OT III [C] Neh 8: 2-4, 5-6, 8-10; I Cor. 12:12-30; Luke 1: 1-4; 4: 14-21

One day in an introductory Bible class one of the participants asked: "Why are there four Gospels rather than one?" Certainly things would look a lot easier if there was only one Gospel. Everything we read in that one Gospel would then be the gospel truth, pure and simple. Now that we have four Gospels that often differ significantly from one another, things can be quite confusing. When you come to think of it, however, you begin to realize that things would be a lot worse if we had only one Gospel. If we had only one Gospel we would think that there is only one way of understanding Jesus and how he relates to us. But now that we have four different Gospels, each of them telling a significantly different story of Jesus and his mission, it becomes easier for us to see that no story of Jesus can exhaust the whole truth of what Jesus is. As limited human beings we can only tell part of the story of God.

This reminds us of the story of the six blind men who set out to discover what the elephant is. The first blind man feels the elephant's side and says the elephant is like a wall. The second blind man feels the elephant's tusk and says it is like a spear. The third feels the trunk and says it is like a snake. The fourth feels the elephant's leg and says the elephant is like a tree. The fifth feels the ear and says it is like a fan. And the sixth blind man feels the elephant's tail and concludes that the elephant is like a rope. You could imagine the bitter disagreement that would ensue among them if they got together to discuss the nature of the elephant. Every one of them would insist that he is right and the others wrong. But the truth of the matter is: yes, he is right, but then so also are all the others. Each of them has a valid experience of the elephant but no one of them possesses the full knowledge of the total reality of the elephant. Even when you put all the six images of the elephant together it still does not capture the full vision of the elephant.

After Vatican II the church's reading of the Gospels on Sunday was revised into a three-year cycle: year A for the gospel of Matthew, year B for Mark, and year C for Luke. The gospel of John is read on certain Sundays interspersed within the three years, such as the Sundays of the Easter season. We are now in year C, the year of Luke. The question we shall be asking ourselves this year is, What aspect of the mystery of Christ does Luke highlight, as distinct from the focus of the other Gospels? A certain scholar has outlined in one word the aspect of Christ that each of the Gospels highlights. Matthew highlights the Christ of majesty (who heals by word of mouth alone, never touches people, never hungry, never angry, etc.), Mark highlights the Christ of might (who proves he is the Messiah by his acts of power and authority over natural and demonic forces), Luke highlights the Christ of mercy (who reaches out to the poor, the outcasts, foreigners and women) and John highlights the Christ of mystery (who was with the Father from all eternity and who has come into the world to reveal this hidden mystery, the truth that leads to life).

Today we begin reading the Gospel of Luke. In his opening preface (1:1-4) Luke tells us why he wrote the gospel. It was to explain to Theophilus, probably a Roman official, what Christianity was all about.  In telling Theophilus about the Christian faith, Luke finds the incident in the synagogue in Nazareth very useful. In this incident found only in Luke's Gospel, Jesus makes a solemn declaration of his mission in the world. We can call it the Jesus Manifesto. People who initiate a revolution usually start off with a declaration of their manifesto. Karl Marx started by publishing the Communist Manifesto. Martin Luther started off with the publication of the 95 theses in Wittenberg. Jesus has come to start a revolution of mercy and love in the world. And here in today's Gospel reading he publishes the Christian manifesto:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (4:18-19)

In these few words Jesus claims that he is the One sent "to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberation to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed"—language that reflects the Biblical year of Jubilee.

We need to receive Christ’s freedom, live it and pass it on to others: As members of Christ’s Mystical Body, we share in the freeing, saving mission of Jesus.   But we are captives of sin. We need Christ to set us free. We are often blinded by our evil habits, addictions and need for financial security. Once we receive true liberation from Christ, we have to share it with those we encounter in our daily lives, families, neighborhoods, parishes and workplaces.  

The readings challenge us today to listen to the Word, accept it into our hearts, then put it into practice as we live out our lives, liberating ourselves and others from all types of bondages.   As Jesus comes alive in our hearts, let us be ready to become Spirit-filled instruments of Christ’s saving freedom and healing.

