Our Starting Point for Mission: The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

    Our Starting Point for Mission:

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

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January 26, 2020

Isaiah 8:33-9:3; Psalm 27; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23

The lands of Zebulun and Naphtali near the Sea of Galilee are mentioned in both readings as a place of darkness, the land of the Gentiles, and the place where Jesus made his home once John the Baptist was killed. Though not quite hostile, it was also not the easiest place for Jesus to begin his mission to the Jews. He could have begun near the place where John won many converts, or in the commercial centers of Jerusalem where his impact would have been immediate, or the more sedate villages of hardworking Jews in the forgotten areas to the north. It was an unusual place for him to preach the kingdom of God. It is the region from which he called his disciples.

One of the recent initiatives by the Pope asked Jesuits and their companions to go to places that like Zebulun and Naphtali, places that are far away from the sources of power and influence in order to bring the good news to people who feel like God’s salvation is not for them. Largely, as Catholics, we stay within our supportive networks because these organizations depend upon us. We help out our own schools, social service agencies, and volunteer programs, and we associate with those with whom we were educated and have common bonds. These are natural associations that are built upon years of relationships.

Today’s readings can challenge us to think beyond the categories that we normally consider. We have our images of who we consider to be the poor, refugees, and migrants, and they are usually people who are other than us, but that call is more complex than that. Our work involves making people aware of the burning need for reconciliation, of the many who are estranged, vulnerable, or alienated. The first place to look is right in our homes where many suffer of abuse of some type, whether is it emotional, psychological, physical, or spiritual. The home is the place where people are most natural and with the fewest degree of social boundaries, and this is where power imbalances are first created, and it is the place where reconciliation is most required. If we do not adequately deal with our suffering, then we pass along our unreconciled suffering to others, thereby making them victims.

When a person leaves home out of desperation, the person is a refugee. When persons resettle to another city to create distance between them and their family, they are migrants. When people seek help at an organization that tends the wounds of those who are physically or sexually assaulted, they are the ones who are among the vulnerable. When a person rejects the faith of a family and no longer attends church, something significant has occurred in the person’s life. It is a complex ordeal, which entails some rejection of a family member.

The mission of the church first begins with healing within families. Zebulun and Naphtali were places that most Jews avoided, and in our call and mission, we cannot avoid the unmentionable, untouchable areas of our lives that are places we would prefer not to visit. They are the places that need the most work. We want to unite people where they are separated, to heal them where they are wounded. We want to give evidence of our faith that promotes reconciliation based on justice. We want to bring hope to our world, to imagine new roads, and to walk these roads to the end.

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (2 Samuel 5) All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the children of Israel out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.’”

Tuesday: (2 Samuel 6) As soon as the bearers of the ark of the LORD had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the LORD with abandon, as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.

Wednesday: (2 Samuel 7) That night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said: “Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day on which I led the children of Israel out of Egypt to the present.

Thursday: (2 Samuel 7) After Nathan had spoken to King David, the king went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and who are the members of my house, that you have brought me to this point?

Friday (2 Samuel 11) David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David rose from his siesta and strolled about on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, who was very beautiful. David had inquiries made about the woman and was told, “She is Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

Saturday (2 Samuel 12) Then Nathan said to David:  “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.’

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 3) The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”

Tuesday: (Mark 3) The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.”

Wednesday (Mark 4) On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land.

Thursday (Mark 4) Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.

Friday (Mark 4) Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.

Saturday (Mark 4) Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

Saints of the Week

January 26: Timothy and Titus, bishops (1st century), were disciples of Paul who later became what we know of as bishops. Timothy watched over the people of Ephesus and Titus looked after Crete. Both men worked with Paul and became a community leader. Timothy was martyred while Titus died of old age.

January 27: Angela Merici (1474-1540), was the founder of the Ursuline nuns. Relatives raised her when her parents died when she was 10. As an adult, she tended to the needs of the poor and with some friends, she taught young girls at their home. These friends joined an association that later became a religious order. Ursula was the patron of medieval universities.

January 28: Thomas Aquinas, priest and Doctor (1225-1274), studied in a Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino as a boy. He joined the newly formed Dominicans where he studied in France and Italy. He is a giant scholar. He wrote much on Scripture and theology, including his summation of theology (Summa Theologiae). He wrote several songs for liturgy, such as the Tantum Ergo, Pange Lingua, and Adoro Te Devote.

January 31: John Bosco, priest (1815-1888), formed his Society to aid children who were imprisoned. He used Francis de Sales as his inspiration. He taught poor and working class boys in the evenings wherever it was possible to meet them - in fields, factories, or homes. A sister community was set up to assist young girls who were sent to work.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Jan 26, 1611. The first Jesuit missionaries sailed from Europe for New France (Canada).

·      Jan 27, 1870. The Austrian government endeavored to suppress the annual grant of 8,000 florins to the theological faculty of Innsbruck and to drive the Jesuit professors from the university, because of their support of the Papal Syllabus.

·      Jan 28, 1853. Fr. General John Roothaan, wishing to resign his office, summoned a General Congregation, but died on May 8, before it assembled.

·      Jan 29, 1923. Woodstock scholastics kept a fire vigil for several months to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from setting the college on fire.

·      Jan 30, 1633. At Avignon, Fr. John Pujol, a famous master of novices, died. He ordered one of them to water a dry stick, which miraculously sprouted.

·      Jan 31, 1774. Fr. General Laurence Ricci, a prisoner in Castel S Angelo, claimed his liberty, since his innocence had been fully vindicated. He received from the Papal Congregation the reply that they would think about it. Pope Clement XIV was said at this time to be mentally afflicted.

·      Feb 1, 1549. The first Jesuit missionaries to go to Brazil set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, under Fr. Emmanuel de Nobrega.