Reflections of Caritas

PRESENTATION OF JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

GOSPEL: LK 2:22–40 (OR 2:22–32)

Dear friends,

Forty days after Christmas, we celebrate the Lord who enters the Temple and comes to encounter his people. This Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple is also known as the Feast of the Encounter. It is the encounter between God, who became a child to bring newness to our world, and an expectant humanity, represented by the elderly man and woman in the Temple.

In the Temple, there is also an encounter between two couples: the young Mary and Joseph, and the elderly Simeon and Anna. The old receive from the young, while the young draw upon the old. God’s promise does not come to fulfillment merely in individuals, once for all, but within a community.

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THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: MATTHEW 4:12-23 

Dear friends,

As Jesus began his public ministry his first act was to gather some disciples who would share his work and his mission. They are not the Pharisees or Scribes, not scholars or influential members of the community, but fishermen who may have been quite illiterate. It is significant that the call takes place right in their working place and the initiative for the call comes from Jesus. Jesus had obviously been watching them at work. Jesus begins by calling the two set of fishermen brothers — Simon (later renamed Peter) & Andrew and James & James. Jesus tells them they will be fishers of men. Their ordinary work, drawing sustenance from the darkness of the sea, becomes a sign of a deeper reality, drawing men and women from the darkness of sin and death.

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SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME 

GOSPEL: JOHN 1:29-34

Dear Friends,

The Christmas season is over.  Now we move on with the very beginning of Jesus’ public life, usually referred to as his ministry.  We come upon John the Baptist seeing Jesus and pointing to him.  “This is the Lamb of God,” he says.

John the Baptist found his reason for existence.  He was to point out the Lamb of God to the world.  His mission is the mission of every Christian.  We are to point out the Lamb of God to the world. We are called to live our lives fully witnessing to Him.  And this we do by finding our space in the universe.  

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GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 3:13-17

RENEW YOUR BAPTISMAL PROMISES

Dear friends,

As we celebrate the feast of “The Baptism of the Lord” by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, it marks the end of the liturgical season of Christmas. We recall Our Lord's second manifestation (or epiphany) which occurred on the occasion of His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its waters and to give us the power to beget sons of God.

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