January 14-15: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday’s Mass

As we prepare to celebrate the Second Sunday of the Church’s Year, here is an interesting fact about the Gospel writers (all four of them): they would have been familiar with a technique in Greek drama that provided the spectators with information which the characters in the drama did not have. This unique feature of Greek drama raised the expectations and interest of the spectators who could then watch the characters either come to recognize or fail to recognize what was known to the spectators.

 

All the information provided in the early chapters of the Gospels, including John the Baptist pointing to Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (in John 1, 29-34) will allow us to anticipate and follow the Gospel characters and their development. Namely, we will be able to see who will recognize and who will fail to recognize Jesus in their midst. Do you see? It’s all about this recognition: those who do recognize Him as the Anointed One and the Lamb of God – and those who do not. From beginning to end in each Gospel, we can watch to see every single character from John the Baptist, to Philip, Nathanael, and Peter, all the way up to Pilate and Herod …. and then a Centurion at the foot of the Cross who says, “Truly this is the Son of God.”

 

We are presented with an invitation this weekend, still at the beginning of a new year, to “Behold” the One who has come into our midst. We can either be among those who recognize His divine presence or among those who fail to do so. For those who fail to recognize or even acknowledge Him, nothing ever changes and there is not much to hope for. Meanwhile, for those who do recognize Jesus as Lamb, Savior, and Messiah, everything changes. When we meet Him in this way, we cannot see the world as before and we know our behavior must conform, more and more, to His.

 

Let us pray. “Almighty God, open the eyes of our hearts, help us to see. Help us to embrace your will, give us the strength to follow your call, and fill us with your peace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

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