Cycle C - Year II:

24 January 2016: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical color: Green)

Gospel: Please read  Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21


The proclamation of the Good News

After a series of solemnities or special feasts at the start of the new year, we resume the liturgical season called Ordinary Time, and this Sunday is the third in Ordinary Time.

In the Catholic liturgical calendar, Ordinary Time is that part in the yearly cycle of 33 or 34 weeks in which there is no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ in all its fullness is observed. The liturgical color of the priest's vestment and the altar cloth changes to green.

In the Gospel, St. Luke narrates the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in his homeland of Galilee
where he was reared. According to his custom, Jesus went into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, who had prophesied that the Messiah would come in the power of the Holy Spirit and bring freedom to those oppressed by sin and evil. (Isaiah 61:1-2) After reading this particular passage, Jesus proclaimed the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesy in their hearing.

For indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ came to set us free from the worst tyranny of slavery to sin and fear of death, and the eternal destruction of both body and soul. And so even in our time, we know and believe that God's power alone can save us from the emptiness and poverty of spirit, from confusion and error, and from hopelessness and the fear of annihilation. Thus, the Gospel of salvation is also "good news" for us today. Jesus came with the good news that God cares for the poor, the captives, the handicapped, and all the unhappy people in our midst.

The other point in our reflection. Do you notice that our Gospel reading includes the introduction of St. Luke's Gospel?

The preface or prologue of a book contains important principles, or directions, for reading the rest of the book, and in St. Luke's Gospel, important direction and clarification for reading and understanding all of Sacred Scripture.

In the introduction, St. Luke indicates the importance of the Church and of Tradition in our Catholic faith. He explains that even before he wrote his "account" of the Gospel, there already existed the Church and the oral tradition --literally, the "handing down"-- of the faith. The point is that St. Luke did not invent a story or was he teaching something new in his Gospel account. But rather, as a faithful Christian, St. Luke handed on the truth he also received from the Church.

Thus, from the very start of his Gospel account, St. Luke conveys the simple fact that the Church existed before the Gospels were written, and in fact the Church wrote the Gospels. It follows, then, that to read Scripture outside of the Church's Tradition is to read it out of context, or like reading it without a teacher.  Because we need a teacher to explain Scripture. And that teacher is the Church, and the method of instruction is Tradition.

Let us, therefore, listen only to the official teaching of the Church on matters of faith.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.


Ad Jesum per Mariam!