A Light to the Nations

January 20, 2008

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:6

John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” John 1:32-33

Piety

Psalm 40:8-14

“Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll. To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!” I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness. Your deed I did not hide within my heart; your loyal deliverance I have proclaimed. I made no secret of your enduring kindness to a great assembly.

LORD, do not withhold your compassion from me; may your enduring kindness ever preserve me. For all about me are evils beyond count; my sins so overcome me I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head; my courage fails me. LORD, graciously rescue me! Come quickly to help me, LORD!

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/012008.shtml

The four Suffering servant psalms speak the reality of the destiny of Christ. Christ sees himself as the Lamb of God. Through him salvation will reach to the ends of the earth. God is the strength of Christ even as our acceptance of Christ makes God our strength too. We are all called by Christ to find our strength in him through God. Paul sees himself as called by God to be an apostle. We are sanctified in Christ by our calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ makes us his representatives to our world. Our grace and our peace come from God our Father and The Lord Jesus Christ.

Our moment closest to Christ is the call we have all received in his name. In our baptism and acceptance of Christ, we receive the power to become children of God. Each of us is called to be a light to the nations that the salvation of God may reach to the ends of the earth. The light of Christ shines on our road and leads us where we must go. Our doing the will of God has to become the delight of our hearts that our eyes and ears be open to the work that God gives us. The new song of our hearts gets its melody from our closeness to the tune Christ plays in our hearts.

John the Baptist grew up with the closeness to Christ as part of who he was. Because of that closeness he was able to point Christ out to the people who came to him. John testified that Christ was the Son of God. We testify to Christ by the reverence we have in our Eucharistic celebrations. We testify to him by our behavior in his presence. Holding Christ in our hands for the moment before we consume him, we are taken up into his life when we communicate. Those who are ministers of the Sacrament, receive him first that they may be worthy to share him with others. From the finish of the Preface to the Great Amen a silence is kept that we may honor his coming into our lives on the altar of His Sacrifice. When the elements of the bread and the wine are changed is not during the words of Consecration since there are rites where the words are not said. It is during the prayers of the Canon that the change takes place. In our hearts we join the prayers of the cannon and celebrate Christ as the Priest that brings the words of Christ to us by his celebration. Each of us hare the priesthood of Christ in the offering of the gift of ourselves.

Action

Study and Action meet in the ways we intensify the offering of ourselves to the Lord for each other. Our recognition of each others gift allows the priest to be the celebrant and each of the participants join his priesthood by allowing the priest to offer the collectivity of our personal offering to the God through his being our minister. God speaks to the people through the actions of the priest and the people speak to God by allowing the priesthood of Christ to have its action through the words of the priest to God. Thus Christ has his presence on earth and the mystical body of Christ finds its meaning. The Church gives form to the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Kingdom of God reigns in the Sacrifice that keeps alive the Christ of heaven. Christ as the human of 2000 years ago now lives as the Christ that each of us become as his Mystical Body.