Now is the Time. The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021

Now is the Time.

The Third Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021

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January 24, 2021

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 25; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

 

 

The church continues to present us with call and conversion narratives as Jesus begins his young ministry. We are given the story of Jonah to show (1.) the ministry will not be easy and will often seem impossible, and (2.) through God’s power, some people turn away from track they are on and believe more fully in the sacred message that is proclaimed. In Jonah’s story, the prophet is amazed that the people hear the message and reform their ways. Surely, God’s action in the prophet’s words meet the searching for integrity and meaning from within the people. 

 

In the Gospel, Jesus calls two sets of brothers into his ministry and declares this is the time of fulfillment, the Kingdom of God is at hand. He asks the disciples and those who hear his word for one thing: believe. The excitement for ministry is palpable. For Jesus, the kingdom of God was an ideal community where God reigned supreme and people lived as God desired. It was a new way of living together that included anyone who believed, and this could be Jew and Gentile alike, who were people often at odds with one another. The kingdom reconciled the differences because they saw what they had in common. God would be the king who treated everyone benevolently, which would make everyone try to work together because each person sees an image of God in the other person, even the person who was once a fierce foe. That is the power of God’s love.

 

After a few difficult weeks in Washington, D.C., we have seen that divisiveness is not our Christian way, and that it is far better for us to learn to understand each other and work towards common goals. We have a chance to help Jesus bring the kingdom of God to our lives. When he preached, he said, “This is the time of fulfillment.” Today, we have to do the hard work of rebuilding trust, re-establishing care and affection, finding the goodwill in each other, and moving towards a future where reverence for each person is guaranteed, where God’s justice of mercy is the mode of legislating actions, where equality and dignity are provided for each individual. It means that today we have to reach our hands out to our adversary and say, “Friend, can we do this together? Can we learn from each other? I need you in my life.”

 

Let me start by reforming my life and by allowing God to soften my rough edges. Let me hear myself speak words of reconciliation, words of affirmation and praise, words of acceptance. Let me continue by letting my heart be warmed over by another’s story of suffering and pain, while my words and attitudes set the stage for someone else’s process of reformation. Let me go into vulnerable places within myself as I risk establishing a friendship when I know the offer may be misunderstood and I might feel unsafe. The prophet Jonah, and Jesus as well, experienced much hardship as he did God’s work; we too will be quite uncomfortable as we move from bondage into freedom. 

 

However, trying is better than not bothering to care, and it is God’s work after all. My prayer for us is that we can capture into the work that we have to do today the excitement and energy that Jesus conveyed the first time he proclaimed his mission. This is the time of fulfillment. Let’s be on our way to bring the kingdom here now. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading:

Monday: (Acts 22) I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.

 

Tuesday: (2 Timothy 1) I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.

 

Wednesday: (Hebrews 10) Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.

 

Thursday: (Hebrews 10) Since through the Blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and since we have “a great priest over the house of God,” let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust.

 

Friday (Hebrews 10) Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

 

Saturday (Hebrews 11) Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 16) Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 

Tuesday: (Mark 3) And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

 

Wednesday (Mark 4) And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables.

 

Thursday (Mark 4) Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

 

Friday (Mark 4) 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. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.

 

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. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

 

Saints of the Week

 

January 24: Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor (1567-1622), practiced both civil and canon law before entering religious life. He became bishop of Geneva in 1602 and was prominent in the Catholic Reformation. He reorganized his diocese, set up a seminary, overhauled religious education, and found several schools. With Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Order of the Visitation of Mary.

 

January 25: The Conversion of Paul, the Apostle, was a pivotal point in the life of the early church. Scripture contains three accounts of his call and the change of behavior and attitudes that followed. Paul's story is worth knowing as it took him 14 years of prayer and study to find meaning in what happened to him on the road to Damascus.

 

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.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• Jan 24, 1645. Fr. Henry Morse was led as a prisoner from Durham to Newgate, London. On hearing his execution was fixed for February 1, he exclaimed: "Welcome ropes, hurdles, gibbets, knives, butchery of an infamous death! Welcome for the love of Jesus, my Savior." 
• Jan 25, 1707. Cardinal Tournon, Apostolic Visitor of the missions in China, forbade the use of the words 'Tien' or 'Xant' for God and ordered the discontinuance by the Christians of the Chinese Rites. 
• 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.