FIRST READING: Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6. The Lord said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." And now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength---he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." EXPLANATION: We have here a messianic prophecy, which is the second of the "servant of Yahweh" or "suffering servant" prophecies, found in second-Isaiah, chapters 42-53. These were prophecies uttered during the Babylonian exile to encourage the Jewish exiles to persevere in their trust in Yahweh, who would soon liberate them from Babylon, and eventually send them the long-expected Messiah, promised to Abraham. This "one who is to come," will give perfect obedience to God, will bear severe hardship, will be "a man of sorrows," and because of this he will bring back all men, Jew and Gentile, to God. He will represent the whole human race, and earn for it the true friendship of God. The Lord . . . glorified: The "servant," the Messiah, says God has appointed him as his (faithful) servant who will bring all men to reverence and glorify God. The insertion of Israel after "my servant," is very probably a later gloss. In verse 5, the servant will bring back Israel to God, so he can hardly be identified with Israel.
formed . . . womb: He was predestined before his birth for this office. He is to be in human nature, formed in his mother's womb by God. The full implication of these words can be seen in their fulfillment, as described in Luke's Gospel: "the angel answered (Mary's question regarding her virginity): 'the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow and so the child will . . . be called the Son of God'" (Lk. 1: 34-36. see Mt. 1: 18-22).
to bring back . . . Israel: The Chosen People were to be the first to whom the Messiah and his message would come.
light . . . nations: This was only a small part of God's purpose in sending his Son. The salvation which the Messiah brought was for the Gentiles too, "even to the end of the earth." APPLICATION: That these prophecies were remembered and studied by devout Jews is evident from the words of Simeon, who because of his saintly life, had been promised that he would live to see the promised Messiah. The promise was fulfilled. He was inspired to come to the temple on the very day the Blessed Mother brought the Infant Jesus for his presentation, as the Mosaic law prescribed. Simeon recognized in the Infant Jesus the promised Messiah. He took him in his arms, and sang his "Nune dimittis . . . My eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared for all the nations, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel" (Lk. 2: 27-32). We too today, twenty centuries later, can sing that "Nune dimittis" with heartfelt joy and gratitude, for we can see, and have seen with the eyes of faith, that our Savior, the Son of God, has come among us, and has enlightened us with the true knowledge of our real purpose in life. Because of our Christian faith, life has an entirely different meaning for us from what it had for our pagan ancestors. The real pagans today---those who never heard of Christ, or of his all-loving divine Father---and especially the self-made pagans, who. have heard of God and of his divine Son who became man, but do not believe in his divinity or his message, must and should, look at human life on earth as a torture invented by some cruel sadistic joker. If they happen to have many of this world's goods they may he able to avoid some of life's hardships. But wealth cannot guarantee them good health and peace of mind; in fact, its possession adds to the torture that the thought of having to die very soon must constantly cause them. They must leave it all and end in a hole in the ground, like their pet dog or any other dumb beast of the field. If, instead, the neo-pagan has little of this world's possessions, his few years on earth are but a purgatory in preparation for NOTHING. Let us thank and bless God, with the saintly Simeon and with the millions of devout Christians down through the centuries, for having given us the light of faith, and the source of that light, his beloved Son who came among us. Because of Christ's coming on earth, and because of the gospel of peace and hope that he has left to us, we know the purpose of life. We know why we are here, we know why we must expect and accept trials and troubles, because we know where we are going, and understand that life's tribulations, as well as its joys and consolations, are the road which leads us to the true life. Thank you, God of love, for sending your divine Son to make heaven available to us! Thank you for having given us the Christian faith, which shows us what path to follow in our journey to that real heaven. Please forgive our past forgetfulness of your goodness, and give us the grace to follow our loving Savior more closely in future, so that when death calls us we may be worthy of the eternal life he earned for us. Amen.
SECOND READING: 1 Cor. 1: 1-3. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes. To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. EXPLANATION: Corinth, an important port-town and a Roman colony, was materially prosperous but morally corrupt. In the year 50 A.D., St. Paul went there to preach the gospel. He made some converts among his fellow-Jews, and many among the Gentiles, during his two years' stay there. He left for Ephesus in 52 A.D., and from there he wrote this Epistle to the church of Corinth, correcting some of the abuses that had crept in, and adding further explanations to the gospel message he had already taught them. The opening verses of this letter have been chosen for our reading today, because they show the prophecy, read in the first lesson, as fulfilled among the pagans, as well as emphasizing the purpose of the Messiah's coming: the sanctification and true enlightenment of all nations.
