Homily Notes | 1.29.2012 | English

FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, B

My brothers and sisters,

Jesus was in the habit of going to the synagogue on the Sabbath. When he accepted the role of rabbi on those occasions, he fulfilled the promise of Moses who declared to the people: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen.” When Jesus began to teach in the synagogue of Capernaum, the unclean spirit shrieked, “You are the Holy One of God”. By a supreme irony, the unclean spirit gave a “sermon” on the identity of Jesus. What he cried out was true. Then Jesus confirmed the testimony of the unclean spirit by his action: he drove the demon out of the possessed man. Saint Mark who gave us this remarkable story wanted us to understand that the primary purpose of this incident was not to attract us to Jesus as a miracle worker but to move us to embrace him in his identity as the Holy One of God. Saint Paul had much the same commitment in mind when he observed that celibate people can and should be concerned with things of the Lord. But married or unmarried, we all are called to dedicate ourselves to Jesus, the Holy One of God. Still later in his public ministry Jesus would give a sermon in this same synagogue of Capernaum in which he would promise to give his body and his blood as food and drink for everlasting life. Our earliest ancestors in the faith continued to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath; then on Sunday they met for the Eucharist in someone’s home. When Gentiles began to enter the Church, the synagogue service of Scripture, sermon, and prayers was combined with the Eucharist on Sunday. The Word and the Sacrament, the Scriptures and the Eucharist, became so intimately connected that they formed but  a single act of worship. Every Sunday we are privileged to share in this act of worship which we call simply the Mass. Jesus is still with us in Word and Sacrament. The Church reminds us that “It is Christ himself who speaks to us when the Holy Scriptures are proclaimed in the liturgy.” It is really Christ who speaks to us in the sound of human words. The Church insists that it is Christ himself who comes to us in his body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine. Holy Communion fulfills the promise of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that he would give us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. In the celebration of every Mass we are given the opportunity to embrace Jesus as the Holy One of God who speaks with authority.