BAPTISM OF THE LORD: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; TITUS 2:11-14, 3:4-7, LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22

Today is the feast of the Baptism of  Our Lord. It is the event when God the Father revealed to the world that Jesus was his beloved Son. It was also a revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Baptism marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Even though he had no need to be cleansed from sin himself, he receives baptism to take our place, so that we in turn, when baptized, take Jesus' place, and thus  become "sons in the Son".

Baptism is a huge symbol -- it's the water of creation. At its basic level, baptism is the death of the old self. Before anything new can be born, the old has to pass away. In the nature we see death and rising. Winter is the season of death…but in the spring we see the dead trees and plants springing up to life. This occurs in the spiritual realm too.

Water causes death as well as gives life. The great flood of the time of Noah, caused death of all the living beings, except those in the Ark with Noah. The waters of Red sea caused death for the Egyptians, but became a source of life for the Hebrews and freedom from the oppressing Egyptians. When one goes down under water at baptism he loses breath which sustains life. But when he rises from the water it is like coming back to new life. So, in baptism one dies with Christ and rises in Christ, like Jesus rose from death.

In Baptism Jesus exchanges his divine life with us and he takes our mortal nature and makes it immortal by merging it with his nature and life. French writer Henri Barbusse (1874-1935) tells of a conversation overheard in a trench full of wounded men during the First World War. One of the men, who knew he only had minutes to live says to one other man, "Listen, Dominic, you've led a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, take my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death."

The Good News is that through Jesus, God makes a similar offer. When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with Jesus. We publicly declare our intention to strive to be like Jesus and follow God's will for our lives. When we are baptized, our lives are changed. We see people and things differently than before. Baptism enables and empowers us to do the things that Jesus wants us to do here and now. And we are able to love as he loved. Such identification is life changing.

Those who are baptized in Jesus need to nurture that new life so it can grow and mature.

Developing our friendship with Christ is the main project of our whole life. But even so, we can identify three steps that can help us focus our ongoing efforts to become more and more united with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: those are- knowing him, loving him, and imitating him. When we were baptized, God’s own life was poured into our souls; it was planted like a seed in fertile soil. But every seed, in order to grow to maturity, needs three things: water, sunlight, and nutrients. The seed of divine life in our souls also needs three things in order to grow to maturity. The more fully we come to know Christ, especially through prayerful reading of the Gospels and time spent with him in the Eucharist, the more we will come to love him. And the more we love him, the more we will want to follow and imitate him, especially in his perfect fulfillment of the Father’s will and his tireless, active love for all people.

If we let these three motifs of knowing, loving, and imitating Christ set the rhythm for our daily living, we too can please the heart of God and be filled to overflowing with his life-giving love, just like our Lord.

 Life is a continuous conversion. In every setting in which we are put, we have to “put on the new person.” There are whole areas of our lives which have not yet been brought into subjection to Christ, and it can only be done by this continuous conversion. Paul tells in 2 Cor.10:5 ..bring your every rebellious thought captive in Christ and make it obedient to him. Once we are able to do that, our spiritual growth in Christ becomes strong and steady.

Our baptism calls us to live as the children of God in thought, word and action. It give us the grace to grow daily in intimacy with God by personal and family prayers, by meditative reading of the Word of God, by participating in the Holy Mass, and by frequenting the sacrament of reconciliation. It is a day to thank God for the graces we received in Baptism, to renew our baptismal promises and to preach Christ’s ‘Good News’ by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness. Thus ultimately we may hear the words of the Father: this is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.

EPIPHANY-Is 60:1-6;  Eph 2:2-3, 5-6;   Mt 2:1-12

Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany of our Lord. The Greek word epiphany means "Manifestation". It is an older feast even than the feast of Nativity. In the western Church on this feast we remember the Magi who came from faraway lands to worship the baby Jesus. They came guided by a star. Being nature worshipers who had no scriptures, God revealed Himself to them through the means available to them in their own religion. Through the stars they were able to learn of the birth of Jesus and find their way to him. They came as pagans, they worshiped Jesus as pagans, and they went back home as pagans. They did not convert either to Judaism or to Christianity. Their worship was acceptable to God and God directed them in their journey home through a dream. This shows that God does have a relationship with people of other religions who are neither Jews nor Christians.

