Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Isaiah speaks about the reversal of the fortunes of Israel; the former times of hardship are contrasted with the present experience of salvation. The nation had been overrun by foreigners, but now that the land has been returned to Israel, the hardships that accompanied defeat and occupation have been lifted and the darkness is dispelled. The darkness included social disintegration, political col

lapse, and religious devastation. The reversal of fortunes is characterized by light. Salvation came when God dispelled the darkness and burst upon the land with the brightness of shining light. Truly the fortunes have been reversed, and the saving grace of God has taken over the world.

The Corinthian church was rife with bickering and pettiness. The natural differences that existed in the group had degenerated into rivalry. If left unchecked this rivalry could develop into serious divisions, even schism. In his appeal for unity, Paul addresses the Corinthians as brothers (and sisters), indicating that he considers them as companion members of the Christian community. Groups within the community claimed allegiance to various individuals. Paul insists that since Christ cannot be divided, neither the teachings nor the personal characteristics of religious leaders can be allowed to rival their allegiance to Christ.

John’s imprisonment signaled both the end of his ministry and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It was not Jesus’ intent to pick up where John left off. Although he preached the same repentance as did the Baptist, he did it in fulfillment of the prophecies rather than in anticipation of a future event as John did. His first move was to call some followers. Two sets of brothers—Simon and Andrew, James and John—were called away from their occupation. It should be noted that these men were called; they did not initiate their own discipleship, as followers of rabbis normally did. The reign of God had come. The newly called disciples were witnesses of its appearance.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

The first reading is taken from the second “servant song” of Isaiah. The servant has been called to bring the people back to God. However, this mission has been expanded to include all people. This servant is to be a light to all the nations. It is noteworthy that a people struggling with its own survival because of its defeat by a more powerful nation should envision its God as concerned with the salvation of all, presumably even the nation at whose hands it suffered. Yet this is precisely what “light to the nations” suggests.

Paul begins his letter to the Corinthians by identifying himself as an apostle, one sent by another with a commission. He was called to be an apostle; he did not volunteer. Therefore, as an apostle, it is the authority of Christ that he exercises. He maintains that all of this transpired because it was God’s will. In a very real sense, this official greeting is really a proclamation of faith on Paul’s part. Just as he had been called to be an apostle, so the members of the Corinthian church had been called to be holy.

The scene portrayed in today’s Gospel reading is familiar to many of us. It includes the report of the baptism of Jesus and the Baptist’s identification of Jesus as Lamb of God. John did not know Jesus. He only recognized him through divine revelation. John then contrasts the person of Jesus and himself, as well as the efficacy of their respective baptisms. Jesus may have come after John, but he ranks far above him. And their baptisms are very different. John baptized with water. Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit John saw descend on Jesus at the time of his baptism. This led John to testify to his belief in Jesus as the Son of God. These comparisons and this testimony point to Jesus as Son of God.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Isaiah is the first of four passages traditionally known as the “servant songs.” Most significant in this description of the servant is his endowment with God’s own spirit. Earlier Israelite leaders—the judges, kings, and prophets—were thought to have been seized by the spirit, thus empowering them to act within the community in some unique fashion. The servant will exercise justice, but not the harsh, exacting kind. Instead, it will be gentle and understanding, willing to wait for the establishment of God’s universal rule. This justice will not compound the distress of an already suffering people. Rather, it will be a source of consolation.

Acts of the Apostles describes a scene that took place in the house of Cornelius, a newly converted Roman centurion. Normally, an observant Jew like Peter would not enter the home of a Gentile. The first words of his discourse (“I see that God shows no partiality”) indicate that he was not always open to association with Gentiles as he is now (Acts 10:34). It was a newly gained insight about God that changed his view of those who did not have Jewish ancestry. Peter came to see that God shows no partiality, and Christ is Lord of all. The message of peace given initially to Israel now includes the Gentiles as well.

The Gospel reading opens with a statement about Jesus’ leaving the familiarity and security of his home in Galilee and journeying to the Jordan River where John was baptizing. There is no description of the actual baptism, but we do have an account of what happened afterwards: the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended. The Trinitarian scene is completed with the voice from heaven identifying Jesus as “Son.” The words spoken combine an allusion to the “servant of the Lord” (see Isaiah 42:1) and the enthronement of the messianic king. He will accomplish this as “servant of the Lord.”

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Isaiah opens with a twofold summons addressed to the city of Jerusalem: Arise! Shine! Although it had been downtrodden and enshrouded in darkness, it is now called out of this desperate state. The illumination into which it emerges is not merely the light of a new day, a new era of peace and prosperity. It is the very light of God. Its dispersed inhabitants return; its destroyed reputation is restored; and its despoiled prosperity is reconstituted. This is not a promise to be fulfilled in the future; Jerusalem’s salvation is an accomplished fact. It is happening before its very eyes.

The primary message to the Ephesians, that in Christ the Gentiles are co-heirs, co-members, and co-partners with the Jews, had been revealed to Paul by God. Since what qualifies one as an heir is life in the Spirit of Christ and not natural generation into a particular national group, there is no obstacle in the path of Gentile incorporation. The body to which all belong is the body of Christ, not the bloodline of Abraham. The promise at the heart of gospel preaching is the promise of universal salvation through Christ.

As we near the end of the Christmas season we read another popular Christmas story: the Three Kings or Three Wise Men. Actually, they were astrologers, men who studied the heavenly bodies and sought to discover the meaning of human life on earth. These anonymous men come out of obscurity and they return to obscurity. All we know about them is that they were not Israelite, and this is the whole point of the story. It illustrates that people of good will, regardless of their ethnic or religious background, are responsive to the revelation of God. The openness of these astrologers brought them to the child, and they did not go away disappointed. This child draws Jew and Gentile alike.

Jan 13 2025

Scripture Study for

The blessing found in today’s Numbers reading may be one of the oldest pieces of poetry in the Bible. Although it is the priests who ultimately bless the people, it is Moses who receives the blessing from God and who delivers it to Aaron and his sons. The blessing itself is quite crisp and direct. Each line invokes a personal action from God: to bless with good fortune and to keep from harm; to look favorably toward and to be gracious to; to look upon and to grant peace. Actually, all the petitions ask for the same reality, namely, the blessings that make life worth living. Peace is the fundamental characteristic of Jewish blessing, the condition of absolute well-being.

According to Paul, the goal of Christ’s mission was the transformation of the Galatians from slaves under the law to adopted children of God. He uses a social custom of the day to illustrate the contrast between servitude under the law and freedom in Christ. An heir too young to claim inheritance was appointed a legal guardian until he came of age. Paul compares the believers to underage minors who, until “the fullness of time had come,” could not claim what might be right fully theirs (Galatians 4:4). The law acted as legal guardian. All of this changes with the coming of Christ. Christians are no longer minors bound to the tutelage of the law.

The Gospel is essentially the same as that of the Christmas Mass at Dawn. However, this passage also speaks of the circumcision and the naming of Jesus. This slight addition shifts the focus of the passage from the shepherds to the child and his parents. As observant Jews, Mary and Joseph fulfilled all of the prescriptions of the law, seeing that the child was circumcised as custom dictated. Just as the angel had foretold, the child is named Jesus, which means savior. Now almost everything that the angel had announced has come to pass.