Paul . . . Jesus: Paul rightly attributes his vocation, to be an apostle of Christ, to the direct intervention of God. He had done nothing to deserve it. In fact, he had done everything to make himself unworthy of it. Of the bitter opponents of the early Christians in Jerusalem, he was the most bitter. A vision of the risen, glorified Christ, seen on the road to Damascus, had changed his outlook, and his way of life (see Acts 9: 1-19).
our . . . Sosthenes: Paul, in his letters, usually mentions one or more of his assistants in the apostolate, who are with him at the time of writing. Evidently, Sosthenes was known to the Corinthian Christians. Most probably he was the Sosthenes mentioned in Acts 18:17, who was the president of the Jewish synagogue and was beaten up by the Jews who opposed Paul, because most probably, he had favored Paul and was about to join him.
church of God: This is a translation (coming through the Greek LXX) of the Hebrew phrase Qahal Yahweh, that is, the assembly of Yahweh, meaning God's Chosen People. It shows that from the earliest days the Christian Church saw itself as God's Chosen People of the new covenant.
called . . . saints: Called to be Christians and eventually saints.
call . . . name: Accept and reverence:
our Lord . . . Christ: The basis of Christianity is the divinity of Jesus Christ, the man who had lived and died in Palestine (our Lord=our God).
their Lord and ours: He is God, not only of the Corinthians but of all nations.
grace and peace: Two of the usual blessings found in the openings or the endings of the Christian letters. Peace, in St. Paul, has a fuller meaning through the Hebrew shalom, which meant well-being. Christian peace, especially in St. Paul, means reconciliation with God (see Col. 1: 20; Rom. 5:1), and unity among the brotherhood (Col. 3:15). APPLICATION: The conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus---the changing of the arch-enemy of Christianity into an apostle of Christ Jesus---was, after the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost day, the greatest benefit God conferred on the infant Church. From the moment he began his apostolate, he devoted himself wholeheartedly and exclusively to the spreading of Christianity among the Gentiles. Every thought of his mind, every bodily energy, and every gift of grace and nature which he possessed, were given to that one end : to make Christ and his message of salvation known to all men. He did not forget his fellow- Jews, but when they rejected him and his master Christ, he turned to the Gentiles. During the 34 years of his missionary activity, he founded flourishing Christian churches in the principal towns of Asia Minor and Greece. In Rome itself he played a big part in the spread of the faith, from his prison cell. After his release in 62 from his first imprisonment, he spent another four or five years preaching in Spain and Italy, and re-visiting his earlier converts. Finally, in the year 67 or thereabouts, he laid down his life in Rome for the faith for which he had lived. His apostolate did not end with his death. He has left to the Church a collection of letters, which are a source of encouragement and instruction for all who would live a true Christian life. Today, he reminds each one of us that being Christians means we are called to be saints in heaven, when our years on earth come to an end. In heaven we shall certainly be, if we appreciate properly our Christian vocation, and live as true Christians, each day of our earthly lives. This does not mean that we must not take any interest in the affairs of this world, nor does it mean that we should neglect the earthly duties, which our own particular walk in life imposes on us. On the contrary living a truly Christian life means that we carry out faithfully and honestly our daily tasks. Our week-days are as important as our Sundays. In fact, if our week-days are dishonestly, that is sinfully, spent, our Sunday display of "Christian devotion" is not only a sham, it is an attempt at deceiving God. In reality, we are deceiving only ourselves. Paul is still praying and wishing for us that grace and peace which he wished for the Corinthians. We need God's grace, and his divine help, to live in peace and union with him, and with our fellowman. Paul's prayer for us will be heard. Christ our Lord will not refuse his most devoted apostle if, but only if, we heed Paul's words, and try every day to follow the path of faith which he preached to the Corinthians, and is still preaching to us today.
GOSPEL: John 1: 29-34. John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.' I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that is the Son of God." EXPLANATION: All four Evangelists narrate the part played by John the Baptist to prepare the people for the proximate arrival, in their midst, of the promised and long-expected Messiah. The Baptist had spent his youth, and early manhood, living as a hermit in the desert of Judah. God revealed to him that the time had come for him to go to the Jordan riverside, to bring the glad tidings to the Chosen People. Many thought the Baptist was himself the Messiah, but he vehemently denied this and said he was not even worthy to be his lowliest slave. On the previous day, recognizing the Lord's superiority, he had reluctantly baptized Jesus in the Jordan. During that washing with water, the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus, and heard the voice from heaven proclaiming him to be his chosen servant foretold by Isaiah (see Gospel of last Sunday---Feast of the Baptism of our Lord).
