The Lord Must Be Your Strength January 21

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared; for today is holy to our LORD. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Luke 4:18-19

Piety

Let us pray: Lord, if you will but be our strength, then we will be your body. No matter what hardship the world sends in our path, we will trust in you to be our spirit and life. We offer all we do to you. Strengthen our minds so we can comprehend your Word. Strengthen our lips so we can spread your Good News. Strengthen our hearts so we can love as you loved – loving our enemies as ourselves. Strengthen our hands and feet so we can do your work. Amen.

Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/012107.shtml

Jesus’ work on earth takes on an added dimension today. Up until now (in the readings from ordinary time during this relatively new liturgical year), Jesus has been a wonder-worker, but he has not identified himself as the Messiah or Son of God. Today, the miracles and signs he has been performing throughout Galilee take on a higher meaning and a new significance.

The turning point comes when he connects his work to the prophetic message of Isaiah. No longer can the people see and hear Jesus as just an itinerant preacher, son of a carpenter, friend of the fishermen who cavorts with the tax collectors and sinners. He now goes beyond being a healer and preacher.

Now that the prophets are gone; Jesus needs to carry the message. Now that John has been executed by Herod, Jesus needs to carry the message that the Kingdom of God is at hand. For people who were not witness to his Baptism, Jesus now starts to connect to the message delivered by the voice of God that this man is God’s son.

The new dimension of today’s Good News is the self-identification of Jesus’ ministry with 1) his divine nature and 2) his attitude toward the economically and socially poor. The very first sermon he delivers to fulfill the hopes and expectations of the Hebrew Bible raises up the concerns of the social action Gospel into God’s hands. People who are “poor” in Luke's gospel include the downtrodden, the oppressed and afflicted, the forgotten and the neglected. It is this group of people who first accept Jesus’ message of salvation.

Finally, the degree and extent of Jesus’ ministry and actions are apparent when He takes the signs of the prophets to a higher level. The prophets usually healed one leper or cured one cripple or helped one widow. Jesus takes on all who come to him.

The demons Jesus strikes down and chases away recognize Him. Now, he starts to reveal his divine nature to those around him so these followers can become the “body” of the Church -- literally and symbolically Christ’s hands, feet, senses. They become the mind, heart and voice of the Good News. How else will it spread after Jesus is gone?

Action

You might be able to tell from the e-mail that I am on the road again and sending daily messages on Your Daily Tripod through my office e-mail. Once again, business and family matters have brought me to New Orleans – ironically on a day that the local football club plays the most significant game in its history.

If the game at Soldier Field were not enough of a reminder about the plight of this city, the potholes, piles of bricks, and abandoned homes that litter the landscape here will bring you back
to reality. As will Spenser Hsu’s report in today’s Washington Post that:

The U.S. government will extend housing aid through August for hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents still displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, officials said yesterday, acknowledging that wide swaths of New Orleans and parts of coastal Mississippi remain uninhabitable nearly 17 months after the 2005 storms.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it would continue for six more months to pay for 130,000 households' trailers, mobile homes and apartments, aid that under federal law would have expired at the end of next month.[1]

So, take heed to the message in Nehemiah today -- “Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks, and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared.” Why not set aside a portion of whatever money you spend on dining out to help the poor in New Orleans who can still use private charity as much as they can use the helping hand of FEMA and the federal government.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901576.html