{"id":2785,"date":"2019-01-27T12:31:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2785"},"modified":"2019-01-27T12:31:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T17:31:08","slug":"3rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/3rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

3<\/a>rd<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15 (see John 6:63c)
1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21
January 27, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholics have a reputation for not\nknowing the Bible.  In years long past,\nCatholics were sometimes told not to read the Bible on their own for fear they might\nmisinterpret it.  That ended in 1943 when\nPope Pius XII wrote a document called Divino\nAfflante Spiritu<\/em> where he encouraged Catholics to read the Bible.  Yet even today, while families might have\nBibles at home, they aren\u2019t often read.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not individual Catholics read\nthe Bible on their own or not, the Bible is an important part of our faith and\nat Mass.  The first half of the Mass is\ncentered on the Bible.  At Sunday Mass\nthere is always a reading from one of the gospels, a reading from a New\nTestament Letter or Revelation, a psalm, and a reading from the Old Testament\nor Acts.  Daily Mass has one less reading.  When it comes to the Eucharistic prayers,\nportions of these prayers are direct quotes from the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the Bible is always read at our Sunday\nliturgy<\/em> <\/strong>as well as daily Masses, funerals, and weddings.  At these liturgies the readings are followed\nby a homily to interpret the readings for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way the readings are picked from the\nBible for Masses changed some following the Second Vatican Council but there has\nalways Bible readings at Mass.  It goes\nback to Jesus\u2019 time.  We see how\nscripture was a regular part of the service when Jesus himself read from Isaiah\nin today\u2019s gospel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see the scriptures held in high regard\neven in today\u2019s first reading set around the 5th<\/sup> century B.C.  The Jews had returned home following the\nBabylon Exile only to find Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed.  These were important parts of their Jewish\nidentity but one thing was not taken away, the scripture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hear in this reading how they assembled\nthe people and Ezra read from the Law \u201cfrom\ndaybreak till midday<\/em>\u201d and \u201cthe people\nwere weeping as they heard the words of the law.<\/em>\u201d  In listening \u201cattentively<\/em>\u201d, they realized how they had gone astray in sin and\ndesired to turn back to the Lord.  (They\nlistened attentively for an entire morning so I don\u2019t want to hear any compliments\nwhen Mass goes for one hour.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to Vatican II, people would often\npray a rosary during Mass.  We don\u2019t do\nthat now because we realize we need to listen attentively to God\u2019s Word.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you listen?  Do you listen attentively<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first reading, we can see something\nof how we read scripture at Mass.  As\nEzra read, he \u201cstood on a wooden platform<\/em>\u201d\nthat was \u201chigher up than any of the\npeople.<\/em>\u201d  Today, we have our ambo,\nsometimes called a pulpit, as a place of distinction, raised higher so all can\nsee as God\u2019s Word is read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first reading today tells us that Ezra\nalso interpreted what he read \u201cso all\ncould understand what was read.<\/em>\u201d \nThis is what the homily is supposed to do today, to interpret, to break\nopen the Word to be relevant in our lives today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in today\u2019s gospel reading we hear\nJesus offer such an interpretation of the passage He read from Isaiah, \u201cToday this Scripture passage is fulfilled in\nyour hearing.<\/em>\u201d  One sentence yet a\npowerful sentence for the Jewish who had waited centuries to see this passage\nfulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I hope you see the place the Bible has\nat Mass.  We come to Mass to be fed by\nthe Eucharist but we are first fed with God\u2019s Word.  It is a sacred time when the readings are proclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we hear the Bible at Mass, we should\nalso read it on our own.  Sometimes when\npeople go to read the Bible they think they should read it from cover to cover\nin order.  That\u2019s the way we read most\nbooks but the Bible is not like most books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are just starting to read the Bible\non your own, a good way to start is to read the same readings we use at\nMass.  You can find them online or in\nbooks like the At Home With the Word <\/em>books\nwe give out.  Some people read it before\ncoming to Mass as a way to open themselves to what they will hear at Mass.  Another option if you have a hard time\nreading on your own before Mass is to wait until after Mass when you hear the\nscriptures explained in the homily and then read it for yourself.  If you do this, I note that sometimes at Mass\nwe don\u2019t read every verse.  You might\nlook at the verses in between that aren\u2019t read at Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another good way to begin reading the\nBible is to start with the gospels.  Just\npick whatever Gospel you feel drawn to and begin reading it.  I\u2019m not talking about reading in one\nsitting.  I suggest starting with five or\nten minutes.  As you read, when a verse\nmoves you, stop and mediate on it.  You\nmight go back and reread the same verses a couple of times to further your\nmediation.  Somedays you might read a\npage or two, others you might only read a paragraph.  It is not about how much you read.  The point is to listen attentively to God\u2019s\nWord, to open your heart to the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bible is important.  It is essential.  It is God\u2019s Word to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CNehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15 (see John 6:63c)1 Corinthians 12:12-30Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21January 27, 2019 Catholics have a reputation for not knowing the Bible.  In years long past, Catholics were sometimes told not to read the Bible on their own for fear they might misinterpret it.  That …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[461,82],"tags":[547,270,548],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-IV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2786,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions\/2786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}