3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - 23/1/2022 - Gospel: Lc 1: 1-4; 4, 14-21
Our Mission
We receive the Holy Spirit at baptism; it is the same Spirit Jesus received at His baptism. We receive also the threefold missions when the priest anoints us with Chrism, saying.
'As Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king, so may you live always as a member of His Body, sharing everlasting life'.
When Jesus announced His public mission. He meant it for Himself. Before returning to the Father, Jesus entrusted His mission to His disciples, and it now becomes ours. Jesus came to be one of us to do God's Will and He showed us how to do God's will. He taught His disciples to pray that
'Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven'- The Lord's Prayer.
Jesus read the passage from the prophet Isaiah which says
'to bring the Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to the blind new sigh, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord's year of favour'.
This message fulfilled to the man, Jesus, fulfilled to us, His followers. We are His followers. We are the recipients of God's Spirit and of Jesus' public ministry. We are the ones who have been chosen to do God's Will. When we think that doing God's Will is somebody's job, not ours. It is a temptation. To avoid this universal temptation, we need to change our way of thinking. We recall the threefold mission when we are anointed with Chrism. We need to put the ministry of priest, prophet and king in motion. When we are baptised, we are called to do God's Will and that is spreading the Good News, and serving others in God's Holy Name.
Isaiah mentioned the poor, the captives and downtrodden because God's people, at that time, were in exiled and in captivity. Their Temple of Jerusalem was in ruin, tribal customs and traditions had been lost. Some had adapted the local customs to suit the new way of life. Worse of all, many had lost hope of returning to their homeland. At Jesus' time, His people just returned to Jerusalem from exiled. They started a new life. Hope began to grow, and they hoped Jesus would help them to fulfil their hope.
In our present situation, the poor could mean financially poor, or financially rich, but spiritually poor. The captives would mean those who are in a correctional institution, or a free man but enslaved by addictions and sin. Some people are unable to set themselves free from guilt because they doubt about God's mercy. John the Baptist affirmed that penitents gained God's favour. God's mercy is much more powerful than our sin. Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray that God will:
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed us.
When we can't forgive, we fall into temptation. The temptation stops us from forgiving. It is temptation to doubt the immeasurable nature of God's love.
To be free from sin and enjoy 'the year of the Lord's favour', one needs to follow the way of the Lord. It is the true freedom that the Lord gives to those who do God's Will. When we say Jesus is our Leader, and we follow Him. It means we follow His way of life, His public ministry. His Father is ours, and His kingdom is our final homeland. The true Good News means sharing it, spreading it to everyone to enjoy. When one keeps the Good News for oneself, that person is not a true follower of Jesus, because following means to go behind Jesus. Only moving away from where one first met God would make us a new person in Christ. Without allowing God's Spirit to change them; that person follows, not in deed, but only in name.
Jesus trusted us and handed His mission into our hands to continue the good work. Let us not betray His trust.
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'As Christ was anointed priest, prophet and king, so may you live always as a member of His Body, sharing everlasting life'.
When Jesus announced His public mission. He meant it for Himself. Before returning to the Father, Jesus entrusted His mission to His disciples, and it now becomes ours. Jesus came to be one of us to do God's Will and He showed us how to do God's will. He taught His disciples to pray that
'Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven'- The Lord's Prayer.
Jesus read the passage from the prophet Isaiah which says
'to bring the Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to the blind new sigh, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord's year of favour'.
This message fulfilled to the man, Jesus, fulfilled to us, His followers. We are His followers. We are the recipients of God's Spirit and of Jesus' public ministry. We are the ones who have been chosen to do God's Will. When we think that doing God's Will is somebody's job, not ours. It is a temptation. To avoid this universal temptation, we need to change our way of thinking. We recall the threefold mission when we are anointed with Chrism. We need to put the ministry of priest, prophet and king in motion. When we are baptised, we are called to do God's Will and that is spreading the Good News, and serving others in God's Holy Name.
Isaiah mentioned the poor, the captives and downtrodden because God's people, at that time, were in exiled and in captivity. Their Temple of Jerusalem was in ruin, tribal customs and traditions had been lost. Some had adapted the local customs to suit the new way of life. Worse of all, many had lost hope of returning to their homeland. At Jesus' time, His people just returned to Jerusalem from exiled. They started a new life. Hope began to grow, and they hoped Jesus would help them to fulfil their hope.
In our present situation, the poor could mean financially poor, or financially rich, but spiritually poor. The captives would mean those who are in a correctional institution, or a free man but enslaved by addictions and sin. Some people are unable to set themselves free from guilt because they doubt about God's mercy. John the Baptist affirmed that penitents gained God's favour. God's mercy is much more powerful than our sin. Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray that God will:
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed us.
When we can't forgive, we fall into temptation. The temptation stops us from forgiving. It is temptation to doubt the immeasurable nature of God's love.
To be free from sin and enjoy 'the year of the Lord's favour', one needs to follow the way of the Lord. It is the true freedom that the Lord gives to those who do God's Will. When we say Jesus is our Leader, and we follow Him. It means we follow His way of life, His public ministry. His Father is ours, and His kingdom is our final homeland. The true Good News means sharing it, spreading it to everyone to enjoy. When one keeps the Good News for oneself, that person is not a true follower of Jesus, because following means to go behind Jesus. Only moving away from where one first met God would make us a new person in Christ. Without allowing God's Spirit to change them; that person follows, not in deed, but only in name.
Jesus trusted us and handed His mission into our hands to continue the good work. Let us not betray His trust.
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Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
