Homily for the 2nd Sunday of the Year

Having celebrated Our Lord’s birth and epiphany, we now enter the period called “Ordinary Time” in which “the mystery of Christ … is honoured in its fullness” (Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year). The first reading is a prophecy of the Messiah which speaks of Jesus Christ as the “servant who will be glorified”, who will be the “light to the nations” so that “God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” This continues the theme of the manifestation of the Saviour in his epiphany. Today’s Psalm is applied by the Church to this Messiah, who comes into the world saying: “See, I have come, Lord to do your will.” (cf. Heb 10:5). From his infancy, in his hidden life, at his Baptism, and until the moment of his death, the words of Christ elsewhere apply: “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:8). The second reading, the introduction to the first letter to the Corinthians, speaks rather of the Mystery of the Church. St Paul, who calls himself an Apostle, says elsewhere that “the saints and members of the household of God [are] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19-20). To name himself Apostle, therefore, means that Paul speaks “from the heart of the Church”. He writes to the local church at Corinth but also to “those who in every place call on the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ” – a reference to the Church’s universality. In stating that Jesus Christ moreover is “their Lord and ours” he refers to the Church’s unity, according to the expression “one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism” (Eph. 4:5). Finally, he speaks of “those sanctified” and those “called to be saints” and thereby designates the church as holy. We notice that in this reading the four “notes” of the Church are referred to: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. But how does the one Lord and Messiah work in his Church? The Gospel reading and today’s “Prayer over the Offerings” give us two answers. St John the Baptist says: “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.” How does Jesus baptise with the Holy Spirit? He does so in the Church, for “by His [Christ’s] power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes.” (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7) This is the foundational manner in which Our Lord works in his Church – Baptism – by which we are reborn of water and the holy Spirit, purified from sin, and made new in Christ. Finally, the Offertory prayer today reads: “Grant us, O Lord, we pray, that we may participate worthily in these mysteries, for whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated, the work of our redemption is accomplished.” This prayer (found in both the newer and older Roman Missals – and is also used each Holy Thursday) is also quoted in Vatican II. The “Memorial of this Sacrifice” refers to the Mass, which is a Memorial of the One Sacrifice of Christ. “Whenever” or “as often as” (the Latin quoties) is teaching us that something happens each time the Mass is celebrated. What happens? Answer: “the work of our redemption is accomplished.” This is a powerful statement of the Sacrifice of the Mass in which God’s redemption is accomplished, benefitting spiritually not only those present, those for whom the Mass is offered, but in a mysterious and true sense the entire world. “May we participate” worthily in the Mass, because for us here present our devotion makes the celebration more fruitful, stirs up the grace of our Baptism in us, unites us to Christ, and makes us living and active members of his holy Church. Amen.