Jesus coming . . . him: Jesus remained for a few days (see Jn. 1: 33-45), near the Jordan region where John was preaching.
Behold . . . God: The Baptist points out Jesus to the people as the Messiah, the "servant of God" of whom Isaiah spoke. John spoke in Aramaic, and in that language the same word Thalya can mean lamb or servant. The "passover lamb" (Ex. 12: 7) had no part in taking away sin, but the servant of God, in Isaiah 53:7, is compared to a "lamb led to the slaughter," and suffering for the sins of his people.
he . . . I said: This is, on the previous day (Jn. 1: 27; Mt. 3: 6).
he was . . . me: Not in his human nature, because the Baptist was born six months before Christ, but in his divine nature (see Jn. 1: 1). Whether the Baptist understood the full meaning of his words or not is doubtful, but when John the Evangelist was writing his gospel the real meaning of these words was clear to all Christians.
revealed to Israel: The Baptist's mission to prepare the Chosen People for the proximate arrival of the Messiah.
Spirit descend . . . dove: See last Sunday's gospel regarding this fact.
he . . . said: John the Baptist had evidently never met Christ. This is understandable : they lived about 80 miles apart, a long distance in those days. Besides, John spent his days in the desert.
baptizes . . . Spirit: John's baptism was only a type, or symbol, of the real baptism with which Christ would baptize men. He would confer on them not only "grace," friendship with God, but sonship of God.
witness . . . God: The Baptist's witness was, that the man he had baptized and on whom he had seen the Spirit descend (the sign of identification given him by God---"he who sent me"), was the expected Messiah, the servant described in Isaiah. At that time, his divinity was not yet recognized, nor was it made manifest, but by the time the Evangelists wrote, it was the basic teaching and belief of the Church. APPLICATION: At last the promise, made to Abraham when God commanded him to leave his home, his country, and his kin (Gen. 12:1-3), was fulfilled. The Messiah who would bring blessings to Jew and Gentile (to all mankind) had arrived. Eighteen hundred years of expectation had at last come to an end. During these long years of waiting, God had, through his prophets and through his prophetic actions, renewed the hope in the hearts of his Chosen People. These prophecies and prophetic actions had given indications that the expected one would be someone very close to God, someone who was more than a mere man. Yet, who among the Chosen People could ever have thought that the "Promised One" would be the very Son of God in human nature? His contemporaries, when he came, refused to believe this truth even though Christ had, during his public ministry, made claims to equality with God the Father, and had proved these claims by miracles (see, for example, the story of the paralytic: "Your sins are forgiven you . . . who can forgive sins but God alone? . . . to prove to you . . . he said to the sick man 'get up . . . and go home,'" Lk. 5: 17-25). But we must try to understand how difficult for a strict monotheistic Jew were the thought of three persons in God (the Trinity), and the idea that the infinite God could be in a limited, finite, human nature (the Incarnation). Our Lord himself showed that he understood their lack of faith, when he said on the cross: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Lk. 23: 24). We, however, have no reason for any such doubts or scruples. The full story of Christ's conception, birth, life, preaching and miracles, crowned by his death on the cross and his glorious resurrection, is in itself sufficient guarantee and proof that he was indeed the Son of God-made-man for our sakes. The spread of his Church among the Jews and Gentiles is another convincing proof. What sane man would accept self-mortification, undergo trials and hardships, even martyrdom, or give up all the attractions and pleasures of the body, if he were not convinced that the story of Christ, and therefore his gospel-message, were true? The sad part is that, while we have every reason, in this world and the next, to believe in Christ and follow his teaching, so many nominal Christians live as if Christ himself had never lived and died for them. Their hearts are centered in the pleasures, the power and the wealth of this earth. These are passing things, which they will have to bid goodbye very soon. They devote their energies to getting all this world can give them. Its final gift to them will be a six-feet-by-three hole in the earth. If we neglect our vocation as Christians, if we forget God's infinite love for us, as shown in the Incarnation, and if we fail to learn the lesson he taught us : that our purpose in this short life is to earn the eternal life after death, we, too, could become renegades to Christianity, traitors to Christ and our own greatest enemy. Christ came to make us his brothers and children of the heavenly Father. He came to die for us so that we could live forever. We can deny our heaven-sent brother, we can leave our father's home, we can lose the eternal happiness that Christ has won for us. God forbid that we should ever be so foolish, so ungrateful to God and Christ, and so harmful to our own real self-interest.-a072
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