3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C - 27th January 2019
In the year 539 BC, Darius the 1st, King of Persia, allowed the Jewish people to return to Israel.
They had been slaves in Babylon in modern Iraq for 60 years. On their return, Ezra read the words of God to them, as we see in today's first readings.
This did not happen during their time in Babylon.
Today's Gospel reading tells us about Jesus reading the words of Isaiahin the synagogue at Nazara, his home town. Then Jesus says that "this text is being fulfilled today even as you listen."
St. Paul tells us that we form one body with Christ through our baptism. He compares the Christian community to the different parts of the human body. We all have different work to do in the church - with our own special gifts or abilities. Just as the feet and hands and the other parts of our physical bodies are necessary for the health of our bodies.
It seems to me that the message in today's readings is that I need to read the Bible.
God speaks in the Bible.
Do I read it?
Do I think about what I have read?
If you have not got a Bible, please buy one - a Catholic Bible. Non-Catholic Bibles do not have all the books that are found in the Catholic Bible.
I make time to read the newspaper of watch TV. I can give some time to God by spending 5 minutes every day reading a few lines from the Bible.
St. Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin about 400 years after Christ said: "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ."
My problem is that I can become careless-thinking: "I have read all this before."
Di I appreciate what I have read in the Bible?
Do I let God's words sink into my heart?
Fr. Noel Travers, C.M.