Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Jan 14 2025

Our Holiness

To be a disciple of Jesus Christ means to learn from him. He is the teacher, we the students; he is the master, we his servants. But what is it we are to learn? One important title for Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to serve by taking away our sin. He serves by leading us to participate in the holiness of God. We are to do the same for others.

Jesus came to understand his own calling by reading and praying the book of the prophet Isaiah, especially the four poems found there called the Servant Songs. Today we hear part of the second song in which the servant professes how he was formed as servant from the womb, not only to bring back Israel to God, but to be a light to the nations, so God’s “salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Those who serve Jesus as disciples are to join in this work of bringing God’s salvation to the world. Paul recognizes this in his greeting to the Corinthians, noting his call to be an apostle of Christ, one sent by God to the church at Corinth, which has been made holy in Christ and called to be holy. Paul is sent not only to them, but to “all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

God’s will is our holiness. By responding to the call to know Jesus as the Lamb of God, we accept the invitation to participate in this holiness and become the vehicle for inviting others to dwell there.

Consider/Discuss

Do you believe that you are called to holiness? What does this mean? How do you respond to this call?
Does your call to be a disciple lead you to pray for the world to grow in holiness?

Responding to the Word

When at Mass, we call on Jesus several times as the Lamb of God—at the beginning in the Gloria and twice in preparation for Communion. Pray for our world this day to recognize Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Jan 13 2025

Born to Serve

A favorite plot is the rags-to-riches story, the adversity-to-triumph story, the weakling-who-becomes-strong story. It touches on our hope for personal transformation, for a change for the better. We find it in fairy tales like Cinderella, in novels like David Copperfield, and in movies like Star Wars.

This is not, however, the plot we get in the Jesus story. Jesus, who starts out in Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, then grows up not to become the Messiah that Israel had hoped for—the strong warrior king who would restore the nation of Israel to the glory it had under King David. Instead, he grows up to become one who suffers for our sakes, who empties himself, who con

siders himself a servant—and calls on all who follow him to do the same. On this final Sunday of the Christmas season, the Church celebrates the baptism of Jesus, an event that identifies him as the servant described by Isaiah, who comes in gentleness, breaking no bruised reed, quenching no smoldering wick. No shouting, no crying out, no making his voice heard in the streets. Rather, he will open eyes and hearts, release from confinement, and deliver from the dungeon’s darkness.

The agenda was fairly simple, as Peter points out when preaching in the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius: Jesus went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil. He came not to be served but to serve. And this is what he asks of us.

Consider/Discuss

Why do we end the Christmas season with the celebration of Jesus’ baptism?
Do you think of your baptism as committing you to a life of service?

Responding to the Word

At our baptism, we became God’s adopted sons and daughters. We pray to God as beloved sons and daughters, asking that God will be “well pleased” with us, and that God will direct us in the way of serving the needs of others so that we may “do good” and bring healing to a wounded world.

Jan 13 2025

Arise and Shine Like a Star

They were men in love with the lights of night—astrologers, star-gazers, meaning-makers tuned in to the signs in the heavens, as Matthew tells it. A strange star moving across the sky led them into Israel. Arriving in Jerusalem, they asked where the newborn king of the Jews was, so they could offer homage.

Herod was less than delighted, indeed “greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him,” at hearing of a new king on the block (Matthew 2:3). But he assembled the chief priests and the scribes, who remembered that the prophet Micah had proclaimed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

So they set out again, with Herod’s duplicitous request whispered into their ears. The star reappeared and led them to the house where the child and his mother were. Falling down in worship, they offered gifts, and went back home. End of story—as we like to remember it.

Of course, that is not the end. Receiving no word, Herod is enraged and orders the death of all children under the age of two. Joseph, Mary, and the child flee to Egypt. Power does not welcome competition, even in the form of a child.

But God wills all people to know salvation. Jesus came to draw all into the reign of God and to empower them to live the God-life that is the Father’s gift. The darkness of evil continues to threaten but it will not overcome as long as there are those who seek the light, follow it, and allow it to lead them to the child.

Consider/Discuss

When has the light that is Christ come into your darkness?
How are you being called to arise and shine like a star, leading others to Christ?

Responding to the Word

We pray that the light of God’s love, shown to us in Jesus Christ and placed within us with the gift of faith, may lead others to this same faith. We also pray that we may continue our own journey into the mystery of God and find Christ waiting for us at journey’s end.

Jan 13 2025

A New Year’s Blessing

We return once again to Bethlehem, accompanying the shepherds, to see the One announced by the angel as the Savior of the world. With them, we stand before the mother and contemplate the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. We are told that “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

Mary invites us to ponder in our hearts the mystery of her Son Jesus, truly God and truly human. He came for us and for our salvation, and so we ask him to banish any darkness from our hearts and to send us out to bring his light into the world.

The light that Christ brings is the blessing of God’s peace, all that makes life full, and transforms the world into a place that cherishes and preserves, rather than neglecting and destroying life. Christ’s gift of blessing is to let us know the Father and the Father’s plan: that all be one, united as family, able to recognize in each other the dignity of God’s adopted children, alive with the life of grace, destined to share in divinity.

Christ’s blessing calls us to grow into maturity, keeping God’s law of love, just as Jesus himself grew up, living a life that brought the law to its fulfillment. We don’t do this on our own, as the name given to the child reminds us: Jesus, which means “God saves.”

Consider/Discuss

What blessing do you ask from God for the coming year, for yourself, for your loved ones, for your country, for the world?
Jesus came to save, to bring God’s salvation. What do you need to be saved from?

Responding to the Word

We pray that God will bless us with peace, with fullness of life, by drawing us ever more deeply into the life of the Trinity. We ask that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and transform us more completely into people the world can recognize as adopted children of God.

Jan 13 2025

Becoming a Holy Family

Today’s Gospel story reveals that God’s Son was born into a dangerous world. From the beginning, those in power saw the child as a threat. Herod was a ruthless king. Because Joseph listened to his dream, the child was saved from Herod’s murderous rage. The parents of Jesus played a crucial role in God’s plan from the beginning.

The Christmas season is traditionally a time for families getting together and enjoy each other’s company. But this doesn’t always happen because divisions occur even within families. Today’s feast invites us to reflect on what holds a family together and what loosens and even destroys the family bond. How does the mystery of the Incarnation, of Christ being born in us in our own day, enter into the dynamics of family life? The first two readings provide a focus on the family.

While Sirach focuses on the honor and respect that children owe their parents, Colossians also urges fathers—and mothers—not to discourage their children. And the relationship between husbands and wives is to be marked by mutual love and respect. The call for wives to be “subordinate” is an unfortunate choice of words, given today’s reality of spousal abuse.

At the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation is that all our relationships should bring the presence of Christ to the world. We do this when we put on the virtues of compassion, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and, above all, love. When these are found in family life, then Christ once again is born in our family.

Consider/Discuss

Do you think that the Holy Family was a perfect family?
What makes for a holy family in our day?

Responding to the Word

We can pray for all families in our world, families of blood and families of choice. We pray for the family of nations, especially where division has resulted in hatred and violence. We pray for the virtues that will draw us closer together in the Church so the world may see us clearly as part of God’s family.