January 6, 2008

Matthew 2:1-12

Feast of the Epiphany

The richness of today’s liturgy finds additional expression in the third reading, a story found only in the Gospel according to Matthew - the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem. It is a story best understood in light of the purpose of Matthew’s Gospel.

Some 50-60 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection (around 85 A.D.), Christianity was experiencing “growing pains.” It was undergoing the trauma of separation from the synagogue and feeling the great influx of Gentiles into its ranks. It all demanded a new way of looking at Jesus, church, Old Testament and salvation history. Matthew writes his gospel to present Jesus as t he new Moses, the Son of God who fulfills the Law and all the prophecies of the Old Testament. He wants to show that with Jesus, there is a break with Judaism. With Jesus there is a new church, a “new” people of God which is for all peoples. It is a universal church with a mission to all nations.

Matthew’s overall plan was to show that Jesus was rejected by the very people who awaited the Messiah, and He was accepted by another people, the Gentiles. Restated, that really becomes the core of Matthew’s Gospel, the ultimate response to Jesus by the people who received His Message.

With that in mind, Matthew adds the Magi story to his Infancy Narrative with much method and deliberateness. He sharply contrasts the Magi and Herod, the two featured stars of today’s reading, symbolizing acceptance and rejection of Jesus. We observe the eager reverence of the Magi verses the hostility of Herod. The Pagan Magi are traveling far to seek out the awaited king as Herod and the wise ones remain unaware of the great happening in their midst. The Magi, who never heard of the Prophets, immediately enter into the faith of acceptance and belief while the Jews, who knew and lived for the prophecies, refuse to recognize the Messiah.

To reinforce his message, Matthew tells his story with the help of the Old Testament. We suggest a prayerful look at Numbers 24:17, Psalm 72:10-11, Micah 5:1-3, and Isaiah 60:1-6. Then re-read the story of the Magi in Matthew.

In light of what Epiphany is about, Matthew successfully weaves legend, tradition and symbolism with Old Testament quotations to make an appropriate connection between a Jerusalem restored by the presence of the Lord and a people redeemed by the presence of the same Lord in the person of Jesus Christ.

Epiphany, What’s it all about?

-A Reflection-

In the historical development of the liturgical feasts of the church, Epiphany came first, before Christmas and Advent. It was a feast that celebrated the manifestation, the showing forth of the presence of God among men in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. It celebrated as one feast all various aspects of that manifestation: the Incarnation, the Birth of Jesus, the Baptism of Jesus, etc. Gradually, each event became a feast on its own. Christmas became the one most celebrated as the Birth of the Infant Jesus became the event most remembered.

Epiphany, it seems, lost out. Its significance paled, its true meaning forgotten. It is unfortunate because Epiphany, God-with-us, Emannuel, is truly an awesome and wonderful reality, one that gives meaning and direction to our lives. Epiphany is a feast that calls us to pause and remember, a feast that invites us to celebrate and be renewed.

Today we pause, consumed by the awesomeness of it all. God-with-us! Sharing the very life of God! God, a part of our lives! We linger and remember his faithfulness and His love. Yahweh is the faithful one, whose presence in us overcomes the ugly and the disharmony. God is our loving Father, whose love surrounds us and comforts us. We rejoice as we celebrate His continued presence in us. We are renewed from within. Like the Jerusalem of Isaiah, we are graced by His presence. We know again His saving power, His forgiveness, His love.

The significance of Epiphany is renewed for us. We can truly celebrate, not only the presence of Jesus, the God-with-us in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments, but the presence of Jesus deep within each of us. Epiphany - that’s what it’s all about ...

January 13, 2008

Matthew 3:13-17

Baptism of the Lord

All four Gospels place the Baptism of Jesus as the starting point, the inauguration of his public life and ministry. Better stated, all four Gospels properly begin with the Baptism of Jesus. Each account is different, although they all contain the same common elements. Mark tells his story very matter-of-fact. John actually says nothing about the baptism except in terms of John the Baptist being witness to the Christ. Luke passes over all the details because he is interested only in the theophany that follows.

This being the Year of Matthew, his version of that event makes up today’s third reading. Unlike the other Gospel writers, Matthew embellishes his story with rather elaborate details. True to his purpose of presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies, the New Moses, the Messiah who has come to save God’s people, Matthew records his story with emphasis on the Messiahship of Jesus, the inauguration of his mission, and the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God.

