Corpus Christi Blog

In our Gospel today we hear about Jesus’ call of Andrew, Simon, James, and John to become His Disciple and follow him, just as he calls you and I as well.  And although it most likely is a story familiar to all of us, if we take time to ponder it, there is a lot we can learn.  Each time we hear it, it should convict us to a radical lifestyle change- just as it did for the disciples Andrew, Simon, James, and John.  However, in order to understand the full weight of the ‘calling’ which we hear in today’s Gospel from Mark, we need to remind ourselves of the Gospel last week from John.

Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River and God is revealed as the Trinity, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The question has been asked, if Jesus is the Son of God and is without sin, then why was he baptized?  I am sure you have thought about this…. I know I used to.  The Early Church Fathers answered that question by saying that Jesus was not made holy by the baptismal waters but rather Jesus made the waters of baptism holy. Jesus was baptized in order to make every baptism thereafter effective.  When we think about the effects of baptism we most likely think first of the forgiveness of sin and the second thing that comes to mind is becoming a child of God as a member of the Body of Christ.  

Today is the last Sunday of the Christmas season.  Next week we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord which is fitting as it is the beginning of Ordinary Time, I say it is fitting because the Sacrament of baptism is the start of our life in Christ. 

Today’s celebration is the Epiphany of the Lord.  Epiphany means manifestation.  We celebrate the amazing gift of God who reveals himself, or manifests himself in Jesus Christ.  God, who becomes human, is manifested to all the nations.

Fittingly, the Sunday after the Son of God is born into the world, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family- Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.   It is fitting because Jesus Christ, the Son of God who became human in order to save his people- is born into a family with a father and a mother.  For truly, as the Church teaches, the family is the foundation of society- as the family goes, so goes society.  And there is no secret that the major problems in society today are due to a breakdown of the family.  Therefore, it is necessary for us to truly understand who the family is, and is meant to be.  Today I want to reflect on the Holy Family- Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and what exactly makes a family holy.  For truly, every family is meant to be a model of the Holy Family- every family is meant to be holy. 

I bring you good news of great joy.  Today we celebrate the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ into our world.  What an exciting time this is.  From the beginning of time, ever since sin entered the world through the pride and disobedience of our first parents, God has put a plan of salvation in place.  God continued this plan of salvation through Abraham the father of faith, and then Moses, David, and through all the prophets.  And now in Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation has come to fulfillment.  The Savior which every person has longed for, the One that was promised to come has arrived. God’s presence lit up the sky with a bright guiding star.  He was proclaimed by the angels and witnessed by the shepherds and wise men.  Jesus is the messiah who came for you and me. 

Today in our Gospel, this time from the Apostle John, we get to know John the Baptist a little better.  Let us look more closely at who he is, try to learn from him, and even become like John the Baptist. 

So ready or not, here we are beginning the Season of Advent, the time of waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.    Both of our 1st and 2nd readings use the word ‘wait’.  Our 1st reading says, “No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you doing such deeds for those who wait for him.”  What this is saying is that God will do something mighty, something we could not even imagine, if only we wait for him.  And our 2nd reading promises that in Jesus Christ we are enriched in every way, “so that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  There it is again; wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are to wait until Jesus reveals himself. 

Our Church liturgical calendar is meant to guide us each year through a journey, a journey of life in which there are peaks and valleys.  Throughout the year we remember and enter grandly into great high feast days, as well as journey through the valleys, the ordinariness and routine of life through ordinary time.  But this journey that the Church calls us to is not just a journey of this life, but it is a journey growing closer to eternal life.  Today we conclude Ordinary Time with a great high feast- the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King.  After this feast of Christ the King, we enter back into the time of preparation called Advent for the great event which is the beginning of time, the beginning of a new life itself, Christmas.

On Nov. 9th we celebrate the Feast called Dedication of Lateran Basilica in Rome, this year it happens to fall on a Sunday, and so once again we interrupt Ordinary Time in order to celebrate a feast.  The Basilica is named after St. John Lateran and was built during the reign of Emperor Constantine and consecrated in the year 324.  Even though the Pope lives near St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran is the Cathedral Church, or in other words it is the Church where the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, has his Cathedra or “chair” from which he teaches.  This is similar to one at St. Simon and Jude where the Bishop Olmsted’s teaching chair is located  If you haven’t been to Rome or seen the Lateran basilica, or weren’t able to come to the Catholicism DVD series last Thursday where we saw pictures of it, Lateran Basilica is absolutely beautiful and teaches us so much.  I have had a chance to visit the beautiful Basilica on one of my trips to Rome.  There are giant statues of all the Apostles where the columns are, which hold up the Church; greatly symbolizing the truth that the Church is built upon the Apostles.  Then up by ceiling are paintings of all the Pope’s showing the Apostolic succession of shepherds Christ has called to lead his Church. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, yesterday the Church celebrated All Saints Day, in which we celebrated all the souls who are in perfect union with God in Heaven.  Try and imagine what being in perfect union with God might look like.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus prays that we might be one as the Father and He is one.  To be one with and in God, means to share completely in His divine nature.  We were made by God to live forever in union with God.  But through sin, death entered the world, and because of sin we are not capable of living in perfect union with God.  And that is why in God’s love Jesus was sent and became human.  Jesus, who never lost the divine nature, took on our human nature, even to the point of suffering and dying for our sins. 

Our Gospel today continues right after the Gospels of the past couple of weeks in which Jesus was using the parables to call the Pharisees and elders of the Jewish faith out of their stubborn pride, and so naturally they were feeling on edge and defensive.  And instead of humbling themselves, in our Gospel the Pharisees try to denounce Jesus by lessening the influence he was having.  Although at first they compliment Jesus in his teachings, they were really looking for a way to trap Jesus and discredit his teaching, and thus turn a group of people away from following him.  The Pharisees brought the Herodians to Jesus to try and trap him in what he would say. 

For several weeks now, our Gospels from Matthew have been a series of parables by Jesus directed primarily to the chief priests and elders of the Israelites.  Perhaps you can recall the parables of past several weeks had to do with a vineyard- servants who were paid equally to work in the vineyard, 2 sons who were asked to work in their father’s vineyard, and a vineyard that produced wild grapes.   These stories are most certainly meant to go right to the heart of the Jewish leaders who saw themselves as sons of God working in God’s vineyard,  and so these chief priests and elders should be first to believe in Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, but who instead remain stubborn in their unbelief.  But although directed to the elders, these parables are also written to teach us, who let’s face it, don’t always make Jesus the center and Lord of every aspect of our lives.  Today Jesus continues the parables, but instead of a vineyard, today our story centers around a wedding banquet.

Our 1st reading and Gospel remind us of a very important point that is good for us to understand.  Sometimes life doesn't go as planned.  Throughout life there are going to be good times and bad times, most likely many of you can testify to the difficulty in your life right now. Our 2nd reading though teaches how to have peace throughout the anxieties life brings us.