One Christ, One Body
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.” Nehemiah 8:10
Our liturgical calendar separates different Gospel scenes, which can sometimes do them a bit of a disservice. The liturgical year, of course, has its own rhythm and purpose, into which the stories of the life of Jesus are placed.
However, when Luke was organizing his Gospel (for “Theophilus” the lover of God whom we encounter in today’s Gospel introduction), today’s scene was part of a three-fold structure: the baptism of Jesus; the temptation in the desert; the announcement of the public mission in the synagogue at Nazareth. Linking these is the Holy Spirit, who descended on the body of Jesus at his baptism, who filled his body as he endured his forty-day trial, and who is upon his body to announce and to bring about God’s reign, a mission he fulfills with his body on the cross. The incarnation (the “in-flesh-ing”) of Jesus, which we think of in connection with his birth, remains central to his story.
Last week’s reading from Corinthians concerned the one Spirit who gives many gifts, yet is the source of our unity. Paul continues this theme today using the image of the body, whose different members each have an important and distinct role to play. The Spirit of baptism forms that one mystical Body of Christ. The Spirit of baptism fills the many members, but unites them always as one. The Spirit of baptism is on each member, as it was for Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth. That Spirit of our baptism anoints each of us as a member of Christ’s Body to be glad tidings, proclaim liberty, bring clearer vision, lift the oppressed, to announce God’s reign to all. As different members of Christ’s Body, we are each called upon to do this in our own way. We may face opposition or rejection, as Jesus did, but we can always turn again in faith to the Spirit of our baptism who is still with us.
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Readings for the Week
Monday: 2 Sm 5:1-7, 10; Ps 89:20-22, 25-26; Mk 3:22-30
Tuesday: Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22; Ps 117:1bc, 2; Mk 16:15-18
Wednesday: 2 Tm 1:1-18 or Ti 1:1-5; Ps 89:4-5, 27-30; Mk 4:1-20
Thursday: 2 Sm 7:18-19, 24-29; Ps 132:1-5, 11-14; Mk 4:21-25
Friday: 2 Sm 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17; Ps 51:3-7, 10-11; Mk 4:26-34
Saturday: 2 Sm 12:1-7a, 10-17; Ps 51:12-17; Mk 4:35-41
Sunday: Jer 1:4-5, 17-19; Ps 71:1-6, 15, 17; 1 Cor 12:31 — 13:13 [13:4-13]; Lk 4:21-30
Saints & Special Observances
Sunday: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time; Sunday of the Word of God
Monday: St. Francis de Sales
Tuesday: The Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle; Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends
Wednesday: Ss. Timothy and Titus
Thursday: St. Angela Merici
Friday: St. Thomas Aquinas
Saturday: Blessed Virgin Mary