In his story, Matthew has Jesus and John engaged in conversation. John realizes before the baptism that Jesus is the one about whom he has been prophesying.

“I should be baptized by you, yet you come to me!” It is an attempt by John to prevent Jesus from undergoing a baptism meant for sinners, a baptism of repentance. But Jesus, although sinless, submits to a rite meant for sinners, and he rejects the Baptist’s objection. “Give in for now. We must do this if we would fulfill all of God’s demands.” Jesus must be baptized by John because it is in accord with God’s will. It must be done in order to fulfill the divine plan of salvation.

Sin and repentance (“they were baptized as they confessed their sins,” I baptized you for the sake of reform!”) were the reasons for John’s baptizing. Jesus had no sin and needed no repentance, yet he had to submit, to accept such a baptism if he were to become one with mankind. If his redemptive mission, his role as Messiah were to be successful, he had to be one with man, intimately associated with the sinfulness of mankind. His baptism became a sign of that ... So John gave in, and Jesus was baptized.

As Jesus came out of the water, his emergence is accompanied by several extraordinary, supernatural phenomena. A divine theophany occurs. Old Testament images recall Old Testament prophecies, and they all ultimately lead to the identification of Jesus as Son of God.

“The heavens were opened,” Matthew writes, as Jesus comes out of the water, very much like Ezechiel’s inaugural vision when “the heavens opened, and I saw divine visions.” That, too, happened by a river, “By the river Chebar - there the hand of the Lord came upon me.”

“The Spirit of God descended like a dove...” Matthew writes, as the heavens opened up, very much like the activity of the Spirit at the beginning of creation when “a mighty wind (Spirit) swept over the waters...” As the Spirit of God “hovered over him,” a special anointing was taking place, and He affirmed by the Voice from the heavens ...

“This is my Beloved Son. My favor rests on him.” The Voice from the heavens identifies Jesus as Son of God.

-from Psalm 2- “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.’”

-from Isaiah 42- “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am well pleased.”

Unlike Mark and Luke, wherein the vision is given to Jesus alone, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased!”, Matthew makes the vision “public.” “This is my beloved Son!” indicating that even from the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, he is publicly acknowledged as the Son of God. He is Messiah, the Savior. With his baptism, his mission as Servant, Son, Savior, has begun -

Rev. Mr. Carlos Cannatella

St. Landry Church

January 20, 2008

John 1:29-34

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s third reading is from the fourth Gospel. It is the beginning of the Book of Signs, the narrative part of John’s Gospel. The Gospel of John is really a theological reflection on the meaning and message of Jesus Christ. Written some 60 to 70 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, it opens with its magnificent Prologue, an introduction to Jesus, the Word made flesh, pre-existent with the Father from all eternity, and now descended from heaven to earth to take the form of humanity. God comes down to live with His people and invites that people to share his life.

After that introduction, John begins the story of Jesus by presenting a historical introduction to the public life of Jesus. His technique is to present a somewhat artificial seven-day unfolding of the events of that first momentous week in Jesus’ public life, a week of witnesses who attest to the greatness and uniqueness of Jesus.

Day One presents the witness of John the Baptist. It is actually a negative kind of witness. John himself is not the light. He is not the One who is to come but only a “voice in the desert.”

Day Two in the seven-day revealing of Jesus constitutes today’s third reading. Again, John the Baptist is witnessing to Jesus. This time, very positive and precise, he communicates to his readers what he saw and what he received in a vision and experienced by faith.

It is a spontaneous tribute that John gives to Jesus, “When John caught sight of Jesus coming towards him, he exclaimed, (a tribute of four testimonials to the identity of Jesus):

1. “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Lamb of the Apocalypse, the one who destroys all evil in the world. Jesus is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, “led like a lamb to the slaughter.” Jesus is the Passover lamb whose death delivers the world from sin and death.

2. “After me is to come a man who ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.” Jesus is the Pre-existent one, clearly greater than John because He exists from all eternity.

3. “I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from the sky and it came to rest on him. It is he who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is the vehicle of the Holy Spirit, the One in whom the fullness of the spirit lives, the One who will impart that Spirit to all believers.

4. “This is God’s Chosen One.” Jesus is the chosen one of God. As such, He becomes Messenger of God, Servant of God, Messiah of God, Lamb of God.

