LARRY BRODING

A Humble Witness

Video  | 1st Reading | Psalm  | 2nd Reading | Gospel

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Which of your friends demonstrates the virtue of humility? How important is that person to you? To your family and community?

There’s an old joke among religious educators. When a teacher broaches the subject of humility, he or she begins by stating a simple, but self-defeating command: “Raise you hand if you are humble!”

The truly humble deny they have obtained the virtue. Indeed, humility is a virtue measured by the degrees into which people grow. It is a virtue of process, lived experience. It is the virtue of constantly realizing one’s place before God.

By deferring to One that was greater, John showed the world he knew his place before his Maker. He showed true humility.

Children’s Reading | Catechism Link | Family Activity

SOURCE: WORD-SUNDAY © Larry Broding

VINCE CONTRERAS

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) 

1. In the 1st Reading, how many promises given through the prophet Isaiah about the Messiah to come can you identify as applying to Jesus? In what ways?
2. In the 2nd Reading from St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians, he addresses his letter to two categories of people “in the Church at Corinth” (verse 2). What are they? How do you fit into each of these categories?
3. What two titles does John give Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel passage (verses 29 and 34)? What proof supports these claims (Psalm 2:7; CCC 1286)?
4. What does John the Baptist mean by calling Jesus the “Lamb of God” (verse 29; see Exodus 12:1-3; Isaiah 53:7)? Where do Catholics hear these words every Sunday? How is it applied to our lives in a real and profound way at each Mass (CCC1293-94)?
5. What does it mean to “behold” the Lamb of God? What are you supposed to see when you look at him? What kind of lamb takes away sin (Exodus 12:5; 1 Peter 1:19)?
6. How could you incorporate the submissive, sacrificial lifestyle of the Lamb of God into your own life?

DON SCHWAGER

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

SOURCE: Sunday Scripture Study for Catholics

MICHAEL MARCHAL

Ordinary Time

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

BACKGROUND: Ordinary Time gets its name because each year one of the three synoptic gospels is read “in order” starting with the Baptism of the Lord which marks the end of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season and going on through 34 Sundays to Christ the King. Only Lent-Easter-Pentecost interrupt the steady progress.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Paul says that we have been “consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people.” Although each of us has our own personal mission, we are set apart as a community to live and to proclaim holiness. What is your parish’s unique mission? How are you helping achieve it?
2. Isaiah says that those chosen and sent by God are to be the “servants” who will bring salvation to all the earth. Whom are you concretely serving in your daily life? How will they see the love of God revealed in you?
3. When does our church’s lack of humility and lack of a spirit of service get in the way of proclaiming the good news? What can you do about that?
4. Which person has been your best role model for being Christ in our world today? How have they helped shape your life?

Practice: It is in the give-and-take of daily life that we have our best opportunity to reveal the good news of God’s love to others. This week ponder how in conversations and interactions at work or at lunch or relaxing with friends you might reveal a deeper empathy, compassion, and concern for others. Then act on your insights!

SOURCE: TEAM RCIA

ANNE OSDIECK

Justice and Peace

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

1.This reading contains a reference to “the servant.” What in it will Jesus proclaim throughout his ministry? Can we be a light for the world? How? Can we be a crack of light in someone’s darkness?

2. In what ways does Pope Francis’ World Peace Day message for the year 2017 help the Church become “a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth”?

I pledge the assistance of the Church in every effort to build peace through active and creative nonviolence. On 1 January 2017, the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will begin its work. It will help the Church to promote in an ever more effective way ‘the inestimable goods of justice, peace, and the care of creation’ and concern for ‘migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture.’ Every such response, however modest, helps to build a world free of violence, the first step towards justice and peace.

Pope Francis, Fiftieth World Day of Peace
1 January 2017

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

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SOURCE: Sunday Web Site – Saint Louis University

MONIKA KORZEC

The Grace of Recognizing Our Baptismal Anointing

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Sunday Micro Retreat

I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and remain on him.

Notice that the Spirit remained on Jesus. In other biblical translations, the word “rested” is used instead of “remain.” The fact that the Spirit not only descended but also rested on Jesus was a sign of a divine annointing.

At your baptism, you were also anointed and called to be a Priest, Prophet, and King. As a priest, you are called to the life of prayer; as a prophet, you are called to read and proclaim the Word of God; as a king, you are called to the life of service.

Reflect on these three aspects, and think, what does your life of prayer look like now? Are you able to spend time with the Word of God regularly? How do you serve others where you are? in your vocation? in your state of life?

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SOURCE: CONTEMPLATIVE RETREAT | Recent Retreats