We call this period of the liturgical year “Ordinary Time,” but this time after Christmas is not ordinary at all, for it is now that we learn about the first days of Jesus’ public life. In today’s Gospel, John testifies that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus when John baptized him, meaning that the Holy Spirit joined in Christ’s entire mission. The Holy Spirit descended upon us in our own baptism as well. May we be conscious of that divine presence as we join in Christ’s mission during our own ordinary time.
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
Before we receive the Lord in the Eucharist, we hear the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” We will hear these words in today’s Gospel, for they were first proclaimed by John the Baptist. John, Isaiah, and Paul all testify to how the Lord has called them and changed their lives. May we be inspired by them and take to heart what we sing in the responsorial psalm: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.”
Reflections
Both Isaiah and John the Baptist were blessed with the eyes of faith, the wisdom to understand what they were seeing, and the will to proclaim it. Despite years in exile in Babylon, Isaiah saw the day when God’s salvation would come to the whole world. John saw something like a dove descend upon Jesus and realized that this was the Holy Spirit. Baptized with the same Holy Spirit, we too are able to see with the eyes of faith: to recognize the Lord in the word of God just proclaimed, in the Eucharist we are about to share, and in each other and in our world. Do we recognize the Lord as Isaiah and John did?
“If you see something, say something” tells us to report something out of place or suspicious. John the Baptist followed this directive in a different way, however, when he saw Jesus coming toward him. He said something all right, but he said it to publicly testify that this was the Son of God, who came to take away our sins. With our eyes of faith we have seen the Lord as well—in the Eucharist, in this community gathered together in his name, and in the stranger in need. We are also called to testify to the presence of Christ where we see him.
Seven times in the first chapter of his Gospel John uses a form of the word testify to describe what John the Baptist has come to do. The word suggests a witness in a courtroom. Much later, when Jesus is called before Pilate to testify, he tells Pilate that he has come into the world “to testify to the truth” (John 18:37). John’s Gospel itself is his testimony of the Lamb of God, willingly led to slaughter to take away the sin of the world. To be a Christian is to be called to testify to the truth we know in the Lord.
Question of the Week
• How can I be a better witness to the truth, to what I see with eyes of faith?
-from Pastoral Patterns
readings of the mass
LISTEN HEREto the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, January 15, 2023
SELECT HEREfor the Readings of Sunday, January 15, 2023
Offerings
The Sunday offerings are a portion of our blessings that we give to God (Church) in gratitude to what God has done for us...ONLINE GIVING OPTIONS