Messenger of God - to proclaim salvation

Servant of God - to impart salvation, to communicate His Spirit

Lamb of God - to take away sin by the offering of His life

Messiah of God - to lead back to the Father, back to a life of communion with Him

Rev. Mr. Carlos Cannatella

St. Landry Church

January 27, 2008

Matthew 4:12-23

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s third reading is from the Gospel according to Matthew. It records Matthew’s version of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry; it also outlines and announces His mission.

It all begins in Capernaum. In Matthew’s scheme of things, that town in Galilee is to be the base of Jesus’ operations for most of his ministry. Matthew calls it “Galilee of the Gentiles” because the region is surrounded on all sides by Gentile neighbors. It was the one part of Palestine that was touched by non-Jewish influence. Its people were a curious breed of many foreign bloods and influences. It was the one part of Palestine where a new teacher, Jesus, with a new message, the Good News of salvation, might have a good chance of being heard.

It all begins in Galilee, in a land lost to the Gentiles some eight hundred years before, during the time of Isaiah. Capernaum was situated in the old tribal territory of Naphthali; Nazareth in the old territory of Zebulun. The same two tribes had borne the brunt of that first Assyrian invasion centuries before. In Jesus choosing Galilee to begin his ministry, Matthew sees prophetic fulfillment. Isaiah the prophet has seen a vision of the restoration of that land, and with the coming of Jesus, a great light has appeared to them. They are the first to hear the good news of salvation, restoration and deliverance. As he will often do throughout his gospel, Matthew calls upon an ancient text to point to that fulfillment. “Land of Zebulun, land of Napthali

hearten Galilee;

A people living in darkness

has seen a great light.

On those who inhabit a land overshadowed by death, a light has arisen.”

In a way peculiar to his gospel, Matthew says “from that time on ...” Jesus begins to preach, and formally inaugurates his ministry. Continuing the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus issues a summons to conversion.

“Repent, Reform your lives.

The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

That done, Matthew streamlines the call of the first disciples. There is not much fanfare, just a rather formal, terse and concise - “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus invites, and two simple fishermen follow: Jesus call, and two more fishermen do likewise. Two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John encounter the Word of God. They abandon their work, lives, and past to follow him. The Word of God simply meets them where they are. It takes hold of them and changes their lives forever. Such is the call and cost of discipleship.

KINGDOMTIME .....

and the Teacher begins to teach

This liturgical year, Cycle A, is the “Year of Matthew” a time during which the Good News of Jesus is proclaimed from the Book according to Matthew, sometimes called the “supreme teaching Gospel.” One clear indication of the Gospel’s teaching mission is its literary layout. Matthew writes to proclaim Jesus as the New Moses, the Savior and Deliverer of God’s People, the new mediator between God and His People. To that end, he fashions a “new Torah.” In imitation of the Five Books of Moses, the Pentateuch, Matthew organizes within his book five sermons, five discourses in which Jesus is presented as Giver of the New Law, the Teacher who is greater than Moses.

Each liturgical cycle begins the story of salvation all over again. During Advent, we renewed “with joyful anticipation” the coming of God into our world in the person of Jesus Christ. Through Christmastime we celebrated and “brought back” that event into the present, “re-living,” as it were, some of the wonderful truths of our salvation.

With last week’s liturgy, we entered into another season of the liturgical year, Kingdomtime. With the beginning of today’s Gospel, we are well launched into the new time. The next several weeks are an interim period, a time of “settling in” to wait for Lent. More importantly, though, it is the time of the Kingdom, a time to immerse ourselves into the reality of the Kingdom of God and Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls his first disciples, “Come after me...” and then began the mission for which he came: teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. “He taught in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.”

During the coming weeks, Jesus will teach and “proclaim the Good News of the kingdom” from pulpits the world over. His teaching will be the sermon on the Mount. With it, Jesus will instruct his disciples and introduce them to a new way of life, a life of discipleship.

As we hear the call of Jesus today, we are reminded that Jesus calls us too into that new way of life, into discipleship. As we enter into this time of Kingdom, the church affords us an opportunity, and Jesus issues us a challenge.

We have an opportunity to follow Jesus deeper into his ministry as he preaches repentance, salvation, and Kingdom. We have a challenge to become open to the Spirit, to be led into an awareness of the Kingdom in our lives.

We have an opportunity to experience God’s love, grace and presence in His Word. We have a challenge to personal growth and discipleship through prayerful reflection on the Sermon. We have an opportunity to say yes to the Kingdom, a challenge to dare to be different! May we invite you to enter with us into the Kingdom and into the Sermon.

Rev. Mr. Carlos Cannatella

St. Landry Church