrated that there is no other god than the all-powerful God of Israel. Second, that God is consistently faithful and can be counted on. Israel must reciprocate by being faithful to the God who has done so much for them.

In his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul has been outlining the fundamental difference between their lives before and after baptism. Before, they were subject to the law of sin and death, and they lived entirely “in the flesh,” that is, in mindset and behavior at odds with God. But in baptism they received the Holy Spirit, who delivered them from the realm of sin, death, and the flesh, and made them children of God through “adoption.” Thus it is the Spirit that allows them to address God as “Father,” and this same Spirit unites them to Christ as “co-heirs.” This means, however, that they must be willing to share the sufferings of Christ so that they may also enjoy his glory.

When Jesus appears to the Eleven in Galilee, they immediately worship him, but the text notes that they “doubted,” which suggests an incomplete comprehension of the reality and meaning of the Resurrection. Having been given “all power,” or authority, Christ is now the ruler in the reign of God, the scope of which he begins to extend by sending his apostles to make more “disciples of all the nations.” Although there is no developed trinitarian theology in Matthew, the “formula” for baptism reflects an identity among the Father, Son, and Spirit—as seen in the fact that Jesus tells the disciples to baptize in “the name” of all three, rather than in three names.

Jan 27 2025

Called to Holiness

As I came to the end of today’s Gospel, I got stuck on the word “consecrated.” Jesus says it three times—asking God to consecrate “them,” consecrating himself for “them” and that “they” be consecrated in truth. What in the world does “consecrated” mean? I went to look up it up.

From the Greek sense of the word, consecrated means to sanctify, make holy, purify, or set apart. Its opposite is “common.” Jesus asks his Father to make his apostles holy, set apart, to make them saints. He gives himself up for them. The Holy Spirit will come to sanctify, purify, and set them apart as special for God.

As I type this sentence about being “set apart,” I look up from my laptop. To the right of the dining room table where I write, is a cabinet of dishes that our family has “set apart.” On the top shelf in the back, are fifteen of my mom’s crystal goblets that we bring out only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are not “common.” We handle them carefully.

So does holiness mean to be “set apart,” placed on the shelf in the heavenly “cupboard of the saints” like those goblets? Is holiness limited to those whom we designate “consecrated” and those who live in monasteries? Does Jesus’ “them” include us common folks as well? Is he praying for our holiness, too?

In the same cupboard, we also have some heavy earthenware dishes decorated with oak leaves. They are not delicate. They are special to us, too.

God’s children are as inexhaustibly varied as fine china and earthenware dishes. You and I—we are each unique and distinct. Each of us is created to become holy, divinized, and godlike, in our own particular way. We each have a sacred purpose in this world.

Consider/Discuss

Unlike the self-help books that tell us that we are special and “you can do this,” we cannot divinize ourselves. The self-help movement suggests to us that we can get “better” under our own steam. How is that working for you? To be made holy, to be divinized, and to become god-like—that is a high calling, a great adventure. We need a helper. Jesus prays for the coming of the Holy Spirit. What happens if we disregard the presence of the Holy One in our midst and try just to “do it” on our own?
Our world begs for holy and ethical people, not just in the Church, but in families, business, law, carpentry, technology, politics, caretaking, medicine, plumbing, and teaching. It doesn’t matter where you rest your head. God wants you and me to be holy. What does it mean to be continually made afresh in the image and likeness of God? What is your route to holiness?

Living and Praying with the Word

Dear God, sometimes I feel that holiness is a word meant for someone else. I stumble around breaking things. I mess up. I am not fine china in a glass-enclosed cabinet. I am just as comfortable in my boots in the dirt as on my knees in a church building. But if that’s okay with you, then I offer myself to you for sanctification. It won’t look like someone else’s holiness, but I’ll give you what I’ve got. You have given me a sense of your presence deep in my heart. Since you want me to be holy and pure and good, then, please make it so.

Jan 27 2025

Scripture Study for

Before the church can begin its work after the Ascension, it must replace Judas. Since Jesus had declared that the apostles would rule over the tribes of Israel (Luke 22:28–30), there must be twelve of them. Peter begins by noting that Judas’ betrayal was already anticipated in scripture, perhaps referring to Psalm 41:10 (see John 13:18), meaning that his act had been folded into the divine plan. Scripture also points out the next step, which is found in Peter’s citation of Psalm 109:8. The choice of Matthias is likewise guided by God. The throwing of lots was a divinely sanctioned way of discerning God’s will in ancient Israel (Leviticus 16:8; Joshua 18:6–8).

The second reading picks up the idea being developed in the reading from the Sixth Sunday. There John emphasized the divine love made manifest in the sending of the Son (4:7–10). As adopted children of God, Christians must take on the image of their heavenly Father, showing the same love for one another that God has shown for all humanity. Just as those who saw Jesus saw the Father (John 14:9), now those who see Christians should be able to see the Father, who “remains” in them. In effect, through the power of the Spirit, Christians come to enjoy much the same relationship with God the Father as Jesus does. This incredible status is the work and sign of God’s love.

The Gospel reading comes from Jesus’ extended farewell prayer for his disciples. A key feature of this prayer is the distinction between those who are “consecrated in truth” and those who “belong to the world,” or that sphere of human society that is hostile to God. The prayer acknowledges that Jesus’ disciples must continue to live among those whose values and actions are opposed to the divine will, and even overtly antagonistic to it. They cannot be taken away from the world; in fact, they are sent to it to continue Jesus’ mission. Jesus’ prayer is that they will remain safely “in the truth,” which means in effect to “remain” in Jesus. This, and only this, will protect them from the evil one, whose realm “the world” is.

Jan 27 2025

Headed Home

We are not told which two angels they were. But the assignment came from above: “Go and bring my Son home. Forever.” They talked it over. “Go and bring him home . . . ” What does that mean? They had seen him become flesh. They had rejoiced when they sang to the shepherds. They had marveled at the star. They had celebrated when the Word became flesh. It was amazing.

Now they are confused. “Bring him home.” This Jesus of Nazareth, so limited, so broken from human pain—this one is coming home? And bringing his human flesh with him—what does that look like? “Will he rot?”

“No . . . His resurrected body seems to be able to walk through walls, yet he can eat fish.”

“We have not seen this before.”

The ways of the Almighty could be confusing, but the angels had spent eons watching this story of stories unfold in surprising ways and through unexpected people. But this? The Word who had become flesh was not going to un-become flesh? This was new. But the order had come: “Go, bring him home . . . ”

They listened to Jesus give his last instructions. They shook their heads. First off, humans can’t drive out demons or drink poison or heal the sick. Most of all, these uneducated men from Galilee cannot spread this Good News and have anybody actually listen to them— humans kill prophets. Wow, Holy Spirit, you are going to have to bring some power!

And then . . . Jesus just went. And his followers stood there, stunned, looking up. And so the two angels gave the message: “He will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” Then the angel messengers quickly disappeared, curious to see how this was going to work.

Consider/Discuss

Sometimes the ascension of Jesus can remind us of those whom we have loved who have gone away. Lots of people leave us. Yet God draws us into something new and inconceivable, untracked territory—Jesus becomes nearer to us now that he is gone. How can this be?
How do hope and promise emerge through suffering? Who would we like to see when we go “home” forever?

Living and Praying with the Word

Dear God, you know that we are creatures of time and space. We live in a place. We measure our life by days and years. We cannot imagine what life is like after death, when we will no longer be limited by time and space. Yet this measureless reality is our hope and our happiness, for we will be with you in your boundless love forever. We praise you for that promise!