Reflection for Sunday 26th January, 2025

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sunday of the Word of God)

Introducing Luke (Luke 1: 1-4; 4:14-21)

Luke will be our evangelist for Sunday Mass this year. Today’s Gospel might well be called “Introductions”. In separate extracts we have Luke’s introduction to his writing (Luke 1:1-4), followed by his introduction to the public ministry of Jesus (Luke 4:14-21).

Like the opening bars of a great symphony, the first words that each evangelist puts on the lips of Jesus announce the major theme of that particular Gospel. 

“Come and see.”

Matthew and Mark quote Jesus announcing that the time has come for the establishment of the kingdom of God. In John, the first words of Jesus are an invitation, “Come and see.”

In Luke’s Gospel the first words of Jesus are about the Holy Spirit. He reads from the scroll of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.”
Luke is the evangelist of the Holy Spirit. Even in the infancy narrative, the Spirit was active in Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon. John the Baptist promised that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire. Luke’s second writing, the Acts of the Apostles, might well be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit in the early Church.

The text is fulfilled today

After reading Isaiah, Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the assistant. “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” The word of God is not intended to be a document from the past but it is a living word to guide us every day. The word of God is a seed, but a seed does not achieve its purpose unless it is taken from the paper packet and planted in the earth. Several times, Luke highlights the presence of God today. “Today is born to you a Saviour” … “We have seen strange things today” … “Salvation has come to this house today.” And to the repentant thief on Calvary,
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”
The purpose of a homily is to connect the word to our situation today. What God did in the past helps us to see what God can do today. Like Mary, we are invited to treasure all these things and ponder on them in the heart.

Pondering on the word

A great grace of recent years has been the popularization of meditating on sacred scripture alone or in a group.
Begin by asking the Holy Spirit to guide you. Read the text several times, slowly and reverently. Underline a word or sentence that strikes you. Move on to pondering on the word. Why did you underline that word or phrase? Did it cheer you or disturb you? Console you or challenge you to improve? Puzzle you or enlighten? If you find that nothing here touches you in any way, perhaps you should ask yourself why you were not moved.
Try to complete this sentence in one word or a short phrase. “In this reading, God is … consoling, challenging, surprising, healing, angry, teaching …”

Praying and Contemplating

The next step is to talk to God in the light or darkness of your pondering. This is prayer.
The fruit of this scripture-based prayer is contemplation. Contemplation is a word that comes from the Greek word for measuring. Temperature measures heat, temperament measures character. Contemplation enables one to measure life in the light of God’s inspired word. “This text is being fulfilled today eve as you listen.”

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the Gospel of Luke guiding us this year. May we be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. May our hearts burn within us as you open the scriptures to us. May we recognise you in the breaking of the bread. Enlightened by your word, and nourished by the consecrated bread, may we be witnesses to your presence with us today.