There is only one God, and all who seek God with a sincere heart are led to Him, though they call Him by different names. One thing Christians have in common with members of other religions is that we all worship the same God. We all are children of the same Father. This truth is hard for religious people to appreciate because religious people all over the world tend to claim that they have exclusive access to God and the truth.

In the Old Testament, the Jewish people believed that they were the exclusive people of God. They divided the whole world into two: the Jews who were the people of God, and the Gentiles who were not. Some of their prophets and wise men tried to correct this belief by reminding them of the universal love of God for all humankind. But it was not until Jesus came that this idea began to sink in. As the letter to the Ephesians states, Christ made both groups, Jews and Gentiles, into one people and broke down the dividing wall of hostility separating them (Eph. 2:14).

In the past, Christians tended to make the same mistake as the Jews of old by claiming that there is no salvation outside the church. Then Vatican II came along, the church opened the windows to the Spirit of God, and came to recognize that God’s truth is available to people of other religions, although not to the same degree that it is available in the church. The difference between the Christian faith and other faiths, therefore, is not that we possess the truth of God and they do not, but that, thanks to God’s unique revelation in Christ, we can know and see God’s truth more clearly, love God more dearly, and follow God’s ways more closely in our daily lives. But again don’t mistake to believe that there is salvation “outside Christ”. No. There is only one mediator between God and man- Jesus Christ. If people of other faith are saved, they are saved only through Christ. Jesus is the only way to the Father. The Catholic Church has and holds all the treasures of the Church Jesus founded on the Apostles. So, it is the ordinary means of salvation offered to us. Believing the teachings of the Bible and holding fast to the traditions handed down to us through the centuries and receiving the sacraments we are promised heaven. But God who gave us this means, is not bound by his own laws. He keeps his promise but he is above the law he made for human beings. He is free to work outside the frame work he laid out for human beings. Therefore he can save people of other faiths, through extra ordinary means, but only through Christ. People who leave the Catholic faith and go to other faiths can be compared to people who leave a safe bridge (the Church) and choose to walk a tight rope to cross a flooding river. People leave Catholic faith primarily because it is more demanding than other faiths. But in fact they don’t realize that they are choosing even tougher path to their goal.

The magi needed not just their wisdom to seek the new born king; without the knowledge of the religious authorities, they would not have known where to find him. So it is with us in our own search for the meaning of our lives. First of all we Christians have the wisdom of our Scriptures, the Word of God. It is to this Word, who is ultimately the person of Jesus, that we owe our primary obedience. Here we hear the summons to take to the road. But if we just rely on our own interpretation of the Bible, then we may easily misunderstand what it says. So we listen to the scriptures as members of the Church, a community which stretches across two thousand years. We listen to the wise and holy men and women who have wrestled with the Word, and learn from them. God is always guiding us, but that doesn't mean that the journey is easy.  These three wise men had left their homelands far behind in order to follow their star, but right when they seemed to be arriving at their destination, the star disappeared.

If they had turned back at that point, they would never have found the light of Christ, the light they were thirsting to find, the meaning they longed for. We are often in the same situation.  We know God is faithful, and we want to trust him, but we lose sight of the star.  That's when we have to exercise our faith in God - to keep following his will no matter what.

There is someone in our life now who has lost sight of the star and thinking about turning back.  They are doubting God's faithfulness. Maybe they are finding it hard to accept one of the Church's teachings.  Maybe they are facing suffering and loss.  Maybe they are stuck in sin and are drifting further and further away from the light.

Whatever their specific situation, they need to be reminded that God is faithful, that even though a cloud has covered up the star, the star is still there, and if they keep following God's path, their journey will lead them to the light.

Today let’s promise him to do our best this week to remind those around us that God can be trusted, that it's worth it to follow the star.

The magi left their comfort and their routine in search of the prince of peace. They fell to their knees in homage, their learning made them humble, and their wisdom led them to recognize the Divine in the fragile flesh of a child.

Like the Magi let’s offer God- the gold- our talents and efforts, our incense- our prayers and worship, and the myrrh-  our sufferings and sorrows. After this Mass, let’s go back in a different way, not the way that would lead betraying the Lord, but glorifying the Lord and declaring the world that we have see the savior of the World.